The Hard Life of Dollar Bills

Every day people around the world use one-dollar bills. The U. S. government prints billions of them every year! People sometimes call these bills “ paper money. ” But bills are not really made of paper. They are printed on special cloth. Seventy-five percent of the cloth is cotton— just like the cotton in your favorite jeans!

世界各地的人们每天都使用一美元纸币。 美国政府每年印刷数十亿张！ 人们有时称这些钞票为“纸币” 但钞票并不是真正的纸。它们印在特殊的布上。 百分之七十五的布料是棉花——就像你最喜欢的牛仔裤里的棉花一样！

The rest of the cloth is linen. This cloth is much stronger than paper. Oh, and the bills' ink is special too. It doesn't wash off! The front of the bill has black ink. But the back of the bill is printed in green. Green fades less quickly than other colors. This green ink gives all U. S. dollars a nickname—greenbacks!

其余的布料是亚麻布。这种布比纸结实得多。 哦，账单的墨水也很特别。它洗不掉！ 法案的正面有黑色墨水。但账单背面是绿色的。 绿色比其他颜色褪色得慢。 这种绿色墨水给所有美元起了一个昵称“美钞”！

Dollar bills are very sturdy. But they get passed from hand to hand. They're folded in wallets and shoved into pockets. They get torn and wet. Over time they wear out. An average dollar bill lasts less than six years. So the U. S. government has to replace worn-out bills. They print new bills to replace the old ones. The new bills go to banks for people to use.

美元钞票很结实。但它们是一手一手传递的。 它们折叠在钱包里，塞进口袋里。它们会被撕裂和弄湿。 随着时间的推移，它们会磨损。一张美元钞票的平均寿命不到六年。 因此，美国政府必须更换破旧的账单。 他们印制新的钞票来代替旧的钞票。这些新的钞票被送到银行供人们使用。

Banks collect the old bills and send them back to the government. Workers shred the old bills to destroy them. Yep, that's right. Money gets destroyed! In fact, the United States shreds about ten billion dollars a year. That's enough waste to fill 750 dump trucks! In the past this waste got dumped in a landfill.

银行收集旧票据并将其送回政府。 工人们把旧钞票撕碎销毁。是的，没错。钱毁了！ 事实上，美国每年损失大约100亿美元。 这足以装满750辆自卸卡车！过去，这些垃圾被倾倒在垃圾填埋场。

But today getting rid of greenbacks is a much greener process. The government recycles a lot of old paper money. Some shredded money goes into roofing material. Some goes into home insulation. Other bills become fuel for power plants to make electricity for homes. Oh, and some paper money becomes filling for mattresses. So you could even be sleeping on money! Other bills are sent to farms that use them for compost. I bet the soil is very rich in those gardens! I usually spend my dollar bills as soon as I receive them. But I didn't know that dollar bills have such a hard life!

但今天摆脱美元是一个更加环保的过程。 政府回收了许多旧纸币。一些碎钱进入了屋顶材料。 一些用于家庭绝缘。其他账单则成为发电厂为家庭发电的燃料。 哦，还有一些纸币可以用来装床垫。 所以你甚至可以靠钱睡觉！ 其他账单则被送到农场，用于堆肥。 我打赌那些花园里的土壤很肥沃！ 我通常一收到美元钞票就马上花掉。 但我不知道美元钞票的生活如此艰难！