你能变成素食主义者吗Could you go vegan

Hello and welcome to 6 Minute English – the programme where we bring you an interesting topic and six items of vocabulary. I’m Neil.
大家好，欢迎来到六分钟英语——在这里我们会为你带来有趣的话题与六个新单词。我是尼尔。
And I’m Catherine.
我是凯瑟琳。
Now, if you want fight climate change – what can you do?
现在我们来说说，如果你想对抗气候变化——你能做些什么？
Well, you can use less electricity…
嗯，你可以少用一些电…
Or stop driving…
或者停止开车…
But scientists believe there’s another behaviour which has an even bigger impact on the planet, and that is what you eat.
但是科学家认为存在另一种对地球影响更大的行为，就是你吃什么。
We’re talking about meat here. If people cut out meat and animal products from their diets – harmful emissions could be reduced by 70%.
我们这里说的是肉类。如果人们把肉类和动物产品从日常饮食中去掉——有害排放物可以减少百分之七十。
That’s according to research from Oxford University.
这是牛津大学的一项研究得出的结论。
Now emissions are the gases produced by an activity or living thing – so we could talk about factory emissions or farming emissions.
排放物的意思是某个活动或者生物产生的气体——所以我们可以讨论工厂排放物或农业排放物。
And if you eat no meat or animal products you’re what we call ’vegan’. More and more people around the world are going vegan
如果你不吃肉或其他动物制品，你就是所谓的“素食主义者”。全世界越来越多的人正在变成素食主义者。
And today’s question: which of these celebrities is vegan? Is it…a) Brad Pitt, b) Jennifer Lopez or c) Miley Cyrus?
今天的问题是：以下哪个名人是素食主义者？a选项Brad Pitt, b选项Jennifer Lopez还是c选项Miley Cyrus？
And I’m going to go for…c) Miley Cyrus.
我想我会选择…c选项Miley Cyrus。
Well, we’ll find out at the end of the programme. Now, before we go much further, why don’t we find out a bit more about exactly what it means to be vegan?
好的，我们会在节目的最后得到答案。现在，在我们讨论更多之前，为什么不探究一下更多关于到底什么是素食主义者的问题呢？
Here’s Tom Kuehnel from the Vegan Society in the UK.
这是来自英国Vegan Society的Tom Kuehnel。
Veganism is a way of living which excludes, as far as is possible and practicable, all forms of exploitation and cruelty to animals.
素食主义是一种生活方式，只要可能与切实可行，就会排除一切形式对动物的剥削和残忍。
So that’s for food, clothing or any other purpose. So we just don’t want to use or abuse animals.
其中包括拿动物做食物，衣服和其他目的。所以我们只是不想利用或者虐待动物。
And we feel like there, you know, there are plenty of alternatives in this day and age. It’s never been easier to be vegan.
我们觉得在现在的年代有许多替代方式。在这个年代做一名素食主义者太容易了。
Of course, he says that avoiding cruelty to animals is what it’s all about, but that doesn’t just mean food.
当然，他说避免虐待动物是素食主义的全部，但那不仅仅关于食物。
If you’re a true vegan, then clothing from animals is also out - no more leather shoes!
如果你是一名真正的素食主义者，那么动物做的衣物也不能穿——再也没有皮鞋了！
But he feels that it’s easier than ever before to become vegan – and uses a nice phrase: "in this day and age".
但他觉得现在做一名素食主义者比以前更容易——并且用了一个好的短语：“in this day and age”。
Yes. It means ’these days’, or ’in the present time’ – and is often used to highlight a contrast with a previous time.
是的。它的意思是“近年来”或者“在现在”——它通常被用来强调之前与现在的对比。
So, many people go vegan for ethical reasons. Now ethical is a useful word, it means ’relating to moral beliefs’.
所以，很多人因为道德原因做了素食主义者。“ethical”是一个很实用的词，它的意思是“与道德信仰有关”。
So if you become vegan for ethical reasons, you do it because you think it’s wrong to eat or use animal products.
所以如果你因为到的原因变成素食主义者，你这么做的原因是你认为使用动物制品是错误的行为。
Others go vegan because of environmental considerations, as we looked at earlier.
其他人变成素食主义者是因为对环境的考虑，就像我们刚才说的一样。
Rearing livestock – that means animals like cows and pigs – produces a lot of harmful methane gas.
饲养牲畜——牛和猪这种——会产出很多有害的甲烷气体。
Now, let’s just say the animals themselves produce a lot of it from their bodies. The other major reason to choose veganism…
就让我们说，动物本身会从身体里产生很多有害物吧。另一个选择素食主义的主要原因是…
Veganism – now, that’s the noun for a vegan diet.
素食主义——这是素食者饮食的名词。
… is because they believe it is healthier.
...是因为他们认为这更健康。
In the research from Oxford University we mentioned earlier, scientists found that 8 million deaths per year could be avoided if the world went vegan.
