美国尝试用新方式处理人类遗骸

美国尝试用新方式处理人类遗骸

The top official in the American state of Washington has approved a new way of dealing with human remains. The law permits approved businesses to compost them – in other words, to turn bodies into dirt.

美国华盛顿州高级官员批准了处理人类遗骸的新方式，法律允许经批准的企业将它们变成堆肥，换句话说，将尸体转化为泥土。

Until now, states have permitted bodies only to be buried or burned.

直到现在，美国才允许将尸体埋葬或焚烧。

Governor Jay Inslee says the law came about because of his neighbor.

州长杰伊·因斯莉说，这项法律出台是因为他的邻居。

Her name is Katrina Spade. While she was a graduate student in architecture, Spade began researching the funeral industry. She did not like its usual ways of burying or burning bodies. She wondered if Americans could deal with human remains similar to the way farmers deal with animal remains.

她叫卡特里娜·斯帕德，当她还是建筑学的研究生时，就开始研究丧葬业。她不喜欢埋葬、焚烧尸体的一般方式，她想知道美国是否可以用与农民处理动物遗骸的方式类似的方法来处理人类遗骸。

In time, Spade found that human bodies would decompose quickly in a container filled with small pieces of wood, alfalfa and straw.

随着时间的推移，斯帕德发现人类的尸骸在装满小木块、苜蓿和稻草的容器内很快就会分解。

Last year, Washington State University tested the idea on six bodies.

去年，华盛顿州立大学在六具尸骸上做了测试。

And it worked.

确实是这样。

Spade now has a business that lets people choose to compost their bodies. The idea is for bodies to stay for 30 days in closed containers. During that time, they will turn into enough dirt to fill a small pickup truck. Friends and family may then take the dirt and spread it in a place that is special to them, or use it to plant vegetables or a tree.

斯帕德现在开设了一项业务，可以让人们选择将尸体堆肥，这一想法是让尸体在封闭容器内保存30天，在这段时间内，尸体将会转化为泥土，足够装满一辆小型皮卡车。然后朋友和家人带上泥土，并将其撒到对他们来说比较特别的地方，或者去种植蔬菜和树木。

“It gives meaning and use to what happens to our bodies after death,” said Nora Menkin. She is the head of the People’s Memorial Association, which helps people plan for funerals.

诺拉·门金说:“它赋予我们死后的身体以意义和用途。”她是人民纪念协会的会长，该协会帮助人们计划葬礼。

Other supporters say that composting is easy on the environment, especially compared to usual American funerals. Such practices involve chemicals, carbon dioxide or coffins that use land.

其他支持者说，堆肥方式与环境很相容，尤其是与美国通常的葬礼相比。这种做法涉及使用土地的化学品、二氧化碳或棺材。

The law permitting composting will take effect in May 2020.

允许堆肥的法律将于2020年5月生效。

Jamie Pederson is a state lawmaker who sponsored the measure. He says he has received angry emails from people who object to the idea. They say it does not honor the dead.

杰米·佩德森是支持这项措施的州议员，他说，他收到了来自反对这一想法的人的邮件，他们很愤怒，说这不尊重死者。

Pederson said those people often believe their dead loved one would be thrown outside and covered in old food. But that idea is not right, he said; the process will be respectful.

佩德森说，这些人经常认为，他们死去的亲人会被扔到外面，身上盖着旧食物。但是这个想法是不对的，他说，这个过程将是充满尊重的。

I’m Caty Weaver.

凯蒂·韦弗报道。

Words in This Story

compost - v. to change something into a decayed mixture that is used to improve the soil in a garden

graduate - adj. of or relating to a course of studies taken at a college or university after earning a bachelor's degree or other first degree​

architecture - n. the art or science of designing and creating buildings​

alfalfa - n. a type of plant that is grown mostly as food for farm animals​

straw - n. the dry stems of wheat and other grain plants​

coffin - n. a box in which a dead person is buried

sponsor - v. someone who takes the responsibility for someone or something