不可思議的新技術：斷鉛筆變成西紅柿(雙語)

想必想起廢舊的斷鉛筆，大家想到的都是臟乎乎的垃圾桶吧。但是，美國最新研發了一項新技術，可以變廢為寶，鉛筆搖身變為西紅柿！

　　"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150億鉛筆出產,他們中的三百萬在美國.很多斷筆都被扔了,」 Sprout World.首席運營官Michael Stausholm,說。

　　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.

　　丹麥Sprout World想要減少這些廢品。最開始讓可耕種的鉛筆在被你用完后變為蔬菜，甘草或者開花植物。

　　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說，鉛筆是由明尼蘇達州松城的雪松製造的，是完美的可持續的產品，因為它讓「死去的產品獲得新生。」

　　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，這些木鉛筆有一個可降解材料製成的膠囊，裡面混有種子和豆子。

　　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.

　　你把膠囊種在一抔土中，然後用筆底部作為種子。膠囊溶化，種子成長為植物。

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

　　這種鉛筆一共有14種（八隻19.95美元），包括西紅柿，薰衣草，羅勒，太陽花和青椒。

　　The pencils were developed by three MIT students in 2012.

　　2012年，這些鉛筆由麻省理工的學生研發。

　　"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，我居住在丹麥和很多可持續公司工作，」他說，「但是可持續很難對消費者解釋，我正在尋找一種便於解釋的產品。」

　　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.

　　一年後，他碰到了「發芽鉛筆」，當時它還在籌備。「我很喜歡這個想法。這是一種完美的方法來解釋可持續是什麼，」Stausholm.說。
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和學生合夥，說服他們讓他在丹麥出售鉛筆。「我們在2013年春天賣出70000支鉛筆。我們意識到他們絕對有需求。」他說。

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

　　2014年，開始階段已經在全歐洲賣出100萬支鉛筆。

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

　　那年末，Stausholm獲得了專利和產權，成為了Sprout World的首席運營官。

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

　　他說Sprout World現在平均每月出售450000支鉛筆，收入超過300萬美金。