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有这样一幅关于环保的公益漫画：一只木质的手的拇指、无名指和尾指被截去，剩下长着几片小叶的食指和中指摆出了“V”字型的胜利手势，旁白是“这不是胜利”！而今地球已伤痕累累，如何在寻求经济发展的同时保护好环境是每个地球人需要深思和时刻反省的问题。
1970年4月22日，由美国哈佛大学学生丹尼斯·海斯发起并组织的环境保护活动，全美共有2000多万人参加，约1万所中小学、2000所高等院校和各大团体参加了这次活动，从此每年的4月22日就成了世界地球日。保护地球是每个人不容推卸的责任和义务，让我们像文中的那个爸爸一样，从身边做起，从一点一滴做起，成长为一个爱家，爱地球的环保人！
——Lavender
My father is an unlikely environmentalist. To demonstrate his resistance to environmental consciousness, I could point out that for many years his vehicle of choice has been the anything-but-green 2)Chevy Suburban. To up his pollution 3)ante, he also occasionally pilots a Harley Soft Tail—4)kitted out, of course, with straight pipes that produce a deafening roar of exhaust. And yet, he and my mother live in what most would consider an environmentally sensitive house.
Their first experiment with green architecture began in the early 1980s as a means of saving mo-ney. Frustrated by the exorbitant heating and cooling bills in an older, traditional home that was an icebox in the winter and a sauna in the summer, my parents began to investigate more cost-effective possibilities. They were inspired by a new solar house built on the campus of 5)North Carolina State University, and after doing extensive research on their own and consulting with an architect, they decided to build their own 6)passive solar home in 1985. The design Mom and Dad chose has many features of a conventional house, primarily because they were interested in enjoying the benefits of solar energy without significant lifestyle alterations.
Viewed from the street, the house looks like an ivy-covered English cottage, but this traditional
7)facade conceals highly efficient internal features, namely thick, super-insulating concrete floors and walls, and a water-source heat pump that was 8)cutting edge in the mid-1980s. The 9)rear of the house is even more unexpected. Two-thirds of the south-facing wall is comprised of a bi-level brick and glass solar collection room. Each of the rooms in the house opens into this solarium, and approximately 75% of the house’s heat is gathered here.
Mom and Dad’s priorities were much the same when they decided to build a new house on the farm where my mother grew up. This time they selected a 10)Craftsman bungalow house plan, and decided to build it without a solar collection room in order to make the design as authentic as possible. But they were able to use much of their acquired knowledge and incorporate a variety of energy-saving features, from extra-thick walls to an ultra-productive 11)Rumford fireplace. While designing the new house, my dad was able to salvage some logs and hand-hewn 12)heart pine boards from a soon-to-be-demolished cabin my great-grandfather built around the turn of the century. This discovery inspired him to incorporate recycled building materials in the new house. Two abandoned farm-houses destined for the 13)landfill turned out to be treasure 14)troves filled with 15)wainscoting, 16)trim, 17)molding, and 18)stained glass, all in excellent condition. The wainscoting now accents each of the house’s bathrooms and the kitchen, the trim and 19)rosette molding surrounds every window, and my great-grandfather’s heart pine boards now comprise built-in library shelves my father crafted himself. The floors in every room were gathered from barns in Georgia, and are secured with traditional, handmade nails.
Living in this house, my parents are immersed in a collective past, surrounded by material reminders of people they knew and times long gone. Dad, in particular, has benefited from this experience: his new favorite book is 20)Sarah Susanka’s 21)treatise on livability, The Not So Big House. Dare I hope my newly green dad will one day trade in his Suburban for a fuel-efficient gas/electric hybrid 22)compact? His 23)tricked-out Harley for a high-performance bicycle? Probably not, but he has taken a giant leap in the right direction.