刚才在牛津大学的调查中我们提到，科学家发现每年800万人将避免死亡，如果全世界都变成素食主义者的话。
Now, that’s human deaths. They claim that half of this figure would be because we no longer eat red meat,
那是人类死亡数。他们声称数字中的一半会继续生存因为我们不再吃牛羊肉，
and the other half would be due to eating more healthy fruit and vegetables – as well as fewer people being overweight.
另一半则因为吃水果和蔬菜更健康——此外超重的人会更少。
And they say that this would have an economic impact too.
他们说这还会产生经济冲击。
They suggest that up to USD1,000bn a year would be saved due to reduced healthcare costs and increased productivity at work.
他们提出，由于医保金额的减少和工作中生产率的提高，每年最多节省10000万亿美元。
Because fewer people would get sick.
因为更少的人会生病。
So, if it’s all so simple – why don’t we all go vegan tomorrow?
所以，如果一切都如此简单——那我们为什么不明天都变成素食主义者呢？
Well, meat-eating is an important part of most cultures – not everyone wants to change.
其实，吃肉是很多文化中很重要的一部分——不是所有人都想改变。
And millions of people worldwide raise livestock for a living.
而且，世界上有数以百万的人靠畜牧生存。
So these jobs would disappear. Now, with up to a third of the planet estimated to be arid – which means dry and unable to support crops.
所以这些工作会消失。地球上估计有三分之一是贫瘠的——这意味着干燥和无法维持作物生长。
People living in these regions rely on livestock, so people for example like the Berbers in the Sahara region.
在这些地区生活的人依靠畜牧，比如撒哈拉地区的Berbers.
Without animal farming they would be forced to abandon traditional nomadic lifestyles – that’s where they move from place to place - and settle in cities.
没有了动物养殖，他们会被迫放弃传统的游牧生活方式——意味着他们从一个地方移动到另一个地方——并在城市定居。
And for many people, well, they just like eating meat and dairy.
对很多人来说，他们仅仅喜欢吃肉和乳制品。
We asked you about well-known vegans: which of these is vegan? a) Brad Pitt, b) Jennifer Lopez or c) Miley Cyrus?
我们提出的有名素食主义者的问题：哪一个是素食主义者？a选项Brad Pitt, b选项Jennifer Lopez还是c选项Miley Cyrus？
And I said it was Miley Cyrus.
我说是Miley Cyrus。
Well, you’re kind of half right, Catherine. In fact, both Brad Pitt and Miley Cyrus are vegan.
你大概对了一半，凯瑟琳。实际上，Brad Pitt和Miley Cyrus都是素食主义者。
Jennifer Lopez used to be, but has since started eating meat again, apparently.
Jennifer Lopez曾经是，但显然她又重新开始吃肉了。
Now, why don’t we wrap up by looking at today’s vocabulary one more time?
现在，我们为什么不再来复习一遍今天的单词收尾呢？
Well – we started with emissions: gases produced by something or an activity such as digestion.
我们从emissions开始：某些东西或者一个活动，比如消化，产生的气体。
Livestock emissions for example – are gases produced by animals.
比如牲畜排放——是动物产生的气体。
We can also add a word that describes a kind of emissions, like methane emissions or greenhouse gas emissions.
我们还可以加一个词来形容一种特别的排放，比如甲烷排放或温室气体排放。
Next up we had in this day and age – which means ’these days’.
下一个是in this day and age——意思是现在。
I still can’t believe you still don’t have a smartphone in this day and age, Neil.
我仍然无法相信你在如今没有一个智能手机，尼尔。
Well, maybe I just object to smartphones for ethical reasons!
呃，也许我只是因为道德原因反对智能手机！
So you have for moral reasons to smartphones?
所以你对智能手机有道德疑问？
Yeah, for me it’s important to understand the conditions of the workers in the factory where the smartphone is made.
是的，对我来说了解智能手机工厂里面工人的工作环境很重要。
That’s fair enough then. But, Neil, you haven’t become vegan yet for ethical reasons, have you?
好，你说的对。但是，尼尔，你没有因为道德原因变成素食主义者，对吗？
You’ve got me there – I admire veganism but I still like cheese too much to do it! Veganism is the noun.
这个让你说对了——我欣赏素食主义，但我还是太喜欢芝士了，做不到素食主义！素食主义是一个名词。
That’s right. So two more words to go – we have arid and livestock. Arid describes land that is too dry to support many crops or plants.
是的，还有两个单词——arid和livestock。arid用来描述土地很干燥，无法养活很多庄稼或植物。
But arid regions can sometimes support livestock – livestock means farm animals.
但贫瘠地区有些时候可以养活livestock——livestock的意思是农场里的动物。
If you think of the ’stock’ as being the assets of a business, then animals are ’living’ or ’live’ stock.
如果你把“stock”想作一个事业中的资产，那么动物就是“living”或者“live”（两个词意思都是活的）的stock。
And that brings us to the end of today’s programme.
我们今天的节目就到这里了。
Join us on our Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and YouTube pages for lots more! Let us know what you think of veganism!
加入我们的Facebook, Twitter, Instagram和YouTube网页，获取更多资讯！让我们知道你对素食主义的看法！
Bye for now. Bye!
再见。再见！