为环保我的布袋惹人笑 画/刘力

    President Hu Jintao's call for more personal responsibility in helping to protect and improve the environment resonates very strongly in my heart; as does the government's call for a green Olympics. It makes me think about what I can do as a guest who has lived in Beijing for almost four years now and has observed the city becoming ever more beautiful, with more trees, shrubs, flowers and lawns turning it into a real garden city.

    But one aspect of the pollution that is very noticeable in this windy city is the plastic bags that swirl gracefully among the tall buildings till they are captured by some tree branch or that skitter along the roadways and sidewalks until they are picked up by the sanitation workers. But too often these ubiquitous plastic bags end up in the city's potentially lovely waterways and, just as bad, in farmers' fields. This floating trash clogs the waterways, clutters the fields, ruins the gardens and blights the trees.

    I have the perfect readymade Chinese solution for this problem, but it is a solution that many Chinese, especially younger city folk, have abandoned: those wonderful cloth bags with the circular plastic rings as handles. I have three of them. I had them made in Wuwei during a visit there 3 years ago because I couldn't find any in Beijing. When I lived in Lanzhou between 1990 and 1993, we all carried those marvelous environmentally friendly bags everywhere. Shops didn't give out plastic bags in those days and the environment was better off as a result. When I returned to China in 2001, the cloth bags were nowhere to be seen in Beijing. So I had three made, two black ones for "dress" occasions when I wanted to look more elegant while shopping on Wangfujing or at the World Trade Center and a much larger one in an odd green for shopping for household items at Tiankelong, buying fresh vegetables at the local farmers' market, or purchasing sandpaper, nails and hand tools at the hardware shop.

    I seem to be an object of amusement to many Chinese. This is partly because I always wear what could be called fancy silk tangzhuang when teaching or going to upscale functions, or padded cotton jackets and vests when walking around the neighborhood. I love these clothes because they are more comfortable than the suits and ties I would probable have worn to teach class in the US, and also because they look so much better than American men's clothes.

    But another reason I get laughed at is my cloth bags. The other day I had some very heavy things to carry and my Chinese friend wanted to get a sanlunche to transport them across campus. When I insisted on carrying them in my cloth bags hooked together like saddle bags over my shoulder, one in front of me and one behind, he suggested that I wait until after dark so that no one would witness me looking like an old farmer. But I persisted and, sure enough, not only did people stare at me and laugh but some actually pointed me out to their friends. Well, I enjoyed it too. I feel proud of my cloth bags and every time I use them instead of the awful plastic bags I feel good about the fact that at least there will not be another plastic bag flying around the city because of Lao Du's carelessness.

    I am a proud old man but no one can make me feel shame or embarrassment for using my cloth bags and thereby helping, in my oh-so-small way, to keep the environment cleaner. I recommend that we make these old-style Chinese cloth bags fashionable again! Won't you join me and all my Chinese colleagues of my age and make a "new trend" of the old practice for the sake of China's environment?




漫画双语：为环保 我的布袋惹人笑
    

    胡锦涛主席号召人们在帮助保护和改善环境方面担起更大的责任，我对此产生了强烈的共鸣，使我有同感的还有政府关于绿色奥运的号召。这让我思考我这个在北京住了将近四年的外国人能为之做点什么, 我眼看着这个城市正变得比以往任何时候都更加美丽——越来越多的乔木灌木和鲜花绿地正把她变成一个名副其实的花园城市。

    但是, 在这个多风的城市里有一种污染非常显眼，那就是塑料袋，它们或是优雅地盘旋于高耸的楼宇之间，最后挂落在树枝上；或是掠过马路和便道，直到环卫工人捡起来为止；但更为经常的是，这些无处不在的塑料袋最后飘落在本应是宜人可爱的水道上；同样糟糕的是，它们还常常掉落在农田里。这些塑料袋令水道阻塞，田间混乱，它们破坏着花园，使树木有伤大雅。

    对于这个问题，我有个绝好的中国式的现成方法来解决，但很多中国人尤其是城里的年轻人都已经弃之不用了——那就是有着圆形塑料环作为提手的布袋，它们真是好极了。这样的布袋我有三个，是三年前我在甘肃省武威市游历时请人做的，因为当时在北京我买不到。1990-1993年我住在兰州，那时人们去哪儿都带着于环境极有益处的布袋，商店则不给塑料袋，这使得那儿的环境状况很好。2001年我再来中国的时候，北京哪儿都不卖那样的布袋，我只得找人做了三个：两个黑色的是为需要注意着装的场合用的，在这些场合我想使自己看上去更优雅一些，比如在王府井或世贸中心购物的时候；第三个要大得多，绿颜色怪怪的，用于在天客隆超市买日用品，在附近农贸市场买新鲜蔬菜，或是在五金商店买砂纸、钉子和手工工具。

    对于很多中国人来说，我似乎是个可笑的人，部分原因是我在给学生讲课或是在高级别的社交活动中时总是穿别致的丝绸“唐装”，在住宅小区散步时穿中式棉布夹袄和棉马甲。我喜欢这些衣服，与我在美国教书时穿西装系领带相比，它们穿起来更舒服，而且看上去也比美国的男装好得多。

    我惹人笑的另一个原因就是我的布袋。有一天，我需要搬运一些很重的东西，一位中国朋友想去找辆三轮车装上它们穿过校园。当我坚持要把那些东西装在我的两个布袋里，并把布袋像马褡子那样系在一起，一前一后搭在肩上，他就建议我等天黑再行动，这样就没人看到我像个老农了。可我坚持使用我那“马褡子”，的确，一路上不仅有人盯着我发笑，还有人指着我让他们的朋友看。没关系，我也自得其乐。我为我的布袋自豪，每次我用布袋而不用那讨厌的塑料袋时，感觉就特好——至少又有一个塑料袋不会因我老杜的粗心疏忽而在北京乱飞了。

    我是个自尊自重的老人，但是，当我使用布袋并通过这一微不足道的方式来使环境更清洁时，任何人都不会让我感到不光彩或是尴尬。我建议，让我们把这些老式的中式布袋重新“时髦”起来。你难道不想加入到我以及所有与我年纪相仿的中国同事们的行列，为了中国的环境将这一老式做法促成“新潮”？