When I planned for my year in Taiwan two summers ago, trash was the last thing on my mind. The more obvious challenges of moving abroad -- finding an apartment, buying a cellphone and navigating the bus sys-tem -- preoccupied me in the weeks before my departure. I worried most about studying Mandarin full-time, the difficulty of mastering the lan-guage's four tones and the intricate arcs, fishhooks and grids that make up written Chinese.

兩個暑假之前，當我計畫到台灣待一段時間時，壓根兒沒想到垃圾問題。出發前幾個禮拜，我滿腦子想的都是移居國外更顯而易見的問題，包括找間公寓、買支手機和摸熟巴士路線等。我尤其擔心要全時學中文，光是要精通中文發聲的四聲及構成中文書寫錯綜複雜的弧形、鉤鉤和方格已經夠難了。

But strange things happen when you cross cultures.

但跨越不同的文化總會發生新奇的事。

My Taipei landlady was the first to make that point, when she gave me a crash course on how to dispose of household waste like a local. First, buy city-approved trash bags at the corner 7-Eleven. Then, meet the garbage truck five nights a week at the mouth of a nearby alley. Finally, heave the bags onto the truck yourself.

我在台北的房東太太幫我上速成班，教我如何像在地人一樣處理家庭廢棄物時，一開始就表明這點。首先到街角超商7-Eleven買市府核可通過的垃圾袋。然後，每星期有五個晚上要到附近巷口去等垃圾車。最後，自己動手把垃圾袋丟到車裡。

In Taiwan, recycling trucks tag a-long behind trash collectors, but they accept only certain items on certain nights. According to the strictly en-forced schedule, plastic bottles must be separated from plastic wrapping and bags, and flat recyclables, such as Styrofoam trays and cardboard dumpling boxes, are collected only on Mondays and Fridays. Show up with bundled newspapers on the wrong night, and you'll get an earful from the sanitation worker. Feigning igno-rance of Mandarin won't absolve you, either.

在台灣，資源回收車尾隨垃圾車，但限定某幾個夜晚只回收某些物品。根據嚴格執行的班表，塑膠瓶必須和垃圾袋及其他包裝塑料分開，至於扁平的可回收物，如含聚苯乙烯的泡沫塑膠餐盤和紙板做的便當盒只限周一和周五回收。如果你在不對的夜晚拿出好幾捆報紙，就得聽清潔人員訓斥一番，假裝聽不懂中文也饒不了你。

Waiting for the garbage truck is one of Taiwan's liveliest communal rites. Many evenings I watched food ven-dors from the night markets, buckets of eggshells in hand, chat up conve-nience store clerks alongside Filipina nannies who traded kitchen appliances as if they were at a Sunday morning swap meet. Freelance recyclers keen to make a few dollars showed up to collect cardboard and newspapers, which they would sell back to the city. An alderman with a whistle kept traffic at bay.

等垃圾車是台灣最充滿活力的社區例行活動。在無數個夜晚，我看到夜市小吃攤販，手拿幾籃子蛋殼，和便利商店的店員聊天，一旁菲傭正在交換廚房用具，有如置身周日晨以物易物的市集。回收個體戶想賺點外快，也趕來收集一些硬紙板和報紙，他們可以再回賣給市政府。一位市府人員不斷吹哨子管制交通。

These curbside jaunts were my ini-tiation into Taiwan's broader waste-disposal network, made up of municipal employees and regular citi-zens all doing their part to keep the system humming. Watching the city's disparate trash tribes at work shamed me into compliance after years as a half-hearted recycler back home. I even came to feel a peculiar solidarity with the "ladies with tongs," the city transit and university sanitation workers who spend their days sifting through garbage bins in subway sta-tions and on university campuses in search of aluminum cans. And I ad-mired the swift vigilance of food court employees as they swept fast-food wrappers and Styrofoam cups off my table into shallow baskets before I had time to look for a trash can. (There aren't any.)

路邊人行道這些活動帶我走入台灣更龐大的廢棄物處理網，由市府員工和一般小市民組成，各盡其責，使這套系統能在嘈雜中順利運作。眼看台北市各個不同的垃圾部落都在努力以赴，使我這個多年來在老家對資源回收不熱心的人也羞愧地乖乖照辦。我甚至和那些「手拿鉗子撿垃圾的太太們」產生某種認同感。台北市公共交通運輸系統和大學公衛義工投入無數個日子在捷運站和大學校園翻尋篩撿垃圾筒找出鋁罐。我尤其佩服購物中心自助餐廳服務人員動作快速，隨時提高警覺，把速食包裝材料和塑膠杯從我桌上清到淺筒子裡，我甚至還來不及找垃圾筒（事實上也沒有垃圾筒）。

Taiwanese friends tell me that 10 years ago, their capital's sidewalks were drowning in rotting garbage. You'd never know it today, thanks to the introduction of a per-bag trash-collection fee to discourage consumption, a charge for plastic bags at supermarkets and the rigorous re-cycling policy now in effect. These changes created an infinitely cleaner city. Even more impressive, they fu-eled a sense of civic responsibility in a place where democracy is still taking root. Just as the Taiwanese invest in their young representative govern-ment, they invest in a clean environ-ment.

台灣友人告訴我，十年前他們首都人行道上全被腐臭的垃圾淹沒。今天根本無法想像，主要拜隨袋徵收垃圾費之賜，使人不願亂消費。超市賣的垃圾袋要收費，現在並嚴格執行資源回收政策。這些費用用來創建一個乾淨到不行的城市。尤其令人動容的是，在這個民主仍在生根的地方，他們帶動市民的責任感。當台灣人投資年輕的代議政府之際，他們投資於乾淨的環境。

I've been home for three months now, and U.S. consumption patterns look as robust as ever, with the same limited patchwork of recycling op-portunities available. Reducing your "carbon footprint" is a hip way to fight global warming, but what about the trash generated by last night's takeout Before my year in Taiwan, I was a lazy environmentalist, dutifully recycling wine bottles and newspapers, but never willing to go the extra mile if it wasn't convenient. It's no longer so easy to make excuses. Living in a place where I was expected to use what I bought and recycle every last yogurt cup and juice box left me with a new appreciation for what clean streets mean in a civil society, and the realization that I'm responsible for everything I consume. That's as good a Chinese lesson as any.

如今我已經回美國三個月了，美國消費形態看來仍很強勁，現有的資源回收機會仍很有限而且湊和著辦。減少「碳足跡」是對抗全球暖化時髦的好方法，但昨晚叫外賣所產生的垃圾呢？在我到台灣前，是個懶惰的環保人士，克盡本分地回收酒瓶和報紙，但如果不方便就不願再多走幾步，現在已經不容再找藉口了。曾經生活在一個預期我充分使用我所買的一切，並回收每個優格空瓶和果汁盒的地方，讓我重新體認一個文明社會的乾淨街道代表什麼；同時也了解，我要對自己消費的一切負責。這堂中文課和其他語言課程一樣珍貴。（取材自華盛頓郵報。作者茱莉亞羅絲）