車輪上的糧食節約人

貴州 羅躍梅

為喚醒人們節約糧食的意識，法國人巴普蒂斯特·迪邦謝在騎行穿越歐洲時，試圖完全靠丟棄的食物生存。

321 難度 ★★★ 建議用時文章詞數 6分鐘

1There are lots of ways to raise awareness of a cause. Usually, the stranger the idea is, the more it gets noticed. And that's precisely why one garbage-eating Frenchman has grabbed our attention.

2Baptiste Dubanchet was on a quest to bike across Europe, surviving entirely on discarded （丟棄） food. The three-month, 1,900-mile journey from Paris to Warsaw was Dubanchet's way of raising awareness of food waste in Europe and throughout the world. The 25-year-old Frenchman explained that the goal was to “make this trip relying only on food destined to be thrown away—from hotels,restaurants, grocery stores, supermarkets and markets, in order to reduce food waste”.

3As you can imagine, the trip was no piece of cake. While the world's restaurants and supermarkets combine to throw away an average of 1.3 billion tons of food each year, according to the UN,much of it remains inaccessible thanks to locked dumpsters （廢料箱）, health regulations, or business policies. Dubanchet said that only about one in 10 locations offered him food that would otherwise be discarded. For legal reasons, most establishments have a policy against giving away food waste. “Some people have even risked their jobs by giving me food,” he said.

4What's particularly interesting was the attitude various cities had toward Dubanchet's cause.Berlin had been the easiest, while the most difficult was the Czech town of Pilsen. There, he had to ask at some 50 different stores and restaurants before finding food. The challenge was all the more dramatic when he considered the demanding exercise required to bike from France to Poland. He had to find food fast because after all the cycling, he was tired and needed the energy. The most important thing was not what he was eating, but whether his stomach was full or empty.

5He aimed to finish his journey by mid-July. With any luck, he would turn a few more heads in the process.

Reading Check

Ⅰ. Choose the best answers according to the text.

Ⅱ. Discussion

Do you think it's worthwhile for Baptiste Dubanchet to eat discarded food to raise people's awareness of saving food? Can you find out any other better ways to raise people's awareness of saving food?

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Language Study

Ⅰ. Discover useful structures in the text

1. the +比較級..., the+比較級... 越……，越……

Usually, the stranger the idea is, the more it gets noticed. 通常，這個想法越奇怪，就越容易被注意到。

2. not..., but... 不是……，而是……

The most important thing was not what he was eating, but whether his stomach was full or empty.最重要的不是他在吃什么，而是他的肚子是飽的還是空的。

Ⅱ. Memorize some text-centered chunks

raise awareness of 提高……的意識

grab one's attention 吸引某人的注意力

survive entirely on 完全靠……生存

rely on 依賴于……

throw away 扔掉

a piece of cake 小菜一碟

an average of 平均

for legal reasons 由于法律的原因

give away 捐贈；分發

all the more 愈發