響應世界地球日!原來五千年前用的吸管超環保

Photo:Pixabay

環境保護署(Environmental Protection Administration)在2019年發布限用一次性塑膠吸管的政策草案(single-use plastic straw ban draft)。星巴克也在兩年內禁止全球所有分店使用一次性塑膠吸管,將使用生物可分解材料製作的吸管(biodegradable and compostable materials)、紙吸管或特別設計的無吸管杯蓋(straw less lid)。

當「塑膠吸管全面禁用以後該怎麼喝珍奶」的討論話題持續延燒至今,找到解方(solution)也成為眾多21 世紀科學家和企業家的目標,但你知道人類在多早之前就開始使用吸管了嗎?

回顧餐具的發明史,吸管可以說是人類最早發明的餐具之一。事實上學者已經發現人類早在五千年前就開始使用吸管。考古學家在蘇美文明的城市與墳墓遺跡裡,就發現古代蘇美人用貴金屬如黃金或青金石(lapislazuli)製成的吸管。

精選新聞例

The oldest confirmed straw usage has been found in an Ancient Sumerian tomb dating from approximately 3,000 B.C. On its walls, royals are depicted drinking beer through long, cylindrical tubes; amongst the offerings to the dead are drinking apparatuses shaped out of the precious blue stone lapis lazuli.
(最早發現人類使用吸管的確切證據,是西元前三千年前在蘇美文明的墳墓裡找到的。在牆上繪製著貴族階級用長型的圓柱管子喝酒,也在祭祀先人的供品裡發現由貴金屬青金石製成的飲用器具。)

These expensive 3,000 B.C. artifacts can give us the proof that the more simple designs were used far earlier than that, most probably created from carved wood or natural hollow plants.
(這些西元前三千年前的珍貴古物可以用來證明人類在更早之前就有(比金屬吸管)還更簡單的吸管設計,例如木製吸管或本身就是空心的植物做的吸管。)

On the other side of the world, in Argentina, natives used drinking straws for several thousand years. Their simple wooden designs were later on adapted in metallic device called “bombilla"which serves as both straw and sieve for drinking tea.
(世界另一頭,阿根廷的原住民也早就使用吸管用了好幾千年。他們簡單的木製吸管設計,在後來改成金屬材質,名為“bombilla",可在喝茶時當吸管或濾器兩用。)

In 1888, Ohio-born Marvin Stone patented the spiral winding process to manufacture the first paper drinking straws, calling it an artificial straw. Stone was already a manufacturer of paper cigarette holders. By experimenting with winding paper strips around a pencil, Stone came up with the first drinking straw. Further experiments found that coating the paper with para¬n kept the straw from becoming soggy. By 1906 a machine had been invented that could manufacture these straws in bulk, thereby enabling their widespread introduction across America.
(1888年,俄亥俄州出生的馬文史東將螺旋捲繞法製造紙吸管的方式申請專利,因此取得了美國第一個「人造吸管」的專利。史東原先就是雪茄包裝紙的製造商。他一開始實驗將紙纏繞在鉛筆上,因此誕生史上第一支紙吸管。接著他發現將紙捲外頭塗上石蠟可以讓吸管不會泡濕。到1906 年時發明能量產吸管的機器,使其吸管銷售全美。)

動腦時間!將句子填入對應空格

請看下圖呼籲大家盡量少用塑膠吸管的英文宣傳海報,並利用圖示找到適當的對應內容。

圖片來源/https://bit.ly/2BMv0fA

(A) Used for minutes, here for centuries, piling up daily
(B) Skip the straw & sip your drink
(C) They expose us to unhealthy toxic chemicals

解答:1. (C), 2. (A), 3. (B)

About吳詩綺
現職:國立師大附中英文科教師、ETS認證托福網路測驗專業發展工作坊講師
學歷:國立中央大學英美語文學系碩士
經歷:美國佛羅里達大學教育系訪問學者、教育部行動研究特優教案得主

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