Ethical shopping 道德购物

Hello and welcome to Trend UK, your shortcut to popular culture from the British Council. In the next few minutes we’re going to be asking whether you’re after value for money when you’re shopping for fashion; or fashion that’s made with values. We’re all after a bargain on the high street. But how often do you stop to consider how some stores seem to stock low-cost/high fashion items quicker and more cheaply than others? Fulfilling our needs for fast fashion means increased production and competition in clothing made in countries with low-wage economies. Our reporter Mark has been to the high street to find out more.
各位听众，大家好，欢迎来到《英国文化》，在这里你能快捷地获取来自英国文化协会的流行文化，在接下来的时间里，我们将询问到你在购买时尚品时是优先考虑价格还是价值。在繁华的商业大街我们都是讨价还价的，但你有多少次想过为什么有一些商店能更快地贮备到低成本的最新时尚品并且以比同行更低的价格出售呢？满足我们对最新时尚品的需求意味着低薪的服饰制造经济体更高强度的生产和更激烈的竞争。我们的记者马克前往繁华的商业街搜寻更多资讯。

Here in a typical British high street there are plenty of bargains to be had. Handbags at £3.99, T-shirts for a fiver and shoes for under a tenner - all roughly equivalent to the price of an everyday meal. But how many of the people shopping in this high street have stopped to think about how it’s possible to sell clothes so cheaply? Is it because some companies are turning a blind eye to the exploitation in the countries where these items are made? Ruth Rothelson is an expert on ethical shopping from the Ethical Consumer Research Association, who amongst other things produced the magazine ‘Ethical Consumer’.
现在我已经来到了典型的英国繁华商业街，这里有数不尽的特价商品。手提包只要3.99英镑，T恤五英磅，鞋子不用十英镑就可以买到，这些商品都大约相当于日常肉类的价格。但是有多少在这里购物的人真正想过为什么这些衣服这么便宜呢？难道是因为一些公司盲目抢占国内市场吗？路斯•罗瑟逊是来自道德消费研究协会的专家，除此之外还是《道德消费》杂志的创办者之一。

Ruth, just tell us what the Ethical Consumer Research Association is.
“路斯，跟我们谈谈道德消费研究协会的性质吧。”

OK, well the Ethical Consumer Research Association exists to provide information for shoppers, letting them know what the companies are doing behind the brands that they see on the shelves.
“好的，道德消费研究协会主要是为消费者了解服饰公司在品牌背后的运作流程提供信息。”

So what makes an ethical shopper?
“怎样才能成为一个合格的道德消费者呢?”

Very broadly speaking, people who are concerned about ethical issues want to know that the product they’re buying hasn’t been made at the expense of the people who are producing it, whether it’s in this country or abroad. They might also be concerned with other kinds of issues: whether the company is involved in armaments, or whether they’re donating money to certain political parties. And that as a shopper, you might not want to give your money to that party so therefore you might not want to buy a product from a company who is supporting a political party that you don’t agree with.
“一般来说，那些关心道德风尚的人们会想要知道国内外的低成本产品制造是否以牺牲员工利益为代价，他们也想要知道，公司是否涉及捐助武器制造，是否以财力资助一些政党组织。作为一个消费者，你并不希望你的钱通过这样的途径流向那个你不支持的政党组织。”

And is there any kind of rule of thumb? Is something that’s more expensive, for example, likely to be more ethical?
“是否有经验法则让我们能够辨别是否符合道德消费清楚提供依据呢？产品越昂贵是不是意味着它更符合道德规范呢？”

Unfortunately it isn’t always the case that the more expensive something is, the more ethical it is. We can buy very cheap products and it’s very likely that when products are cheap, something has suffered in order to get it to us. Whether it’s the person making it or the animals or the environment. Quality however, is often a good indicator whether something, especially with clothes, has been made well. And unfortunately a lot of ethical products will cost more because they reflect the real cost of bringing that thing into the shops. So something that has been made in a factory where the workers have been paid a proper wage will cost you more to buy, simply because the people making it are getting paid enough to live on.
“很不幸的是这种情况并不是必然的，虽然我们可以买到便宜货，但这些产品到达我们手中的过程中可能损害了多方利益，不管是制造这些产品的员工，还是动物、环境，都会遭受磨难。质量是最有说服力的因素，特别是对服饰来说。很不幸地，很多符合道德的产品会消耗更多，因为它反映了产品的真实成本，所以你会花费更多，因为制造这些产品员工也是需要足够的工资生活的。”

