不可思议的新技术：断铅笔变成西红柿(双语)|发芽铅笔|双语

不可思议,这支铅笔变成西红柿

　　想必想起废旧的断铅笔，大家想到的都是脏乎乎的垃圾桶吧。但是，美国最新研发了一项新技术，可以变废为宝，铅笔摇身变为西红柿！

　　"There are 15 billion pencils made annually, and three million of those just in the United States. That’s a lot of pencil stubs thrown away," said Michael Stausholm, CEO of Sprout World.

　　“每年有150亿铅笔出产,他们中的三百万在美国.很多断笔都被扔了,” Sprout World.首席运营官Michael Stausholm,说。

　　Denmark-based Sprout World wants to shrink this waste. The startup makes plantable pencils that grow into vegetables, herbs or flowering plants once you’re done using them.

　　丹麦Sprout World想要减少这些废品。最开始让可耕种的铅笔在被你用完后变为蔬菜，甘草或者开花植物。

　　Stausholm said the pencils, made from cedar in Pine City, Minnesota, are the perfect sustainable product because one "dying product is literally giving life to a new product."

　　Stausholm说，铅笔是由明尼苏达州松城的雪松制造的，是完美的可持续的产品，因为它让“死去的产品获得新生。”

　　Where a typical eraser would be, these wooden pencils have a capsule made from biodegradable material that contains a small mixture of seeds and peat.

　　在有橡皮擦的地方，这些木铅笔有一个可降解材料制成的胶囊，里面混有种子和豆子。

　　You plant the capsule in a pot of soil and use the stub end of the pencil as a marker. The capsule dissolves and the seeds grow into a plant.

　　你把胶囊种在一抔土中，然后用笔底部作为种子。胶囊溶化，种子成长为植物。

　　The pencils come in 14 varieties ($19.95 for a pack of eight), including tomato, lavender, basil, sunflower and green pepper.

　　这种铅笔一共有14种（八只19.95美元），包括西红柿，薰衣草，罗勒，太阳花和青椒。

　　The pencils were developed by three MIT students in 2012.

　　2012年，这些铅笔由麻省理工的学生研发。

　　"At the time, I was living in Denmark and working a lot with sustainable companies," he said. "But sustainability is hard to illustrate to consumers. I was searching for a product that could easily do that."

　　“那是，我居住在丹麦和很多可持续公司工作，”他说，“但是可持续很难对消费者解释，我正在寻找一种便于解释的产品。”

　　A year later, he came across Sprout Pencils when it was a Kickstarter campaign."I loved the idea. It was a perfect way to explain what sustainability is all about," said Stausholm.

　　一年后，他碰到了“发芽铅笔”，当时它还在筹备。“我很喜欢这个想法。这是一种完美的方法来解释可持续是什么，”Stausholm.说。

　　Stausholm partnered with the students and convinced them to let him sell the pencils in Denmark. "We sold 70,000 pencils in the spring of 2013. We realized there was definitely demand for them," he said.

　　Stausholm和学生合伙，说服他们让他在丹麦出售铅笔。“我们在2013年春天卖出70000支铅笔。我们意识到他们绝对有需求。”他说。

　　By 2014, the startup had sold a million pencils across Europe.

　　2014年，开始阶段已经在全欧洲卖出100万支铅笔。

　　Later that year, Stausholm acquired the patents and rights to the brand and became Sprout World’s CEO.

　　那年末，Stausholm获得了专利和产权，成为了Sprout World的首席运营官。

　　He said Sprout World now sells an average of 450,000 pencils a month and has logged more than $3 million in revenue.

　　他说Sprout World现在平均每月出售450000支铅笔，收入超过300万美金。