The 9 Best Things to Buy Used九種最值得購買的二手物品

傅穎/譯

Buying used items vs. new stuff is always a wise choice. Its one of the most effective ways you can help protect the environment.

購買二手物品而非新品始終是明智之舉。這是你能為保護環境做貢獻的最有效方式之一。

You can find used stuff in a wide variety of categories. Here are our picks for the categories where youre most apt to find smart buys on items that would require significant natural resources to manufacture new.

你可以找到各種各樣的二手物品。在以下我們選出的品類中，你最有可能發現物美價廉的好東西，而生產同樣的新品則會消耗大量自然資源。

Clothing

服裝

Apparel items require massive resources to produce. That pair of jeans you just bought？ It took up to 1，800 gallons of water to produce. Your new t-shirt？ About 715 gallons. Then theres the environmental impacts of packaging， transporting， and ultimately disposing of clothing.

生產服裝需要大量資源。你新買的那條牛仔褲？生產它可需要1800加侖的水。你的新T恤？它大概需要715加侖的水。此外，包裝、運輸以及最終對衣物的處理都會影響環境。

A LOT of clothes are manufactured every year—and a lot of them get discarded. Fast fashion encourages buying stylish clothes and then quickly discarding stylish clothes， not only because styles change quickly but also because fast fashion items simply arent made to last. Clothing and other textiles make up a significant portion of the waste stream.

每年有大量衣物生產出來——也有大量衣物被丟棄。快時尚鼓勵人們購買新潮衣物后很快就丟棄，這不僅僅是因為潮流瞬息萬變，而且因為快時尚產品根本不耐用。在廢棄物中，服裝和其他紡織品占了很大比例。

Fortunately， increasing numbers of clothes buyers are choosing to donate or sell used items， which means that you can find incredible buys on everything from almost-new designer apparel to everyday basics.

幸好，越來越多的衣物消費者選擇捐贈或者出售二手服裝，這意味著你能在二手市場淘到很棒的東西，從幾乎全新的名牌服裝到基本款服裝，應有盡有。

Books

書

Each year， we cut down about 30 million trees to produce new books. In the meantime， our shelves at home overflow with ones weve already read， and a number of retailers do brisk1 business buying and selling gently used books at discounts of 50% or more off their cover price.

每年，我們為了出版新書而砍伐的樹木約有3000萬棵。與此同時，我們家中的書架上堆滿了已讀過的書，而一些零售商以五折甚至更低的價格買賣八九成新的二手書，生意非常好。

Furniture

家具

You dont have to be a collector to appreciate the appeal of used furniture. Anyone whos ever been to an estate sale2 or one of our many antique shops and used furniture resellers has encountered the incredible range of styles and types of furniture that can be snapped up at bargain prices. Better yet， older furniture is often much better made than new items， particularly when it comes to wood furniture.

并非只有收藏家才會欣賞二手家具的魅力。凡是去過搬遷戶舊物變賣或是古董店和二手家具轉售店的人都曾見過用低價就能撿漏的各種風格和類型的家具。更棒的是，老家具的做工往往比新家具更勝一籌，尤其是木質家具。

People are fickle about furniture. They often change their minds after a purchase， resulting in large inventories of barely-used furniture at second-hand stores and flea markets. From sofas and tables to desks and kids furniture， the shopping opportunities are endless.

人們對家具的喜好反復無常。他們經常在購買后改變主意，導致大量幾乎全新的家具出現在二手商店和跳蚤市場，從沙發、桌子，到書桌、兒童家具，買二手家具的機會數不勝數。……