英国卫报:小冰块下的大生意(1)

The ice in your drink comes from one of two places: your freezer, or someone else's. For homemade ice, the supply chain is reassuringly¹ familiar: water goes into the freezer, and a bit later, ice comes out. But what about the ice cubes that you bought from a supermarket, or extracted, by the handful, from a plastic bag at a drinks party? They were frozen when you took possession of them; they are long gone now. Where did they start out, back when they were water?

饮料中的冰块来自两个地方：你的冰箱，或者别人的冰箱。对于自制冰块来说，其供应链是令人放心的：水进入冰箱，过一会儿，冰块就出来了。但是，你从超市买来的冰块，或者在酒会上从塑料袋里一把一把取出来的冰块来自哪里呢？当你拿到它们的时候它们已经冻好了，现在它们早已消失。它们是从哪里开始的，当它们还是水的时候？

Follow their journey all the way back from the point of sale – through warehouses² and depots³ and cold storage facilities and innumerable temperature-controlled lorries – and there's a decent chance that most of them came from the same place: an industrial estate just outside South Kirkby in West Yorkshire. The company that made them is called The Ice Co, and if you haven't heard of it, you have almost certainly used its products.

我们从销售点开始，一路全程追踪：经过一个又一个仓库、冷藏设施和无数的温度控制卡车——大部分的冰块很有可能来自同一个地方：即西约克郡南柯比郊外的一个工业区。生产这些冰块的公司叫The Ice Co，就算你没有听说过它的大名，但几乎可以肯定的是，你用过它的产品。

If you have grabbed a bag of ice from the freezer of a corner shop on a hot day, The Ice Co probably supplied it. If you have bought ice from Tesco, Sainsbury's, Waitrose, Morrisons or Ocado, The Ice Co thanks you for your business. If you have ever plonked a bottle of prosecco into a house party ice bucket filled with cylindrical⁴ cubes, or pulled a cold can of Coke from the chilling bins⁵ at Glastonbury, or – indeed – endured the Arctic Enema ice bath obstacle at a Tough Mudder endurance course, it is highly likely that the ice originated in The Ice Co's ice factory, a long, flat building nestled in the countryside between Doncaster and Leeds.

如果你在一个大热天从街角商店的冰箱里拿了一袋冰，它很有可能来自The Ice Co公司。如果你在特斯科、森宝利、维特罗斯、莫里森或者奥凯多（均为英国商超）购买过冰块，The Ice Co公司感谢您的惠顾。如果你曾经把一瓶普罗赛克葡萄酒倒入满是圆柱形冰块的家庭聚会冰桶中，或者从格拉斯顿伯里音乐节的冰柜里拿出一罐冰镇可乐，或者在一次“最强泥人”耐力赛中忍受了冰浴的障碍，这些冰很有可能都来自The Ice Co的制冰厂，那是一栋长而扁平的建筑，坐落在唐卡斯特和利兹之间的一个乡村。

Like central heating and hot water, ice is one of those minor⁶ luxuries we scarcely think to notice. And yet The Ice Co has turned frozen water into a 38m pound brand – at a retail⁷ price of roughly 1 pound a bag, that equates⁸ to plenty of people indulging every year.

就像中央暖气和热水一样，冰块是我们几乎不会注意到的小奢侈品之一。然而，The Ice Co公司已经将冷冻水变成了市值3800万英镑的品牌——零售价大约是每袋1英镑，这告诉我们每年都有很多人为其买单。

It is perhaps surprising that there is even a market for packaged ice in the UK – let alone one that requires The Ice Co to produce 400 tonnes of the stuff per day, or 5bn cubes per year. We do not lack the specialised equipment required to make our own ice: 98% of British homes contain some form of freezer. We do not, as a rule, have issues with our drinking water, so freezing our own in plastic or silicone trays is not unsafe. While British summers can be warm, they are nothing like summer in the southern US's so-called Sun Belt, the modern ice trade's heartland, where the largest operators produce over 1bn cubes a day. We do not, strictly⁹ speaking, even need ice in our drinks – no one does! – which means that we must have acquired a taste for it; so much so, over the years, that we are now willing to pay for the privilege.

或许令人惊讶的是，英国竟然有一个包装冰的市场——更不用说一个需要Ice Co每天生产400吨或每年50立方的市场了。我们并不缺乏自制冰块所需的特殊设备：98%的英国家庭都有某种冰箱。我们的饮用水一般来说没有问题，所以我们把自己家的水放在塑料或硅胶托盘里冷冻并非不安全。英国的夏天可能很暖和，但和美国南部所谓的“阳光地带”的夏天截然不同。“阳光地带”是现代冰贸易的中心地带，在那里，最大的冰商每天能生产10亿立方冰块。严格地说，我们并不需要在饮料里加冰块——没有人需要！——这说明我们一定是已经尝到了它的某种味道，以致于这么多年来已经愿意为这个特权付钱。

1 reassuringly   

ad.安心，可靠

参考例句：

• He patted her knee reassuringly. 他轻拍她的膝盖让她放心。
• The doctor smiled reassuringly. 医生笑了笑，让人心里很踏实。

2 warehouses   

仓库，货栈( warehouse的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The whisky was taken to bonded warehouses at Port Dundee. 威士忌酒已送到邓迪港的保稅仓库。
• Row upon row of newly built warehouses line the waterfront. 江岸新建的仓库鳞次栉比。

3 depots   

仓库( depot的名词复数 )； 火车站； 车库； 军需库

参考例句：

• Public transportation termini and depots are important infrastructures for a city. 公交场站设施是城市重要的基础设施。
• In the coastal cities are equipped with after-sales service and depots. 在各沿海城市均设有服务部及售后维修站。

4 cylindrical   

adj.圆筒形的

参考例句：

• huge cylindrical gas tanks 巨大的圆柱形贮气罐
• Beer cans are cylindrical. 啤酒罐子是圆筒形的。

5 bins   

n.大储藏箱( bin的名词复数 )；宽口箱（如面包箱，垃圾箱等）v.扔掉，丢弃( bin的第三人称单数 )

参考例句：

• Garbage from all sources was deposited in bins on trolleys. 来自各方的垃圾是装在手推车上的垃圾箱里的。 来自辞典例句
• Would you be pleased at the prospect of its being on sale in dump bins? 对于它将被陈列在倾销箱中抛售这件事，你能欣然接受吗？ 来自辞典例句

6 minor   

adj.较小(少)的，较次要的；n.辅修学科；vi.辅修

参考例句：

• The young actor was given a minor part in the new play.年轻的男演员在这出新戏里被分派担任一个小角色。
• I gave him a minor share of my wealth.我把小部分财产给了他。

7 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。

8 equates   

v.认为某事物（与另一事物）相等或相仿( equate的第三人称单数 )；相当于；等于；把（一事物） 和（另一事物）等同看待

参考例句：

• He equates success with material wealth. 他认为成功等同于物质财富。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• This equates to increased and vigor, better sleep and sharper mental acuity. 也就是说可以起到增强活力，改善睡眠，提高心智的作用。 来自互联网

9 strictly   

adv.严厉地，严格地；严密地

参考例句：

• His doctor is dieting him strictly.他的医生严格规定他的饮食。
• The guests were seated strictly in order of precedence.客人严格按照地位高低就座。