BBC随身英语｜你的午餐是否在“透支”地球？

Is your lunch costing the earth?

A lunch break – it's an important and often necessary part of our working or school day. It's a chance to stop your tummy rumbling, grab a bite to eat and maybe chat with some friends. And now we're spoilt with an array of places to buy our lunch from, all offering tempting dishes and humble sandwiches to eat on the go.

But our appetite for buying our lunchtime fare is not just costing us money, there might be a cost in terms of damaging our planet too. Just grabbing a sandwich, crisps and maybe a cake and coffee can produce at least four items of waste.

Cartons, cups, wrappers and plastic cutlery are all part of our disposable feast in addition to the food waste we create. Some experts say throwing away food, which produces methane as it rots, is a bigger cause of climate change than plastics.

But regardless of what causes the most damage, the solution, according to an environmental campaign group called Hubbub, is to eat packed lunches. Tessa Tricks from the group says "People are saying that they are buying food to take out because life has got busier."

And she says people think they are being more efficient; but she argues that it's usually healthier and cheaper to make your own lunch. It means you can eat the things you really want and make the quantity that you actually need.

Of course, preparing your lunch is another thing to fit into your morning scramble of getting ready for work, so if you haven't got time and you are going to buy lunch, an alternative Hubbub suggests is to take your own container to a shop and ask them to put your food in it.

The idea of using reusable coffee cups for hot drinks and refilling water bottles has already proved successful, so this could be another step in the right direction. A trial in East Anglia (in the UK) showed that offering a 10% price reduction did persuade some customers to come prepared with their own lunch box.

The problem with eating on the move is that you might want to carry your grub in something that is disposable, so it's a good idea to make sure it's something that is recyclable and not to take extra sachets of sauce or utensils that you're not going to use.

The message seems to be that if we give our lunchtime eating habits some thought, we can all do our bit in helping reduce climate change and damage to our environment. That is something for all of us to chew on!

词汇表
lunch break 午休，午餐时间
tummy rumbling [ˈtʌmi ˈrʌmblɪŋ] 肚子咕咕叫，饥肠辘辘
grab a bite to eat [ɡræb] 随便吃点东西，简单吃点
spoil [spɔɪl] vt. 使有过多选择，让人挑花眼；宠坏，溺爱
an array of [əˈreɪ] 一系列，大量
tempting [ˈtemptɪŋ] adj. 诱人的，吸引人的
humble [ˈhʌmbl] adj. 简单的，普通的，不起眼的
eat on the go / move 边走边吃，便携食用，在路上吃
appetite [ˈæpətaɪt] n. 欲望，嗜好；食欲，胃口
fare [feə(r)] n. （餐馆的）食物，饭菜
carton [ˈkɑːtən] n. 硬纸盒，塑料盒
wrapper [ˈræpə(r)] n. 包装纸，包装材料
cutlery [ˈkʌtləri] n. 餐具（刀叉勺等）
disposable [dɪˈspəʊzəbl] adj. 一次性的，用后即丢的
feast [fiːst] n. 盛宴，大餐
methane [ˈmiːθeɪn] n. 甲烷，沼气
rot [rɒt] vi. 腐烂，腐败，变质
packed lunch [pækt] 自带午餐，盒装午餐
scramble [ˈskræmbl] n. 匆忙，忙乱
container [kənˈteɪnə(r)] n. 容器；集装箱
reusable [ˌriːˈjuːzəbl] adj. 可重复使用的，可再次利用的
refill [ˌriːˈfɪl] vt. 重新装满，续满
lunch box 饭盒，便当，午餐盒
grub [ɡrʌb] n. 食物
sachet [sæˈʃeɪ] n. 小袋，小包（装调料、香料等）
sauce [sɔːs] n. 酱料，调味汁
utensil [juːˈtensl] n. （厨房的）器具，用具
do one's bit 尽自己的一份力，出一份力
chew on [tʃuː] 仔细思考，深思，考虑

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