VOA常速英语:新社区努力帮助饥饿的人们

The idea is simple: Instead of throwing away unused, still good to eat food, local businesses and residents can leave it in a public refrigerator for others.
这个想法很简单：不把未食用、还能吃的食物丢掉，当地的企业和居民可以把它放在公共冰箱里供他人食用。

This new fridge is situated in the heart of London’s Brixton District.Neighboring business owners help stock and clean the fridge each day.According to The People’s Fridge founders, food waste is a huge issue in Britain.On average, restaurants throw away 900,000 tons of food each year while households waste the equivalent of 24 edible meals a month.But with 8.4 million people in Britain living in food insecurity, that food could be going to good use. And The People’s Fridge helps bridge that gap. Employees at the Ritzy Cinema now and now are giving their cafe’s surplus cakes to the fridge instead of sending them to a landfill.
这个新冰箱位于伦敦布里克斯顿区的心脏地带。住在这附近的企业主帮忙每天往冰箱里储存食物，并负责卫生清理。据“人民冰箱”创始人介绍，食物浪费是英国的一大难题。平均而言，餐馆每年扔掉90万吨食物，而家庭平均每月浪费的食物量几乎相当于24顿饭。但在英国，仍有840万人面临着粮食短缺问题，所以这些被浪费的食物应当被合理利用。“人民冰箱”就有助于弥合这一差距。豪华影院的员工会时不时地将他们咖啡馆剩余的蛋糕放进这个公共冰箱里，而不会采用填埋的方式进行处理。

“We had about a staff member come down and heard about the project.And it just seemed like a great idea. Businesses like us, we waste a lot of food often that can be donated to people who are in need and to help support the community in Brixton which we are on a par with are kind of important to us.”
“我们有一个工作人员听说了这个项目，很是支持。这个想法的确听起来很棒。像我们这样的企业，经常浪费大量的食物，其实可以把这些食物捐赠给有需要的人，帮助支持布里克斯顿社区，我们认为这是很重要的一件事情。”

A group of 25 food activists came up with the idea of starting The People’s Fridge and raised more than 2,500 dollars to start the project.
25名剩食社会活动家提出了启动“人民冰箱”的想法，并筹集了2500余美元以实施该项目。

“Food we’ve put on the shelves or we’ve had pulled off the shelves is generally leaving the shelves within 36 hours of its being there. There are lots of people who are in work, who are receiving an income but who still can’t afford the rising costs of food and who really benefit from such initiatives. Here from my experience, it feels like there is demand and the demand is rising.”
“通常来说，我们冰箱所储存食物的更换频率是36个小时。有很多人有工作，有收入，但随着食品价格的不断上涨，他们还是无力负担，这些项目真的能帮到他们。从我的经验来看，我感觉不少人有这样的需求，而且需求还在上升。”

Anyone can donate food or take it out. The People’s Fridge provides a visible focus for cutting food waste and feeding the hungry in London.
任何人都可以捐赠或取用食物。不难看出，“人民冰箱”既能减少食物浪费，又能为伦敦的饥饿人群提供食物。

Founders hope this will inspire other cities around the world.
创始人希望公共冰箱也能为世界上其他城市提供解决问题的思路。

For writer Faiza Elmasry, I’m Faith Lapidus, VOA News.
VOA新闻，费兹·埃尔马斯里撰稿，菲斯·拉皮德斯为您播报。