英国卫报:小冰块下的大生意(10)

Ice is not a monolith. It encompasses¹ everything from the giant iceberg² that sank the Titanic³ – "the most famous piece of ice in the history of the world," as the writer Mariana Gosnell observed –

冰不是一块巨石。它包罗万象，从令泰坦尼克号沉没的巨大冰山——正如作家玛丽安娜·戈斯内尔所说：“它是世界历史上最著名的一块冰，”——

to the millimetre-thin stuff you find at the edges of ponds and puddles⁴, also known as "cat ice" – ice so thin that it could support the weight of a cat, but nothing heavier.

到可以在池塘、水坑边儿发现的那种只有几毫米薄的冰，也叫“猫冰”——冰薄到仅可支撑一只猫的重量，再重些就不行了。

Ice is at once a byword for permanence and something whose evanescence is essential to how we use it.

冰既是永恒的代名词，也极易逝去，所以我们如何使用它至关重要。

For something so apparently⁵ simple, it can be fiendishly complex.

一些看似简单的东西可能实则极为复杂。

The science of ice is maddening, and features phenomena⁶ such as the Mpemba effect, in which hot water appears to freeze faster than cold.

有关冰的科学令人发狂，它具备姆潘巴效应等特征，即热水似乎比冷水更易结冰。

Ice is maddening, in fact; anyone selling it for a living fights a constant battle against the laws of thermodynamics and the basic tenets of common sense,

冰本身就令人发狂，任何以卖冰为生的人都在与热力学定律和基本常识作斗争，

filling their freezer in the winter and clearing it out just as the weather starts to get hot.

冬天的时候将冰装满冰箱，天气开始变热时再将冰清空冰箱。

Elizabeth David writes of early importers desperately⁷ pleading with port authorities about the amount of duty payable⁸ on a cargo⁹ that was visibly diminishing in size.

伊丽莎白·大卫写过早期的进口商如何绝望地恳求港务局对体积明显缩小的货物征收的关税数额。

Perhaps the most successful ice-man of the 20th century, James Stuart, abandoned his empire for unspecified personal reasons just months after Ian Parker had profiled him in the New Yorker.

詹姆斯·斯图尔特大概是20世纪最成功的冰人，他在伊恩·帕克在《纽约客》上对他进行专访的几个月后便因不明个人原因放弃了自己的商业帝国。

Even Frederic Tudor, the 19th century Boston Ice King, spent time in prison on several occasions, having been rendered bankrupt by his obsession¹⁰.

就连19世纪波士顿的“冰之王”弗雷德里克都铎也曾多次入狱，因太过执迷而破产。

With ice, crisis is a constant, a looming¹¹ threat and fatal flaw inherent to every cube.

对于冰来说，危机是一个永恒的、即将面临的威胁，也是每个立方体都固有的致命缺陷。

So now Brexit looms¹² – bad news for a business that exports products to the continent in temperature-controlled lorries – and Covid-19 drags on.

因此，现在英国脱欧迫在眉睫——对于一家用温控卡车向欧洲大陆出口产品的企业来说，这是个坏消息——2019冠状病毒病还在蔓延。

The usual, virtual attempts have been made to keep morale¹³ high at The Ice Co during the pandemic – Friday afternoons see the doors open to The Ice-Olation Station, an online pub –

疫情期间为了保留士气，The Ice Co和其它企业一样也采取了一些线上措施——周五下午人们会看到一家名为Ice-Olation Station的在线酒吧——

but the apocalyptic¹⁴ subtext of the EPIA's newsletter from March this year – which promised "the certainty of a significant decline in packaged ice sales for this coming peak ice sales season" – was unignorable.

但今年三月EPIA(欧洲光伏行业协会)通讯中的末日潜台词——预示“在即将到来的冰销售旺季，包装冰的销量肯定会大幅下降”——不容忽视。

Now the packaged ice industry faces a Christmas period that will feature fewer parties and, one can safely assume, less Party Ice.

如今，包装冰行业正面临着一个派对减少的圣诞季，“派对冰”的需求势必也将减少。

But it is further in the future that ice's real reckoning awaits.

不过，冰块真正的清算还要等到更久远的未来。

The Ice Co's management team talked in rapturous tones about the long, hot summer of 2018:

The Ice Co的管理团队兴高采烈地谈论着2018年漫长炎热的夏天：

the year the ice almost ran out, when a full lorry was dispatched from the factory every 30 minutes, round the clock, for weeks on end.

