It is a battle that has divided East and West for centuries: Are chopsticks superior to the knife and fork? Now the debate may finally be decided, on environmental grounds.
筷子好用還是刀叉好用？這是幾個(gè)世紀(jì)以來東方和西方一直有爭議的一個(gè)話題。而現(xiàn)在從環(huán)保角度出發(fā)，這場曠日持久的辯論似乎終于可以塵埃落定了。

With 1.4 billion people ploughing through 80 billion pairs of throwaway chopsticks each year, China has admitted its forests can no longer provide enough cutlery for its dinner tables.
每年，14億的中國人會(huì)使用到800億雙一次性筷子，中國也承認(rèn)因?yàn)楸緡纳仲Y源已經(jīng)無法為人們的餐桌提供足夠的筷子了。

"We must change our consumption habits and encourage people to carry their own tableware," said Bo Guangxin, the chairman of Jilin Forestry Industry Group, to his fellow delegates at the National People's Congress.
吉林森林工業(yè)集團(tuán)的董事長柏廣新日前在兩會(huì)期間建議：“我們應(yīng)該改變消費(fèi)習(xí)慣，鼓勵(lì)人們出門吃飯時(shí)也自己帶餐具?！?

Pointing out that only 4,000 chopsticks can be carved from a 20-year-old tree, he even went so far as to suggest that restaurants offered metal knives and forks instead. If Mr Bo's suggestion is widely adopted, it would be a dark moment in the chopstick's 4,000-year history.
他指出，一顆20年樹齡的樹木只能生產(chǎn)出4000雙筷子。他甚至還建議，餐館應(yīng)該直接使用金屬制的刀叉代替筷子。如果柏廣新的建議被廣泛采用，中國4000多年的筷子歷史可能就會(huì)遭遇“黑暗時(shí)刻”。

It was Da Yu, the founder of the Xia dynasty, who is said to have first used two sticks to eat his food in roughly 2100 BC.
筷子的起源大約在公元前2100年，夏朝的開國之君大禹據(jù)說是第一個(gè)使用兩只棍子來吃飯的人。

It was an invention born of urgency. In his rush to reach a flood zone, Da Yu did not want to wait for his meat in his wok to cool, instead seizing a pair of twigs and wolfing down his meal.
筷子的誕生是因?yàn)闀r(shí)間緊迫，當(dāng)時(shí)大禹趕著去治水，沒時(shí)間等自己的食物涼下來，就直接拿起兩根小細(xì)枝狼吞虎咽吃完了飯。

Chopsticks quickly became popular around Asia. However Chinese chopsticks are longer than their Korean and Japanese counterparts in order to reach the communal dishes in the centre of the table. Koreans also often use metal chopsticks because of their love of barbecue.
筷子很快在亞洲地區(qū)流行起來，不過中國人使用的筷子比韓國人和日本人使用的要長，因?yàn)樾枰獖A到桌子中間的公菜。韓國人因?yàn)閻鄢詿?，所以也?jīng)常使用金屬制的筷子。

The fork, meanwhile, is said to have been invented by the Romans, but did not become common in northern Europe until the 18th century.
而叉子則據(jù)說是由羅馬人發(fā)明的，直到18世紀(jì)才在北歐地區(qū)常用起來。

Today, however, China is chopping down 20 million mature trees a year to feed its disposable chopstick habit, according to Mr Bo.
而根據(jù)柏廣新的說法，如今中國每年要砍掉2000萬顆成熟樹木，來滿足人們使用一次性筷子的習(xí)慣。

Nor can China find enough wood in its own forests. China is now the world's largest importer of wood and even imports chopsticks from America, where a company in Georgia realised that the state's native gum wood would be perfectly suited to make the utensil.
而中國的森林里如今已經(jīng)沒有足夠的木材來供應(yīng)這樣的需求。中國現(xiàn)在是世界上最大的木材進(jìn)口國，甚至還需要從美國進(jìn)口筷子。喬治亞州的一家公司表示，當(dāng)?shù)氐脑暷z木材很適合制成筷子。

A previous estimate from China's state forestry administration, based on statistics from 2004 to 2009, put the yearly total at 57 billion disposable chopsticks, a much lower sum.
基于2004年到2009年的數(shù)據(jù)，中國國家林業(yè)局此前作出估計(jì)，中國每年的一次性筷子消費(fèi)可能會(huì)達(dá)到570億雙，這個(gè)數(shù)據(jù)比實(shí)際數(shù)據(jù)要低得多。