华盛顿邮报 捐赠的旧衣物最后到哪去了？(3)

 

    And then how should I go about figuring out where to donate my clothes once I've decided¹ that they're in good enough shape?

    一旦我判定衣物状况足够好，我该如何决定捐赠的去向呢?

    Yeah. Very, very much an individual decision, right?

    是。这完全出于个人判定，对吧?

    It depends on what is maybe available to you, what causes you want to support.

    这取决于你可以用哪个捐赠组织，你想支持什么慈善事业。

    There are online resources. You can go to places like Charity Watch or Charity Navigator. The Better Business Bureau has a website as well.

    也有一些网上资源。你可以去“慈善观察”或“慈善领航员”这样的地方。“商业扶助局”也有一个网站。

    And basically all sort of have the similar function of they evaluate charities they give you information about how they operate, and so that's just a good, you know, resource that you could use if you really wanted to learn more about the different charities at your disposal.

    基本上这些线上服务都有类似的慈善机构评估功能，给你提供关于机构运作方式的信息，因此，如果你真的想任意了解不同的慈善机构，这是一个可用的优质资源。

    If you have maybe specialty² items, like an old prom dress or formal wear or workwear and suits, you can look for organizations that specialize in asking for those items. And, you know, those are easily searchable online as well.

    如果你有一些特殊物品，比如旧的舞会礼服、正装、工作服、西装，你可以寻找专寻这些物品的机构。而且，这些机构也很容易在网上搜到。

    I have to ask you also, what's the deal with those -- I don't know if they're common in a lot of American cities, but I feel like in places that I've lived or traveled, there will be these like big, like steel donation boxes on the corner where you just, like, dump clothes.

    我还得问你，这些是怎么回事——我不知道这在美国的很多城市是否普遍，不过我觉得在我生活的或到过的地方，街角会放置巨大的钢制捐衣箱，你可以把衣服扔到里边。

    And sometimes I'm like, "I don't really know where this is going, but it seems like the right idea." What's the story with those?

    有时我会想，“我不知道衣物会到哪里去，但这似乎是个不错的主意。”这是怎么回事?

    Yeah, those boxes do exist. Again, it comes down to looking up the organizations that are behind the boxes. And not just dumping your clothes.

    是的，这些捐衣箱确实存在。再次提一下，这最终要看捐衣箱背后是哪个组织。而不仅仅是简单地扔掉你的衣服。

    Right, right. So you want to -- If you see a name on the box and you're kind of curious about it, definitely look that up.

    对, 没错。如果你看到捐衣箱上的名字，对它有点好奇，一定要查一下。

    Take a look at -- See if they're listed on any of these evaluation³ sites. Take a look at the information there.

    看看这些评估网站上有没有列出它们的名字。看看那里的信息。

    And, you know, right. If you are really worried, sometimes the best thing to do is you should drop your donations off in person and talk to the people that you're dropping it off to.

    没错。如果你真的很担心，有时候最好的办法就是亲自把你要捐的衣物送出去，并与这些衣物接受者谈一谈。

    What about when to donate clothing? Like, are there some times of year that are better to donate than others?

    什么时候捐赠衣服呢? 一年中是否有一些时候比其他时候更适合捐赠呢?

    Yeah, absolutely, and it's actually helpful, I think, for the organization that you're donating to if you are thinking about whether what you're donating is seasonally⁴ appropriate.

    是的，当然，这实际上很有帮助，我认为，对于你要捐赠的组织，你可以考虑一下你捐赠的东西是否应季。

    So a really great example is, you know, a lot of people will get rid of their winter wear in the summer because they don't, you know, they don't need it anymore. Maybe they're cleaning it out.

    一个不错的例子是，很多人会在夏天扔掉他们的冬装，因为他们不再需要冬装了。也许他们正在清理冬装。

    That's actually probably not helpful because people aren't looking for that type of clothing in the summertime.

    这实际上可能没有帮助，因为人们在夏天不喜欢这种类型的衣服。

    So if you do have that, hold on to it for when winter or fall rolls around and donate it then.

    如果你有过这样的经历，可以将其保存起来，在冬天或秋天来临之时，再将其捐赠出去。

    So maybe there's a better chance that it's useful to someone in that period.

    也许这些衣物对那个时期的人更有用。

    Something interesting that I also learned while I was reporting this in terms of timing⁵ is just donating a bunch of clothes after disasters that happen? Not actually that helpful in a lot of cases.

    当我在报道捐赠时间时，我还发现了一件有趣的事情，在灾后捐赠一堆衣服，其实在很多情况下都没什么用。

    Really?

    真的吗?

    Yeah. And that surprised me because I think there -- I was sort of in a sense of, "Well, in a post-disaster situation, anything helps."是的。这让我很惊讶，因为我觉得，在某种意义上，“嗯，在灾后，任何事情都有帮助。”

1 decided   

adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的

参考例句：

• This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
• There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。

2 specialty   

n.(speciality)特性，特质；专业，专长

参考例句：

• Shell carvings are a specialty of the town.贝雕是该城的特产。
• His specialty is English literature.他的专业是英国文学。

3 evaluation   

n.估价，评价；赋值

参考例句：

• I attempted an honest evaluation of my own life.我试图如实地评价我自己的一生。
• The new scheme is still under evaluation.新方案还在评估阶段。

4 seasonally   

参考例句：

• The price of vegetables fluctuates seasonally. 蔬菜的价格随季节变动。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• They moved seasonally among various vegetation types to feed on plants that were flourishing. 它们还随着季节的变化而在各种类型植物之间迁移，以便吃那些茂盛的植物。 来自辞典例句

5 timing   

n.时间安排，时间选择

参考例句：

• The timing of the meeting is not convenient.会议的时间安排不合适。
• The timing of our statement is very opportune.我们发表声明选择的时机很恰当。