2006年VOA标准英语-Shredding Paper a Booming Business in US

By Richard Krantz
Washington, DC
20 July 2006
 
watch Shredding² report
 
  
  
As access to information has exploded in recent years, the "information age" has also spawned³ a need to protect privacy. This has given birth to a thriving new industry -- paper shredding. 

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American cities have long housed many types of trucks: concrete trucks; delivery trucks; armored trucks; fire trucks.  But lately a new kind of truck is often seen on city streets - the paper shredding truck.

Manned by uniformed workers, these trucks visit government offices, hospitals and businesses collecting documents that require secure disposal, and then gobbling them up like paper-eating factories on wheels.

 
Shred¹-it owner Lee Miller⁴ stands next to a bail⁵ of shredded⁶ documents
  
Lee Miller, owner of the Baltimore, Maryland franchise⁷ of the Shred-it Corporation, says the operation is efficient. "We can shred in 15 minutes what it takes all day or maybe two days to shred with an office shredder. That becomes the savings⁸ to the client, and that's why they use us."

But another reason Americans use shredding companies is to comply with federal laws that requires document security.  The first of these was passed in 1996 and covers medical records. 

Kirk Nahal   
  
Kirk Nahal is an attorney with Wiley, Rein⁹ and Fielding in Washington, DC. He  says new laws have necessitated¹⁰ the need to appropriate disposal of documents. "You've got to take reasonable and appropriate steps to protect the security and privacy and confidentiality¹¹ of the information you have. So that's where the document shredding companies come in as an appropriate way to dispose of sensitive information."

Lee Miller agrees, and says additional privacy laws have brought new customers to shredding companies. "Shred-it, which was the first on-site shredding company, was formed in 1989, and it was a relatively¹² small operation.  Over the years it has branched out and there are now 140 branches.  Since 1996 we've added most of those, so most of that growth has been in the last 10 years."

 "And then in the last year and a half or so we've seen an explosion in security breach¹³ problems, and widespread attention being focused on privacy and security in all industries,"offers Nahal.

Nahal adds that Congress has taken steps to help prevent identity theft by passing the Fair and Accurate Credit Transactions Act which could give shredding companies their biggest boost yet. "Now it is an issue that applies both practically and legally to essentially¹⁴ any business that has either customer information or employee information, which is essentially any business in the country."

The process is simple. Shredding companies provide customers with locked boxes to store sensitive documents for disposal.  

Miller describes the process "Then once a week, once a month -- depending how fast they fill them -- then we come out and shred the material.  Some clients, such as a big hospital, might have 300 or 400 of these.  Most of our clients have just one or two."

After shredding paper all day, trucks bring it back to a warehouse¹⁵ and dump it in a bailer¹⁶.

"And this is what it comes out of the baler looking like.  This is loose because it is the top of the bale, but this bale here is solid - weighs about three-fourths of a ton, and we make about 50 to 60 of these a day."

The bales are then sold to recycling centers, where they are normally made into paper towels.

The recycling saves trees, Miller says. "Last year we shreded over 6,000 tons of paper, and this year we're going to do something like 7,500 tons of paper.  A ton of paper is approximately 10 trees in the raw, as it stands in the forest.  So you're looking at something like 75,000 trees that will be saved this year."

But Kirk Nahal points out shredding is only one aspect of the security problem. "And a lot of information is not on paper.  So we need to look at this holistically¹⁷, and companies need to look at shredding as one component¹⁸ of their security protection, but they can't stop there."

As long as there is paper, though, shredding trucks are likely to remain part of the U.S urban landscape. 

1 shred   

v.撕成碎片，变成碎片；n.碎布条，细片，些少

参考例句：

• There is not a shred of truth in what he says.他说的全是骗人的鬼话。
• The food processor can shred all kinds of vegetables.这架食品加工机可将各种蔬菜切丝切条。

2 shredding   

v.撕碎，切碎( shred的现在分词 )；用撕毁机撕毁（文件）

参考例句：

• Like the Tehran experience, the shredding may be all for naught. 如同德黑兰事件中的情况一样，切碎文件可能是徒劳的。 来自时文部分
• How shredding began is subject to some guesswork. 粉碎处理行业的起源是个有争议的问题。 来自时文部分

