马特奥是一位充满活力的青少年，尽管年纪轻轻，却已经在社区中崭露头角，做出了一些非凡的成就。他对环境保护的热情不仅体现在言语上，更通过实际行动得到了充分的展现。
It’s 2024 now. Recycling is good for the environment. It can also benefit a community in surprising ways. Mateo Lange, 15, knows this well. On weekends, you’ll find him sorting through glass and plastic bottles and cans in his hometown, where he leads a community recycling program.
现在是2024年。回收利用有利于环境。它还可以以令人惊讶的方式使社区受益。15岁的马特奥·兰格对此深有感触。在周末，你会发现他在家乡整理玻璃和塑料瓶和易拉罐，他在那里领导着一个社区回收项目。
Mateo launched the program in 2020. He was in the sixth grade, playing baseball with a baseball team. The team was new and needed money to travel to tournaments (锦标赛). Mateo thought of a plan.
马特奥于2020年启动了该项目。他上六年级，在棒球队打棒球。这支队伍是新组建的，需要钱去参加比赛。马特奥想出了一个计划。
“There were cans and bottles always thrown around the road,” he tells TIME for Kids. These can be collected and exchanged for cash. With his dad’s help, Mateo started a bottle and can drive. It raised $7,500. “We built up so much money in just a few weeks,” he says. “So I said, ‘Why don’t we keep this going as long as we can?’”
“路上总是扔着罐头和瓶子，”他告诉《时代周刊》儿童版。这些可以被收集并兑换成现金。在他爸爸的帮助下，马特奥开启了一场瓶子和易拉罐运动。它筹集了7500美元。“我们在短短几周内就赚了这么多钱，”他说。“所以我说，‘我们为什么不尽可能长时间地保持下去呢?’”
Since then, Mateo says, his recycling effort has raised $350,000 and helped at least 50 local youth groups. It has also prevented more than 2 million bottles and cans from littering the roadside and polluting lakes and rivers. “It’s kept our community a lot cleaner,” he says.
马特奥说，从那时起，他的回收工作已经筹集了35万美元，并帮助了至少50个当地青年团体。它还防止了200多万个瓶子和罐子乱扔在路边，污染湖泊和河流。他说:“这让我们的社区干净多了。”
In 2023, Mateo was awarded a Gloria Barron Prize for Young Heroes. The award honors kids and teens who are working to help others and protect Planet Earth. “It feels humbling,” Mateo says, when asked about all he’s accomplished with his cleanup effort. “I am happy knowing that all these teams and clubs and kids around the community are benefitting.” Mateo believes everyone can — and should — be of service. “Just do a little bit to help make the world a little bit of a better place,” he says. “Be creative,” he adds. “Have an idea and build on it.”
2023年，马特奥被授予格洛丽亚·巴伦青年英雄奖。该奖项旨在表彰那些致力于帮助他人和保护地球的儿童和青少年。当被问及他在清理工作中所取得的成就时，马特奥说:“我感到很惭愧。我很高兴看到所有这些球队、俱乐部和社区周围的孩子们都从中受益。”马特奥认为，每个人都可以——也应该——为他人服务。他说:“只要尽一点微薄之力，让世界变得更美好。”“要有创意，”他补充道。“有一个想法，然后在此基础上发展。”
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