我爸不太可能成为环保主义者。要证明他抗拒环保意识，我可以指出，这么多年来，他总是选择会对环境造成污染的雪佛莱跑车作为他的交通工具。在环境污染方面，他罪加一等的举动是时而还驾驶一辆哈雷软尾摩托车——这种摩托车不消说装备着一些直排管，排气时会发出震耳欲聋的吼叫声。然而，他和我妈却住在可以称得上是最能体现环保意识的房子里。
上世纪八十年代初，为了节省开支，他们开始进行第一项绿色建筑的实验。在原先那所比较破旧，设计很传统的房子里居住，冬天像冰窖，夏天像桑拿浴室，昂贵的暖气和冷气开支让人头痛，于是我爸妈开始研究是否能建造更划算的住房。他们受到北卡罗来纳州立大学校园里的一所新建的太阳能房屋的启发，在亲自进行广泛研究并咨询了一位建筑师之后，1985年，他们决定建一所被动式太阳房，并以此为家。爸妈选择的房屋设计和传统的房子有很多相同点，这主要是因为在享受太阳能带来的好处的同时，他们不想太多地改变以往的生活方式。
从街道看过去，那所房子就像一栋覆盖着常春藤的英式小农舍，但房子正面传统的外观隐藏了其内部高性能的特征，即配备着厚实而超级绝缘的水泥地板和墙壁，以及一个水源热泵，这装置在上世纪八十年代中期是最先进的技术成果。房子后部的设计更出人意料，有2/3朝南的墙是用两层砖和玻璃建成的太阳能收集室。屋里的每个房间都通向这个日光室，并且房子里大约75%的热能都是在这里收集到的。
当爸妈决定在我妈小时候生活的那个农场里建一所新房时，他俩的基本构想很相似。这次，他们选择的是一个工匠平房式房屋的设计方案，并决定不在里面建造一个太阳能收集室，为的是使设计看起来更地道。然而他们尽可能地运用两人所掌握的知识，从加厚的墙到高能效的拉姆福德壁炉等诸多方面，赋予了房子一系列的节能特征。在设计新房时，爸爸还在曾祖父建于上世纪初的一栋即将拆毁的小屋里抢救了一些原木和人工砍伐的心材木板。这个收获启发他在新房里加入可循环利用的建筑材料。两间原本准备运往垃圾填筑地的被遗弃的农舍，因为内有处于良好状态的壁板、镶边装饰、装饰线条和彩色玻璃而被视为珍宝。现在，壁板主要用于装饰房子里的每个盥洗室和厨房，镶边装饰和花饰线条环绕着每个窗框，而曾祖父的心材木板则被我爸亲手制成了入墙式书架，每个房间的地板所用的木材都是从乔治亚州的畜棚收集而来的，并被传统的手制钉牢牢固定着。
住在这所房子里，被他们过去所认识的人以及那些往昔时光的遗存之物包围着提醒着，我爸妈沉浸在过去的所有回忆里。特别是爸爸，他从这次经历中获益良多：他最近最喜欢的书就是莎拉•苏珊卡有关住宅及环境的适宜居住性的著作——《不那么大的房子》。我那新近成为绿色使者的老爸，将来有一天会把他的跑车换成一辆高效能的汽油/电力混合小汽车吗？把他那辆被精心装饰过的哈雷摩托车换成一辆高性能的自行车？这是不是我的奢望？也许不太可能，但他已经往正确的方向迈出了关键的一大步。
1970年4月22日，由美国哈佛大学学生丹尼斯·海斯发起并组织的环境保护活动，全美共有2000多万人参加，约1万所中小学、2000所高等院校和各大团体参加了这次活动，从此每年的4月22日就成了世界地球日。保护地球是每个人不容推卸的责任和义务，让我们像文中的那个爸爸一样，从身边做起，从一点一滴做起，成长为一个爱家，爱地球的环保人！
——Lavender
My father is an unlikely environmentalist. To demonstrate his resistance to environmental consciousness, I could point out that for many years his vehicle of choice has been the anything-but-green 2)Chevy Suburban. To up his pollution 3)ante, he also occasionally pilots a Harley Soft Tail—4)kitted out, of course, with straight pipes that produce a deafening roar of exhaust. And yet, he and my mother live in what most would consider an environmentally sensitive house.
Their first experiment with green architecture began in the early 1980s as a means of saving mo-ney. Frustrated by the exorbitant heating and cooling bills in an older, traditional home that was an icebox in the winter and a sauna in the summer, my parents began to investigate more cost-effective possibilities. They were inspired by a new solar house built on the campus of 5)North Carolina State University, and after doing extensive research on their own and consulting with an architect, they decided to build their own 6)passive solar home in 1985. The design Mom and Dad chose has many features of a conventional house, primarily because they were interested in enjoying the benefits of solar energy without significant lifestyle alterations.
Viewed from the street, the house looks like an ivy-covered English cottage, but this traditional
7)facade conceals highly efficient internal features, namely thick, super-insulating concrete floors and walls, and a water-source heat pump that was 8)cutting edge in the mid-1980s. The 9)rear of the house is even more unexpected. Two-thirds of the south-facing wall is comprised of a bi-level brick and glass solar collection room. Each of the rooms in the house opens into this solarium, and approximately 75% of the house’s heat is gathered here.