3 spawned   

（鱼、蛙等）大量产（卵）( spawn的过去式和过去分词 )； 大量生产

参考例句：

• The band's album spawned a string of hit singles. 这支乐队的专辑繁衍出一连串走红的单曲唱片。
• The computer industry has spawned a lot of new companies. 由于电脑工业的发展，许多新公司纷纷成立。

4 miller   

n.磨坊主

参考例句：

• Every miller draws water to his own mill.磨坊主都往自己磨里注水。
• The skilful miller killed millions of lions with his ski.技术娴熟的磨坊主用雪橇杀死了上百万头狮子。

5 bail   

v.舀（水），保释；n.保证金，保释，保释人

参考例句：

• One of the prisoner's friends offered to bail him out.犯人的一个朋友答应保释他出来。
• She has been granted conditional bail.她被准予有条件保释。

6 shredded   

shred的过去式和过去分词

参考例句：

• Serve the fish on a bed of shredded lettuce. 先铺一层碎生菜叶，再把鱼放上，就可以上桌了。
• I think Mapo beancurd and shredded meat in chilli sauce are quite special. 我觉得麻婆豆腐和鱼香肉丝味道不错。 来自《简明英汉词典》

7 franchise   

n.特许，特权，专营权，特许权

参考例句：

• Catering in the schools is run on a franchise basis.学校餐饮服务以特许权经营。
• The United States granted the franchise to women in 1920.美国于1920年给妇女以参政权。

8 savings   

n.存款，储蓄

参考例句：

• I can't afford the vacation,for it would eat up my savings.我度不起假，那样会把我的积蓄用光的。
• By this time he had used up all his savings.到这时，他的存款已全部用完。

9 rein   

n.疆绳，统治，支配；vt.以僵绳控制，统治

参考例句：

• The horse answered to the slightest pull on the rein.只要缰绳轻轻一拉,马就作出反应。
• He never drew rein for a moment till he reached the river.他一刻不停地一直跑到河边。

10 necessitated   

使…成为必要，需要( necessitate的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• Recent financial scandals have necessitated changes in parliamentary procedures. 最近的金融丑闻使得议会程序必须改革。
• No man is necessitated to do wrong. 没有人是被迫去作错事的。

11 confidentiality   

n.秘而不宣，保密

参考例句：

• They signed a confidentiality agreement. 他们签署了一份保守机密的协议。
• Cryptography is the foundation of supporting authentication, integrality and confidentiality. 而密码学是支持认证、完整性和机密性机制的基础。

12 relatively   

adv.比较...地，相对地

参考例句：

• The rabbit is a relatively recent introduction in Australia.兔子是相对较新引入澳大利亚的物种。
• The operation was relatively painless.手术相对来说不痛。

13 breach   

n.违反，不履行；破裂；vt.冲破，攻破

参考例句：

• We won't have any breach of discipline.我们不允许任何破坏纪律的现象。
• He was sued for breach of contract.他因不履行合同而被起诉。

14 essentially   

adv.本质上，实质上，基本上

参考例句：

• Really great men are essentially modest.真正的伟人大都很谦虚。
• She is an essentially selfish person.她本质上是个自私自利的人。

15 warehouse   

n.仓库；vt.存入仓库

参考例句：

• We freighted the goods to the warehouse by truck.我们用卡车把货物运到仓库。
• The manager wants to clear off the old stocks in the warehouse.经理想把仓库里积压的存货处理掉。

16 bailer   

汲出积水的人，水斗； 水瓢； 水勺

参考例句：

• In high speed offset printing, unstable performance of bailer adverse effect on the quality of presswork. 在高速胶印生产中，水斗液的性能不稳定对印刷品的质量产生不良影响。

17 holistically   

adv.holistic（整体的，全盘的）的副词形式

参考例句：

• Menu items and dialogs, when they are translated, to be considered holistically. 在翻译菜单项和对话框时，需要全盘考虑，确保翻译的界面保持整体的一致性很重要。 来自互联网
• If we examine this entity holistically, we can discover how incredible it really is. 如果我们整体检查这实体，我们可以发现它真的是多么让人难以置信。 来自互联网

18 component   

n.组成部分，成分，元件；adj.组成的，合成的

参考例句：

• Each component is carefully checked before assembly.每个零件在装配前都经过仔细检查。
• Blade and handle are the component parts of a knife.刀身和刀柄是一把刀的组成部分。