美国国家公共电台 NPR The Goldfish Tariff: Fancy Pet Fish Among The Stranger Casualties Of The Trade War

 

STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:

Next, we have the story of one man affected¹ by the U.S. trade war with China. NPR's Alina Selyukh reports on the man and his goldfish.

ALINA SELYUKH, BYLINE²: His name is Ken³ Fischer. It's with a C, but I had to resist my bad jokes about his name being fitting for his job. Fischer sells rare goldfish.

KEN FISCHER: I got into goldfish because goldfish are really more of a man-made specie. And they're also kind of have more of a personality, you might say. Goldfish are really more pet-like.

SELYUKH: Goldfish are a type of carp. You may know them as wriggling⁴, orange fish you might get at a carnival⁵. That's not what Fischer sells. His store is called Dandy Orandas after a type of a fancy goldfish. He sells fish that are top shelf, many for well over $100 apiece.

FISCHER: I am a fan of telescope Ranchu - the fish that says take me to your leader. A Ranchu is normally kind of like a pug face. Telescope means big eyes. It looks kind of like a little alien.

SELYUKH: Last year, the U.S. imported from China, $1.2 million worth of live ornamental⁶ freshwater fish, which are mostly goldfish. As President Trump⁷ kept expanding tariffs⁹ to virtually everything imported from China, the fancy goldfish got caught in this wide net - one of the stranger casualties of the trade war. And on the hook to pay these new tariffs are American importers, like Fischer in Michigan.

FISCHER: My income is literally¹⁰ cut in half by tariffs.

SELYUKH: And the goldfish he's been importing for almost 20 years...

FISCHER: These fish really don't exist much outside of China.

SELYUKH: China is considered the mother land of aquarium¹¹ goldfish, bred over centuries into forms and colors so varied¹² that some consider it a living art form.

ANDY CATIVO: Some of them they call lionheads. They look like they have manes. The celestial¹³ eyes; they have eyes that are pointed¹⁴ straight up.

SELYUKH: I finally got to meet some fancy goldfish in person thanks to Andy Cativo at a store called Congressional Aquarium in Rockville, Md.

CATIVO: These are the bubble eyes, all sorts of funny little (laughter).

SELYUKH: They look so weird¹⁵.

CATIVO: Yeah.

SELYUKH: He literally looks like he swallowed a bunch of air...

CATIVO: Yeah.

SELYUKH: ...And it's coming out of his cheeks.

CATIVO: Oh, yeah.

SELYUKH: Growing fancy goldfish like these to a good size can take years and it can be labor¹⁶ intensive. Fischer says workers at Chinese farms sort through millions of baby fry with tablespoon-sized nets calling for high quality fish with trained eyes. They sift¹⁷ through acres of ponds over and over.

JOE HIDUKE: It's not something that comes off in an assembly line. So it's not like all of a sudden we can be buying goldfish from a different goldfish factory.

SELYUKH: That's Joe Hiduke from 5D Tropical, a wholesaler¹⁸ based in Florida. His company imports and sells goldfish that you might find in a lot of retail¹⁹ stores, including big chains. And the tariffs are making their math complicated just like Fischer's.

HIDUKE: So our options are either to sell these fish at a loss or not fill the product for the stores.

SELYUKH: This anxiety has been playing out in many businesses around the country. Corporate²⁰ CEOs and trade groups often bring up the uncertainty²¹ of the trade war. But for Fischer, this uncertainty is a matter of livelihood²². His store, Dandy Orandas, is a one-man operation. Fischer imports about 6,000 fish a year, which he nurtures²³ in over 100 tanks, tubs and an indoor swimming pool in his home.

FISCHER: Normally, I would get fish at the end of May, but this year with tariffs, I just said screw it. I'm not going to do it. I'm not going to play this game. And I'm just going to unplug.

SELYUKH: Late spring, he stopped importing more fish. For a few months, he shut down Dandy Orandas. But it's his income. He needs it to stay afloat.

FISCHER: So I went ahead and bit the bullet and I just paid $10,000 on a $40,000 shipment of fish.

SELYUKH: That's $10,000 just to cover the tariff⁸. Fischer says he can't really raise prices. There is a lot of competition. And for buyers, goldfish are a luxury. So he's spinning his wheels, as he puts it, trying to decide when to cut bait. Alina Selyukh, NPR News.

1 affected   

adj.不自然的，假装的

参考例句：

• She showed an affected interest in our subject.她假装对我们的课题感到兴趣。
• His manners are affected.他的态度不自然。

2 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。

3 ken   

n.视野，知识领域

参考例句：

• Such things are beyond my ken.我可不懂这些事。
• Abstract words are beyond the ken of children.抽象的言辞超出小孩所理解的范围.