Mom and Dad’s priorities were much the same when they decided to build a new house on the farm where my mother grew up. This time they selected a 10)Craftsman bungalow house plan, and decided to build it without a solar collection room in order to make the design as authentic as possible. But they were able to use much of their acquired knowledge and incorporate a variety of energy-saving features, from extra-thick walls to an ultra-productive 11)Rumford fireplace. While designing the new house, my dad was able to salvage some logs and hand-hewn 12)heart pine boards from a soon-to-be-demolished cabin my great-grandfather built around the turn of the century. This discovery inspired him to incorporate recycled building materials in the new house. Two abandoned farm-houses destined for the 13)landfill turned out to be treasure 14)troves filled with 15)wainscoting, 16)trim, 17)molding, and 18)stained glass, all in excellent condition. The wainscoting now accents each of the house’s bathrooms and the kitchen, the trim and 19)rosette molding surrounds every window, and my great-grandfather’s heart pine boards now comprise built-in library shelves my father crafted himself. The floors in every room were gathered from barns in Georgia, and are secured with traditional, handmade nails.
Living in this house, my parents are immersed in a collective past, surrounded by material reminders of people they knew and times long gone. Dad, in particular, has benefited from this experience: his new favorite book is 20)Sarah Susanka’s 21)treatise on livability, The Not So Big House. Dare I hope my newly green dad will one day trade in his Suburban for a fuel-efficient gas/electric hybrid 22)compact? His 23)tricked-out Harley for a high-performance bicycle? Probably not, but he has taken a giant leap in the right direction.
我爸不太可能成为环保主义者。要证明他抗拒环保意识，我可以指出，这么多年来，他总是选择会对环境造成污染的雪佛莱跑车作为他的交通工具。在环境污染方面，他罪加一等的举动是时而还驾驶一辆哈雷软尾摩托车——这种摩托车不消说装备着一些直排管，排气时会发出震耳欲聋的吼叫声。然而，他和我妈却住在可以称得上是最能体现环保意识的房子里。
上世纪八十年代初，为了节省开支，他们开始进行第一项绿色建筑的实验。在原先那所比较破旧，设计很传统的房子里居住，冬天像冰窖，夏天像桑拿浴室，昂贵的暖气和冷气开支让人头痛，于是我爸妈开始研究是否能建造更划算的住房。他们受到北卡罗来纳州立大学校园里的一所新建的太阳能房屋的启发，在亲自进行广泛研究并咨询了一位建筑师之后，1985年，他们决定建一所被动式太阳房，并以此为家。爸妈选择的房屋设计和传统的房子有很多相同点，这主要是因为在享受太阳能带来的好处的同时，他们不想太多地改变以往的生活方式。
从街道看过去，那所房子就像一栋覆盖着常春藤的英式小农舍，但房子正面传统的外观隐藏了其内部高性能的特征，即配备着厚实而超级绝缘的水泥地板和墙壁，以及一个水源热泵，这装置在上世纪八十年代中期是最先进的技术成果。房子后部的设计更出人意料，有2/3朝南的墙是用两层砖和玻璃建成的太阳能收集室。屋里的每个房间都通向这个日光室，并且房子里大约75%的热能都是在这里收集到的。
当爸妈决定在我妈小时候生活的那个农场里建一所新房时，他俩的基本构想很相似。这次，他们选择的是一个工匠平房式房屋的设计方案，并决定不在里面建造一个太阳能收集室，为的是使设计看起来更地道。然而他们尽可能地运用两人所掌握的知识，从加厚的墙到高能效的拉姆福德壁炉等诸多方面，赋予了房子一系列的节能特征。在设计新房时，爸爸还在曾祖父建于上世纪初的一栋即将拆毁的小屋里抢救了一些原木和人工砍伐的心材木板。这个收获启发他在新房里加入可循环利用的建筑材料。两间原本准备运往垃圾填筑地的被遗弃的农舍，因为内有处于良好状态的壁板、镶边装饰、装饰线条和彩色玻璃而被视为珍宝。现在，壁板主要用于装饰房子里的每个盥洗室和厨房，镶边装饰和花饰线条环绕着每个窗框，而曾祖父的心材木板则被我爸亲手制成了入墙式书架，每个房间的地板所用的木材都是从乔治亚州的畜棚收集而来的，并被传统的手制钉牢牢固定着。
住在这所房子里，被他们过去所认识的人以及那些往昔时光的遗存之物包围着提醒着，我爸妈沉浸在过去的所有回忆里。特别是爸爸，他从这次经历中获益良多：他最近最喜欢的书就是莎拉•苏珊卡有关住宅及环境的适宜居住性的著作——《不那么大的房子》。我那新近成为绿色使者的老爸，将来有一天会把他的跑车换成一辆高效能的汽油/电力混合小汽车吗？把他那辆被精心装饰过的哈雷摩托车换成一辆高性能的自行车？这是不是我的奢望？也许不太可能，但他已经往正确的方向迈出了关键的一大步。