Do you have to be well off then to be an ethical shopper?
“成为一位道德消费者需要很富有吗？”

It really depends. You don’t have to be rich to be an ethical shopper. One way of thinking about ethical shopping is thinking about buying less. Sometimes we buy an awful lot more than we need. We buy more items of clothing than we need. So being an ethical shopper really means thinking a bit before you go and spend your money in the shops. Some things may cost a little bit more in the short-run, but be worth it in the long-run. If you are paying for quality, something will last you longer and then save you money. And sometimes you can buy things second-hand. There’s a lot of charity shops on the high street to buy good clothes. Sometimes you can look a lot better than someone who’s just bought off the high street because you can have quite a unique look, and the quality that you find in most second-hand shops is really very good these days. So it’s about thinking before you shop.
“这要看情况而定。你不一定要很富有才能成为一个道德消费者，有一个途径就是能够做到少买。有时候我们购买的东西远远大于我们的需要，我们购买了超出我们需要的衣服，所以要成为道德消费意味着你在购物之前要考虑清楚。有些商品让你在短期内的花费较多，但从长期来看是值得的。如果你注重质量，你购买的东西能持续使用更长时间，这样能为你节省开支。有时候你可以购买二手货，现在在商业街有很多的慈善商店出售质量很好的衣服。穿上你淘来的衣服有时候让你看起来比那些在其它商店购买的人还要好看，因为你的装扮看起来与众不同。还有，现在你能够在大部分的二手店找到质量不错的商品。所以，在购物之前要权量好。”

Thanks Ruth. Now among the shoppers here I’ve got Lauren and Bella. Starting with you Bella, would you consider shopping ethically?
“感谢路斯与我们分享这么多，现在我在购物人群中找到劳伦和贝拉。贝拉，先从你开始，你会考虑做到道德消费吗？”

Definitely for food. And clothing, well, when I buy clothes I wouldn’t want to think of them being made in a sweat shop.
“对于食品来说是必须的，至于衣服类，我对于它们是否来自小工坊没什么在意。”

Lauren you do shop ethically. But you’ve got a slightly different take on it haven’t you.
“劳伦，你确实做到了道德消费，但你对此有不同的看法，对吗？”

Yeah I suppose I shop ethically but my original thing for that was that I like to wear clothes that are different from everyone else. So I would start shopping for vintage clothes. So ethically, obviously they’re second-hand so…also I buy a lot of clothes from market stalls, from fashion students maybe. So they’re all made here, so they would be made ethically as well.
“是的，我能够做到道德消费，但我希望我所穿的衣服能够与众不同，所以会开始考虑购买复古服装，即使它们都是二手货，有时候我也从市场里的小货摊或者那些时尚的学生那里购买衣服，所以它们都是以道德标准生产出来的。”

Thanks Lauren, thanks Bella. Well it’s an interesting debate, and I’ll certainly be doing my clothes shopping with a little bit more care in future.
“感谢劳伦和贝拉与我们分享她们的观点，这真是一个有意思的讨论，以后我会在购买衣服时多加谨慎。”

Our reporter Mark, out among the dedicated and ethical followers of fashion there. And that’s it for this time. Please remember that the opinions expressed in Trend UK are those of the individuals concerned, and not necessarily the views of the British Council. Don’t forget, you can find out what the British Council is doing on contemporary UK by using your local British Council Information Centre or by checking our website www.britishcouncil.org, that’s www.britishcouncil [all one word] .org. Just follow the links under ‘Contact Us’. And while you’re on the website you can also update your English by checking out the words and phrases in the Trend UK online glossary. And tell us what you think by sending us a comment or voting in the online poll. But for now, from me and all the Trend UK Team, bye bye.
我们的记者马克也是忠实的和道德的时尚追随者。今天我们要分享的英国资讯就这么多，请注意，在《英国文化》中所传达的只是个人观点，与英国文化委员会无关，还需注意的是，有关英国文化委员会目前的职务，你可以咨询当地当地英国文化委员会信息中心，或者登陆我们的官方网站www.britishcouncil.org, 注意是www.britishcouncil（是一个连接在一起的词汇）.org，点击“Contact Us”这个链接可以与我们取得联系。在我们的网站，你可以通过在线辞典查找单词和词组来提升你的英语技能，你还可以通过评论或者网上投票向我们表达你对我们的看法或提出意见。感谢您的参与，感谢《英国文化》的制作团队，下次见。