本集內容

Turning pineapples into bags 用菠蘿葉子做包包

學習要點

有關 “money（金錢）” 的詞匯

邊看邊答

What does the reporter compare the feel of the pineapple leaf fabric to?

文字稿

Picking pineapples can be arduous, heavy work often with little reward. The price paid for each individual fruit is a fraction of a penny.

采摘菠蘿可是一項苦差事，而且往往回報甚微。每個菠蘿的價格僅是一便士的零頭。

The leaves from pineapple plants are usually thrown away. A use for them has now been found, turning the leaves into fabric – which provides some extra income for workers.

菠蘿的葉子通常會被扔掉。現在，人們發現了菠蘿葉子的用途，把葉子變成布料，為勞動者提供額外的收入。

Ben Patton, designer for Materia Products
I think everybody was quite surprised that the fabric was made of pineapple. Because it doesn’t smell like pineapple, it’s not spikey, it's got a nice texture to it. So it’s quite an unusual thing to be working with.

本·巴頓                    Materia Products 公司設計師
“我覺得每個人都很驚訝，布料是菠蘿做的。因為它聞起來不像菠蘿，不扎手， 摸起來也很舒服。所以這是一種很不尋常的面料。”

To make the fabric, fibres are extracted from the leaves. These get sent from the Philippines to Spain. Once there, machinists complete the process of turning them into a material which has been named 'Pinatex'.

為了制作這種面料，人們從樹葉中提取纖維。這些樹葉從菲律賓運到西班牙。等運到之后，機械師將它們制成一種叫做 “Pinatex” 的纖維面料。

An online shop based in Cambridge has begun using Pinatex to create handbags, satchels and purses.

位于劍橋的一家網店已經開始使用 Pinatex 制作手袋、背包和錢包。

And these are the finished bags. If you want one, they’ll set you back around 137 pounds. The texture is slightly crinkled – not too different to some leathers.

這些就是做好的成品。如果你想擁有一個，你就得花137英鎊。質地有輕微的褶皺，與某些皮革沒有太大的區別。

As manufacturers become more confident using the material, it’s hoped more items will be made out of it in the future, making use of pineapple leaves that were otherwise destined to be wasted.

生產商對這種材料的使用越來越有信心，他們希望未來能利用這種材料生產出更多的產品，有效地使用菠蘿葉子，讓那些原本會枯萎凋零的葉子重獲新生。

詞匯

reward 報酬，回報

penny 便士（英鎊中最小的輔幣單位）

income 收入

purses 女士錢包

set you back ……讓你破費

問題答案

The reporter compares its feel to some types of leather.