VOA慢速英语2019--乐高推出回收计划

Legos have been a popular toy for children for more than 60 years. When children get older, boxes of plastic Lego bricks often end up unused and stored in out-of-the-way places around the home. Parents sometimes end up throwing the Legos away.

Now, the Lego Group toy company is testing a program to make sure the unwanted bricks do not go to waste. The program is called Lego Replay. It aims to make sure the unwanted building blocks continue to make children happy.

Tim Brooks¹ is the Lego company's vice² president of environmental sustainability. He told VOA, "Nearly all Lego bricks we see that are out there have lots more play value in them —multi-generations of play value. It's a waste of energy and resources to grind³ them up and make new bricks."

Brooks said the idea came from parents who do not know what to do with the old bricks. Placing old Legos in waste containers is not a good answer. Birds and other wildlife may try to eat what looks like colorful food -- with deadly results.

With the Lego Replay program, parents load unwanted Legos of all shapes and colors into boxes. Then, they go to the program website and print out a mailing label.

The boxes are sent to processing centers, where the bricks are sorted, cleaned and shipped to aid groups and donation centers.

Two groups taking part in the test program are Teach for America and the Boys and Girls Clubs of Boston.

In the last two months, Brooks said, the two groups have received 3,000 boxes of Lego bricks. Users have downloaded about 9,000 shipping⁴ labels.

Brooks said the Lego bricks made 60 years ago can still be used as part of a Lego set manufactured just last week. He added, "You can't think of many things you can buy off the shelf today that work exactly with something you bought in the late 1950s..."

The Lego Replay test program is set to last through March. If it is successful, the program may be expanded to include other Lego products.

The Lego Group is also looking at other materials to use in their toys. While plastic has proved to be the strongest material, Lego has begun making some bricks out of sugar cane⁵.

Words in This Story

toy – n. something a child plays with

brick – n. a block of something

sustainability – n. the ability to be maintained at a certain rate or level.

1 brooks   

n.小溪( brook的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Brooks gave the business when Haas caught him with his watch. 哈斯抓到偷他的手表的布鲁克斯时，狠狠地揍了他一顿。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Ade and Brooks exchanged blows yesterday and they were severely punished today. 艾德和布鲁克斯昨天打起来了，今天他们受到严厉的惩罚。 来自《简明英汉词典》

2 vice   

n.坏事；恶习；[pl.]台钳，老虎钳；adj.副的

参考例句：

• He guarded himself against vice.他避免染上坏习惯。
• They are sunk in the depth of vice.他们堕入了罪恶的深渊。

3 grind   

n.（常贬义）用功的学生，书呆子；vt.磨，磨碎

参考例句：

• Would you please grind a pound of coffee for me? 请给我磨一磅咖啡好吗？
• Do you find learning English a grind?你觉得学英语是一件苦差事吗？

4 shipping   

n.船运（发货，运输，乘船）

参考例句：

• We struck a bargain with an American shipping firm.我们和一家美国船运公司谈成了一笔生意。
• There's a shipping charge of ￡5 added to the price.价格之外另加五英镑运输费。

5 cane   

n.手杖，细长的茎，藤条；v.以杖击，以藤编制的

参考例句：

• This sugar cane is quite a sweet and juicy.这甘蔗既甜又多汁。
• English schoolmasters used to cane the boys as a punishment.英国小学老师过去常用教鞭打男学生作为惩罚。