4 wriggling   

v.扭动，蠕动，蜿蜒行进( wriggle的现在分词 )；（使身体某一部位）扭动；耍滑不做，逃避（应做的事等）；蠕蠕

参考例句：

• The baby was wriggling around on my lap. 婴儿在我大腿上扭来扭去。
• Something that looks like a gray snake is wriggling out. 有一种看来象是灰蛇的东西蠕动着出来了。 来自辞典例句

5 carnival   

n.嘉年华会，狂欢，狂欢节，巡回表演

参考例句：

• I got some good shots of the carnival.我有几个狂欢节的精彩镜头。
• Our street puts on a carnival every year.我们街的居民每年举行一次嘉年华会。

6 ornamental   

adj.装饰的；作装饰用的；n.装饰品；观赏植物

参考例句：

• The stream was dammed up to form ornamental lakes.溪流用水坝拦挡起来,形成了装饰性的湖泊。
• The ornamental ironwork lends a touch of elegance to the house.铁艺饰件为房子略添雅致。

7 trump   

n.王牌，法宝；v.打出王牌，吹喇叭

参考例句：

• He was never able to trump up the courage to have a showdown.他始终鼓不起勇气摊牌。
• The coach saved his star player for a trump card.教练保留他的明星选手，作为他的王牌。

8 tariff   

n.关税，税率；(旅馆、饭店等)价目表，收费表

参考例句：

• There is a very high tariff on jewelry.宝石类的关税率很高。
• The government is going to lower the tariff on importing cars.政府打算降低进口汽车的关税。

9 tariffs   

关税制度； 关税( tariff的名词复数 )； 关税表； （旅馆或饭店等的）收费表； 量刑标准

参考例句：

• British industry was sheltered from foreign competition by protective tariffs. 保护性关税使英国工业免受国际竞争影响。
• The new tariffs have put a stranglehold on trade. 新的关税制对开展贸易极为不利。

10 literally   

adv.照字面意义，逐字地；确实

参考例句：

• He translated the passage literally.他逐字逐句地翻译这段文字。
• Sometimes she would not sit down till she was literally faint.有时候，她不走到真正要昏厥了，决不肯坐下来。

11 aquarium   

n.水族馆，养鱼池，玻璃缸

参考例句：

• The first time I saw seals was in an aquarium.我第一次看见海豹是在水族馆里。
• I'm going to the aquarium with my parents this Sunday.这个星期天，我要和父母一起到水族馆去。

12 varied   

adj.多样的，多变化的

参考例句：

• The forms of art are many and varied.艺术的形式是多种多样的。
• The hotel has a varied programme of nightly entertainment.宾馆有各种晚间娱乐活动。

13 celestial   

adj.天体的；天上的

参考例句：

• The rosy light yet beamed like a celestial dawn.玫瑰色的红光依然象天上的朝霞一样绚丽。
• Gravity governs the motions of celestial bodies.万有引力控制着天体的运动。

14 pointed   

adj.尖的，直截了当的

参考例句：

• He gave me a very sharp pointed pencil.他给我一支削得非常尖的铅笔。
• She wished to show Mrs.John Dashwood by this pointed invitation to her brother.她想通过对达茨伍德夫人提出直截了当的邀请向她的哥哥表示出来。

15 weird   

adj.古怪的，离奇的；怪诞的，神秘而可怕的

参考例句：

• From his weird behaviour,he seems a bit of an oddity.从他不寻常的行为看来，他好像有点怪。
• His weird clothes really gas me.他的怪衣裳简直笑死人。

16 labor   

n.劳动，努力，工作，劳工；分娩；vi.劳动，努力，苦干；vt.详细分析；麻烦

参考例句：

• We are never late in satisfying him for his labor.我们从不延误付给他劳动报酬。
• He was completely spent after two weeks of hard labor.艰苦劳动两周后，他已经疲惫不堪了。

17 sift   

v.筛撒，纷落，详察

参考例句：

• Sift out the wheat from the chaff.把小麦的壳筛出来。
• Sift sugar on top of the cake.在蛋糕上面撒上糖。

18 wholesaler   

n.批发商

参考例句：

• We're the largest furniture wholesaler in Illinois. 我们是伊利诺伊州最大的家具批发商。 来自辞典例句
• These are used to create profiles for each wholesaler. 这是他日常的工作或通过与批发商的正式会谈。 来自互联网

19 retail   

v./n.零售；adv.以零售价格

参考例句：

• In this shop they retail tobacco and sweets.这家铺子零售香烟和糖果。
• These shoes retail at 10 yuan a pair.这些鞋子零卖10元一双。

20 corporate   

adj.共同的，全体的；公司的，企业的

参考例句：

• This is our corporate responsibility.这是我们共同的责任。
• His corporate's life will be as short as a rabbit's tail.他的公司的寿命是兔子尾巴长不了。

21 uncertainty   

n.易变，靠不住，不确知，不确定的事物

参考例句：

• Her comments will add to the uncertainty of the situation.她的批评将会使局势更加不稳定。
• After six weeks of uncertainty,the strain was beginning to take its toll.6个星期的忐忑不安后，压力开始产生影响了。

22 livelihood   

n.生计，谋生之道

参考例句：

• Appropriate arrangements will be made for their work and livelihood.他们的工作和生活会得到妥善安排。
• My father gained a bare livelihood of family by his own hands.父亲靠自己的双手勉强维持家计。

23 nurtures   

教养，培育( nurture的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Art nurtures the soul and culture cultivates the mind. 艺术滋润心灵，文化陶冶情操。
• Who first loves and nurtures us and takes care of every need. 是谁先爱上我们，哺育我们，对我们无微不至。