24考研题源外刊阅读《哈佛商业评论》双语精读版训练--又整活了!商品包装上的“环

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  中国高翻团队倾力之作

  全文字数:2106字

  阅读时间:20分钟

  上期划线句答案

  Alix believes its assessment is a game-changer for the firm — (itusesresults to resolve problems within teams and, like other companies,believestesting helps diversify its workforce as it is not recruiting from certain schools or people with specific degrees. )

  Alix认为其评估测试对公司来说是一个颠覆性的工具——Alix利用评估结果来解决团队内部的问题,并且像其他公司一样,它认为测试有助于使其劳动力更加多样化,因为它并非从某些学校或拥有特定学位的人中招聘。

  本期内容

  双语阅读

  The environmental threat posed by plastic packaging is well known. The popular press and environmental groups alike have long stressed the dangers of plastic products, from their impact on marine wildlife to their buildup in landfills. In contrast, paper is often seen as the sustainable, environmentally friendly alternative — despite the reality that more than six million tons of paper packaging end up in U.S. landfills every year.

  塑料包装对环境的威胁众所周知。大众媒体和环保组织长期以来一直强调塑料产品的危害,包括它们对海洋野生动物的影响以及在垃圾填埋场里堆积如山等等。相比之下,纸张一直被视为可持续的、环保的替代品——尽管事实是美国每年有超过600万吨的纸包装最终进入到填埋场。

  Whether due to genuine concern for the environment or the widespreadvilificationof plastic among consumers, many companies have invested heavily in reducing their use of plastic packaging. Unilever, for instance, has pledged to halve its use of non-recycled plastic by 2025, while British supermarketchainTesco launched a sustainable packaging initiative to reduce its annual packaging footprint by 1.5 billion pieces of plastic.

  无论是出于对环境真心的关注,还是消费者普遍对塑料的指责,很多公司在减少塑料包装的使用上都投入了巨大的资金。例如,联合利华承诺到2025年将不可回收塑料的使用量减少一半,英国超市连锁特易购发起了一项可持续包装倡议,每年减少15亿块塑料包装。

  And these efforts may indeed have a positive environmental impact. But another trend that’s grown out of the anti-plastic movement is a lot less positive: overpackaging. More and more brands have begun adding superfluous paper packaging on top of plastic packaging in order to make their products look more environmentally friendly, without actually reducing plastic waste.

  这些努力可能确实会对环境产生积极影响。但反塑料运动过程中兴起的另一个趋势却不怎么积极:过度包装。越来越多的品牌开始在塑料包装上增加不必要的纸质包装,从而让自己的产品看起来更环保,但事实上却并没有减少塑料浪费。

  Unfortunately, there’s a very good reason companies are adopting this clearly problematic approach: It works. Through a series of eight studies with more than 4,000 participants from across the U.S., the UK, and the Netherlands, we found that consumers will perceive a product’s packaging as more environmentally friendly if it’s plastic with an additional layer of paper than if the product is visibly packaged in identical plastic packaging but without the paper.

  不幸的是,公司采用这种明显有问题的方法有一个很好的理由:这种方式有用。翻译划线句,长按文末小程序码打卡,答案下期公布~

  In other words, simplyslappingsome paper on top of plastic packaging makes a product seem more environmentally friendly, even if you can still see that it’swrapped inexactly the same amount of plastic. These perceptions in turn make consumers both more likely to buy a product, and willing to pay more for it. The good news is, overpackaging isn’t the only way to signal sustainability and attract environmentally conscious consumers. In our studies, we found that instead of additional paper packaging, simply adding a “minimal packaging” sticker to plastic packaging could correct the misperception that overpackaged products are more sustainable.

  换句话说,只要在塑料包装外层加上一点纸质包装,就会让产品看起来更环保,即使你仍然可以看到它被完全等量的塑料包装着。这些认知反过来会促使消费者更有可能购买某种产品,并愿意为此支付更多的钱。好消息是,过度包装并不是标志可持续性和吸引有环保意识的消费者的唯一方法。在我们的研究中,我们发现,除了添加纸质包装之外,在塑料包装上只贴一个“最简易包装”的标签,也可以纠正人们对过度包装的产品更可持续的误解。

  本文节选自:Harvard Business Review(哈佛商业评论)

  发布时间:2023.04.21

  作者:Aradhna Krishna

  原文标题:How Unnecessary Paper Packaging Creates the Illusion of Sustainability

  词汇积累

  1. vilification

  /?vilifi'kei??n/

  n.诽谤;中伤;污蔑

  2. chain

  /t?e?n/

  n. 链,链条; 一连串,一系列; 连锁商店; 测链; 连环式(指一群房主先售后购的置屋方式); 约束,束缚

  v. 用锁链拴住; 拘禁,束缚

  3. slap

  /sl?p/

  v. (用手掌)打,拍; 拍打,拍击; (尤指生气地)啪的一声放下,随意扔放; (快速地、随意地或用力地)涂抹(某物); 甩击; 侮辱

  n. 拍,掌击; 掌击声,拍打声; 侮辱

  adj. 精力不足的,效率不高的; (食物)松软的,过于柔软的

  词组搭配

  1.be wrapped in 把……包在……里,遮蔽,使陷于

  写作句总结

  Whether due to genuine concern for the environment or the widespread vilification of plastic among consumers, many companies have invested heavily in reducing their use of plastic packaging.

  结构:Whether due to genuine concern for the environment or the widespread vilification of … among consumers, many companies have invested heavily in ….

  无论是出于对环境真心的关注,还是消费者普遍对…的指责,很多公司在…上都投入了巨大的资金。

  例句:Whether due to genuine concern for the environment or the widespread vilification of exhaust gas among consumers, many companies have invested heavily in reducing exhaust emissions.

  阅读理解题

  What is the author's main argument in the passage?

  A. The environmental threat posed by plastic packaging is well known, but paper packaging is not the sustainable, environmentally friendly alternative that most people think it is.B. Companies are investing heavily in reducing their use of plastic packaging, but overpackaging with additional paper is becoming a new trend in the anti-plastic movement.C. Overpackaging with additional paper is a problematic approach adopted by companies to make their products look more environmentally friendly, but adding a "minimal packaging" sticker to plastic packaging can correct the misperception that overpackaged products are more sustainable.D. Consumers will perceive a product's packaging as more environmentally friendly if it has an additional layer of paper on top of plastic, but they are less likely to buy a product if it is visibly packaged in identical plastic packaging without the paper.

  C,对比择优选C,C项更为全面,既说明了商家掩耳盗铃环保方式的问题,又囊括了最后一段提出的改进措施。

  打卡作业

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  (戳码回复“J88”)

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