【英语时差8，16】纸还是塑料

 Yael: I have a question for you, Don. Paper or plastic?

Don: Not that question again, Yael. Does anyone really care whether their groceries are put in plastic or paper bags?

Y: Sure they do. In fact, the city of San Francisco has taken an interest in the predominant question all of us face when buying groceries. They've weighed the pros¹ and cons² of both paper and plastic.

D: Like what?

Y: Well, the pros for paper are that it's biodegradable and recyclable, and it's made from a renewable resource, trees.

D: Sounds good.

Y: On the other hand, making paper bags creates more air and water pollution than making plastic bags. Recycling paper requires more energy. And when paper isn't recycled, it takes up more space in landfills than plastic.

D: So plastic is better?

Y: Not so fast. Most plastic bags available are made of polyethylene, which is nonbiodegradable. Polyethylene is made from crude oil and natural gas, nonrenewable resources. Though plastic bags can be recycled, the EPA estimates that only about 5% of them are versus³ 21% of paper bags. When you consider that ninety percent of all grocery bags are plastic, that's a lot of bags going into landfills or worse, littered. And plastic bags have been discovered to kill animals that swallow them.

D: Paper is starting to sound like the lesser⁴ of two evils.

Y: San Francisco agrees with you. They're now requiring grocery stores to discontinue the nonbiodegradable plastic bags, and offer either paper alone or paper and biodegradable plastic.

D: Sounds like a good plan. Or better yet, I think I have one of those cloth reusable bags some place around here. Maybe I can bypass the paper or plastic question altogether.

Y: Good thinking. 

1 pros   

abbr.prosecuting 起诉；prosecutor 起诉人；professionals 自由职业者；proscenium （舞台）前部n.赞成的意见( pro的名词复数 )；赞成的理由；抵偿物；交换物

参考例句：

• The pros and cons cancel out. 正反两种意见抵消。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》
• We should hear all the pros and cons of the matter before we make a decision. 我们在对这事做出决定之前，应该先听取正反两方面的意见。 来自《简明英汉词典》

2 cons   

n.欺骗，骗局( con的名词复数 )v.诈骗，哄骗( con的第三人称单数 )

参考例句：

• The pros and cons cancel out. 正反两种意见抵消。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》
• We should hear all the pros and cons of the matter before we make a decision. 我们在对这事做出决定之前，应该先听取正反两方面的意见。 来自《简明英汉词典》

3 versus   

prep.以…为对手，对；与…相比之下

参考例句：

• The big match tonight is England versus Spain.今晚的大赛是英格兰对西班牙。
• The most exciting game was Harvard versus Yale.最富紧张刺激的球赛是哈佛队对耶鲁队。

4 lesser   

adj.次要的，较小的；adv.较小地，较少地

参考例句：

• Kept some of the lesser players out.不让那些次要的球员参加联赛。
• She has also been affected,but to a lesser degree.她也受到波及，但程度较轻。