外國人最想和你聊的時事話題：道德購物

　What is ethical shopping　什么是道德購物

     Very broadly speaking, people who are concerned about ethical issues want to know that the product they're buying hasn't been made at the expense of the people who are producing it, whether it's in this country or abroad. They might also be concerned with other kinds of issues: whether the company is involved in armaments, or whether they're donating money to certain political parties. And that as a shopper, you might not want to give your money to that party so therefore you might not want to buy a product from a company who is supporting a political party that you don't agree with.
     And is there any kind of rule of thumb? Is something that's more expensive, for example, likely to be more ethical?
     Unfortunately it isn't always the case that the more expensive something is, the more ethical it is. We can buy very cheap products and it's very likely that when products are cheap, something has suffered in order to get it to us. Whether it's the person or the animals or the environment who make it. Quality however, is often a good indicator whether something, especially with clothes, has been made well. And unfortunately a lot of ethical products will cost more because they reflect the real cost of bringing that thing into the shops. So something that has been made in a factory where the workers have been paid a proper wage will cost you more to buy, simply because the people making it are getting paid enough to live on.
     Do you have to be well off then to be an ethical shopper?
     It really depends. You don't have to be rich to be an ethical shopper. One way of thinking about ethical shopping is thinking about buying less. Sometimes we buy an awful lot more than we need. We buy more items of clothing than we need. So being an ethical shopper really means thinking a bit before you go and spend your money in the shops. Some things may cost a little bit more in the short-run, but be worth it in the long-run. If you are paying for quality, something will last you longer and then save you money. And sometimes you can buy things second hand. There are a lot of charity shops on the high street to buy, good clothes. Sometimes you can look a lot better than someone who's just bought off the high street because you can have quite a unique look, and the quality that you find in most second hand shops is really very good these days. So it's about thinking before you shop.
     如何能夠成為一名道德購物者？購物時可思考以下五點：減少消費（consume less）。減少對新物品的購買、實用和丟棄；參加政治活動（get campaigning）。參加游行或者政治活動；購買本地商品（locally shopping）。購買本地商品可以減少汽車的使用并能夠支持當(dāng)?shù)氐漠a(chǎn)品和廠商；道德消費（ethical money）。你不僅應(yīng)當(dāng)關(guān)注如何花錢，還應(yīng)當(dāng)關(guān)注把錢存放在哪里，銀行、投資還是儲蓄？我們可以將錢由銀行儲蓄轉(zhuǎn)移到道德投資基金中；循環(huán)利用和使用二手貨（recycling and using second-handed）。減少新產(chǎn)品的購買，循環(huán)利用舊產(chǎn)品可以有效節(jié)約資源并減少垃圾填埋場的壓力。