美国国家公共电台 NPR--Many U.S. border communities are seeing a flood of Canadian license plates

Many U.S. border communities are seeing a flood of Canadian license¹ plates

Transcript²

Now that Canada is no longer requiring COVID-19 tests from vaccinated³ travelers, tourism is up in many U.S. border communities. In New York, Plattsburgh is seeing a big increase in tourism.

A MARTINEZ, HOST:

Now that Canada is no longer requiring COVID-19 tests from vaccinated travelers, tourism is up in many U.S. border communities. Amy Feiereisel from North Country Public Radio takes us to one of those cities just 60 miles south of Montreal.

AMY FEIEREISEL, BYLINE⁴: The city of Plattsburgh is perched on the long and skinny Lake Champlain, the largest lake in New England. There's a Canadian border crossing just 20 minutes north. Canadian tourists are the bread and butter of this area.

KRISTY KENNEDY: Being 60 miles away from Montreal, they're our No. 1 market. They're the ones who visit. They're the ones who utilize⁵ this area.

FEIEREISEL: That's Kristy Kennedy. She works with the regional chamber⁶ of commerce. She says COVID-19 meant two long years of hardly any Canadian tourism. That is until about six weeks ago, when Canada dropped its testing requirement.

KENNEDY: That was huge. We've already seen, you know, record number of Canadians coming back to the area. Bus tours are coming back through. Our shopping is up again. Our restaurants are seeing it.

FEIEREISEL: This little city of 30,000 really missed Canadian visitors - though with many people avoiding air travel, there was a surge of New Yorkers and New Englanders vacationing closer to home. But there were other issues to contend with. A lot of the tourism industry here relies on seasonal⁷ visa workers from places like Jamaica and South America.

KENNEDY: And there was a lot of hiccups⁸ in that process during the pandemic, so they weren't getting the workers they needed, so their business suffered.

FEIEREISEL: Even local workers were hard to come by. At the Plattsburgh Boat Basin, a marina on Lake Champlain, they were able to keep their long-time workers. But co-owner Art Spiegel says it's been hard to find extra help, and the missing Canadians hit them particularly hard here. But today, the marina is buzzing with activity.

ART SPIEGEL: We have boat owners that are down here working on their boats, fixing their boats.

FEIEREISEL: The bright sun glints off of rows and rows of sailboats. Most have either Montreal or Quebec painted under the boat's name.

SPIEGEL: We have the docks in and have been preparing all week long for the influx⁹ of boaters who can finally come and enjoy their property after two years of being border-bound.

FEIEREISEL: Pre-pandemic, Spiegel says 80% of their boaters were Canadian. Now that the border is pretty close to back to normal, at least for vaccinated travelers, Speigel says he's expecting a busy summer. The docks are filling up quickly.

SPIEGEL: Hopefully the marina will be half full of boats, and the other half are out sailing, and at night they'll come into a full marina.

FEIEREISEL: That means a lot more Canadians out spending their time and dollars in communities all along the border.

For NPR News, I'm Amy Feiereisel on the shores of Lake Champlain.

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1 license   

n.执照，许可证，特许；v.许可，特许

参考例句：

• The foreign guest has a license on the person.这个外国客人随身携带执照。
• The driver was arrested for having false license plates on his car.司机由于使用假车牌而被捕。

2 transcript   

n.抄本，誊本，副本，肄业证书

参考例句：

• A transcript of the tapes was presented as evidence in court.一份录音带的文字本作为证据被呈交法庭。
• They wouldn't let me have a transcript of the interview.他们拒绝给我一份采访的文字整理稿。

3 vaccinated   

[医]已接种的，种痘的，接种过疫菌的

参考例句：

• I was vaccinated against tetanus. 我接种了破伤风疫苗。
• Were you vaccinated against smallpox as a child? 你小时候打过天花疫苗吗？

4 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

5 utilize   

vt.使用，利用

参考例句：

• The cook will utilize the leftover ham bone to make soup.厨师要用吃剩的猪腿骨做汤。
• You must utilize all available resources.你必须利用一切可以得到的资源。

6 chamber   

n.房间，寝室；会议厅；议院；会所

参考例句：

• For many,the dentist's surgery remains a torture chamber.对许多人来说，牙医的治疗室一直是间受刑室。
• The chamber was ablaze with light.会议厅里灯火辉煌。

7 seasonal   

adj.季节的，季节性的

参考例句：

• The town relies on the seasonal tourist industry for jobs.这个城镇依靠季节性旅游业提供就业机会。
• The hors d'oeuvre is seasonal vegetables.餐前小吃是应时蔬菜。

8 hiccups   

n.嗝( hiccup的名词复数 )；连续地打嗝；暂时性的小问题；短暂的停顿v.嗝( hiccup的第三人称单数 )；连续地打嗝；暂时性的小问题；短暂的停顿

参考例句：

• I cannot find a rhyme to "hiccups". 我不能找到和hiccups同韵的词。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Can we rhyme 'hiccups'with 'pick-ups'? 我们能把‘hiccups’同‘pick－ups’放在一起押韵吗？ 来自辞典例句

9 influx   

n.流入，注入

参考例句：

• The country simply cannot absorb this influx of refugees.这个国家实在不能接纳这么多涌入的难民。
• Textile workers favoured protection because they feared an influx of cheap cloth.纺织工人拥护贸易保护措施，因为他们担心涌入廉价纺织品。