豆知识 2011-04-17&04-23 物品的故事（3/5）

 Well, it moves here, for distribution. Now distribution means selling all the toxic-contaminated junk as quickly as possible. The goal here is to keep the prices down, keep the people buying and keep the inventory¹ moving. How do they keep the prices down? Well they don't pay the store workers very much and they skimp² on health insurance every time they can. It's all about externalizing the costs. What that means is the real costs of making stuff aren't captured in the price. In other words, we aren't paying for the stuff we buy. I was thinking about this the other day. I was walking to work and I wanted to listen to the news so I popped into a radio shack³ to buy a radio. I found this cute little green radio for 4 dollar and 99 cents. I was standing⁴ there in line to buy this thing and I was thinking how could 4 dollar and 99 cents possibly capture the costs of making this radio and getting it into my hands?

The metal was probably mined in South Africa. The petroleum⁵ was probably drilled in Iraq. The plastics were probably produced in China. And maybe the whole thing was assembled by some 15-year-old in a maquiladora in Mexico. 4 dollar and 99 cents won't even pay the rent for the shelf space it occupied until I came along, let alone part of the stuff guy's salary who helped me pick it out or the multiple ocean cruises and truck rides pieces of this radio went on. That's how I realize I didn't pay for the radio. So who did pay? Well, these people paid with the loss of their natural resource base. These people paid with the loss of their clean air with increasing asthma⁶ and cancer rates. Kids in the Congo paid with their future. 30% of the kids in part of the Congo have dropped out of school to mine coltan, a metal we need for our cheap and disposable electronics. These people even paid by having to cover their own health insurance. All along this system, people pitched in so I could get this radio for 4 dollar and 99 cents. And none of these contributions are recorded in any accounts book. That's what I mean by the company owners externalize the true costs of production.

And that brings us to the golden arrow of consumption. This is the heart of the system, the engine that drives it. It is so important that protecting this arrow has become the top priority for both of these guys. That's why after 911, when our country was in shock and President Bush could have suggested any number of appropriate things: to grieve, to pray, to hope. No. He said to shop. To shop! We have become a nation of consumers. Our prime identity has become that of being consumers, not mothers, teachers, farmers, but consumers. The primary way that our value is measured and demonstrated is by how much we contribute to this arrow, how much we consume. And do we! We shop and shop and shop. Keep the materials flowing and flow they do. 

Guess what percentage of total materials flow through this system is still in product or use 6 months after the date of sale in North America. 50%? 20%? No, 1%. 1! In other words, 99% of the stuff we harvest, mine, process, transport, 99% of the stuff we run through this system is trashed within 6 months. Now how can we run a planet with that level of materials throughput? 

It wasn’t always like this. The average U.S. person now consumes twice as much as they did 50 years ago. Ask your grandma. In her days, stewardship⁷ and resourcefulness and thrift⁸ were valued. So how did this happen? Well it didn't just happen. It was designed. Shortly after World War Two, these guys were figuring out how to ramp⁹ up the economy. Retailing¹⁰ analyst¹¹ Victor Lebow articulated the solution that's become the norm for the whole system. He said: “Our enormously productive economy demands that we make consumption our way of life, that we convert the buying and use of goods into rituals, that we seek our spiritual satisfaction, our ego¹² satisfaction, in consumption… We need things consumed, burned up, replaced, and discarded at an ever-accelerating rate.”

1 inventory   

n.详细目录，存货清单

参考例句：

• Some stores inventory their stock once a week.有些商店每周清点存货一次。
• We will need to call on our supplier to get more inventory.我们必须请供应商送来更多存货。

2 skimp   

v.节省花费，吝啬

参考例句：

• She had to skimp to send her son to college.她必须节俭来供她儿子上大学。
• Older people shouldn't skimp on food or heating.老年人不应过分吝惜食物或取暖方面的开销。

3 shack   

adj.简陋的小屋，窝棚

参考例句：

• He had to sit down five times before he reached his shack.在走到他的茅棚以前，他不得不坐在地上歇了五次。
• The boys made a shack out of the old boards in the backyard.男孩们在后院用旧木板盖起一间小木屋。

4 standing   

n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的

参考例句：

• After the earthquake only a few houses were left standing.地震过后只有几幢房屋还立着。
• They're standing out against any change in the law.他们坚决反对对法律做任何修改。

5 petroleum   

n.原油，石油

参考例句：

• The Government of Iran advanced the price of petroleum last week.上星期伊朗政府提高了石油价格。
• The purpose of oil refinery is to refine crude petroleum.炼油厂的主要工作是提炼原油。

6 asthma   

n.气喘病，哮喘病

参考例句：

• I think he's having an asthma attack.我想他现在是哮喘病发作了。
• Its presence in allergic asthma is well known.它在过敏性气喘中的存在是大家很熟悉的。

7 stewardship   

n. n. 管理工作；管事人的职位及职责

参考例句：

• The organization certainly prospered under his stewardship. 不可否认，这个组织在他的管理下兴旺了起来。
• Last, but certainly not least, are the issues of stewardship and ethics. 最后，但当然不是微不足道的，是工作和道德规范的问题。

8 thrift   

adj.节约，节俭；n.节俭，节约

参考例句：

• He has the virtues of thrift and hard work.他具备节俭和勤奋的美德。
• His thrift and industry speak well for his future.他的节俭和勤勉预示着他美好的未来。

9 ramp   

n.暴怒，斜坡，坡道；vi.作恐吓姿势，暴怒，加速；vt.加速

参考例句：

• That driver drove the car up the ramp.那司机将车开上了斜坡。
• The factory don't have that capacity to ramp up.这家工厂没有能力加速生产。

10 retailing   

n.零售业v.零售(retail的现在分词)

参考例句：

• career opportunities in retailing 零售业的职业机会
• He is fond of retailing the news. 他喜欢传播消息。 来自《简明英汉词典》

11 analyst   

n.分析家，化验员；心理分析学家

参考例句：

• What can you contribute to the position of a market analyst?你有什么技能可有助于市场分析员的职务？
• The analyst is required to interpolate values between standards.分析人员需要在这些标准中插入一些值。

12 ego   

n.自我，自己，自尊

参考例句：

• He is absolute ego in all thing.在所有的事情上他都绝对自我。
• She has been on an ego trip since she sang on television.她上电视台唱过歌之后就一直自吹自擂。