那一年，每30分钟就有一辆满载的卡车从工厂运出，连续几周夜以继日，冰块几乎售空。

And yet selling ice in a world that's demonstrably heating up presents both an opportunity and an ethical¹⁵ dilemma¹⁶.

然而，在一个气温显然正在升高的世界里卖冰既是机遇，也面临着道德难题。

From the hack-it-off-a-glacier days up to the present, ice has always been about mankind's relationship with the environment.

从冰川崩解到现在，冰一直与人类和环境的关系问题息息相关。

Even if the industry is no longer so obviously extractive, it still leaves a sizeable carbon footprint.

即便该行业的采掘性不再那么明显，但仍会留下相当大的碳足迹。

1 encompasses   

v.围绕( encompass的第三人称单数 )；包围；包含；包括

参考例句：

• The job encompasses a wide range of responsibilities. 这项工作涉及的职责范围很广。
• Its conservation law encompasses both its magnitude and its direction. 它的守恒定律包括大小和方向两方面。 来自辞典例句

2 iceberg   

n.冰山，流冰，冷冰冰的人

参考例句：

• The ship hit an iceberg and went under.船撞上一座冰山而沉没了。
• The glacier calved a large iceberg.冰河崩解而形成一个大冰山。

3 titanic   

adj.巨人的，庞大的，强大的

参考例句：

• We have been making titanic effort to achieve our purpose.我们一直在作极大的努力，以达到我们的目的。
• The island was created by titanic powers and they are still at work today.台湾岛是由一个至今仍然在运作的巨大力量塑造出来的。

4 puddles   

n.水坑， （尤指道路上的）雨水坑( puddle的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The puddles had coalesced into a small stream. 地面上水洼子里的水汇流成了一条小溪。
• The road was filled with puddles from the rain. 雨后路面到处是一坑坑的积水。 来自《简明英汉词典》

5 apparently   

adv.显然地；表面上，似乎

参考例句：

• An apparently blind alley leads suddenly into an open space.山穷水尽，豁然开朗。
• He was apparently much surprised at the news.他对那个消息显然感到十分惊异。

6 phenomena   

n.现象

参考例句：

• Ade couldn't relate the phenomena with any theory he knew.艾德无法用他所知道的任何理论来解释这种现象。
• The object of these experiments was to find the connection,if any,between the two phenomena.这些实验的目的就是探索这两种现象之间的联系，如果存在着任何联系的话。

7 desperately   

adv.极度渴望地，绝望地，孤注一掷地

参考例句：

• He was desperately seeking a way to see her again.他正拼命想办法再见她一面。
• He longed desperately to be back at home.他非常渴望回家。

8 payable   

adj.可付的，应付的，有利益的

参考例句：

• This check is payable on demand.这是一张见票即付的支票。
• No tax is payable on these earnings.这些收入不须交税。

9 cargo   

n.(一只船或一架飞机运载的)货物

参考例句：

• The ship has a cargo of about 200 ton.这条船大约有200吨的货物。
• A lot of people discharged the cargo from a ship.许多人从船上卸下货物。

10 obsession   

n.困扰，无法摆脱的思想(或情感)

参考例句：

• I was suffering from obsession that my career would be ended.那时的我陷入了我的事业有可能就此终止的困扰当中。
• She would try to forget her obsession with Christopher.她会努力忘记对克里斯托弗的迷恋。

11 looming   

n.上现蜃景（光通过低层大气发生异常折射形成的一种海市蜃楼）v.隐约出现，阴森地逼近( loom的现在分词 )；隐约出现，阴森地逼近

参考例句：

• The foothills were looming ahead through the haze. 丘陵地带透过薄雾朦胧地出现在眼前。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Then they looked up. Looming above them was Mount Proteome. 接着他们往上看，在其上隐约看到的是蛋白质组山。 来自英汉非文学 - 生命科学 - 回顾与展望

12 looms   

n.织布机( loom的名词复数 )v.隐约出现，阴森地逼近( loom的第三人称单数 )；隐约出现，阴森地逼近

参考例句：

• All were busily engaged,men at their ploughs,women at their looms. 大家都很忙，男的耕田，女的织布。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The factory has twenty-five looms. 那家工厂有25台织布机。 来自《简明英汉词典》

13 morale   

n.道德准则，士气，斗志

参考例句：

• The morale of the enemy troops is sinking lower every day.敌军的士气日益低落。
• He tried to bolster up their morale.他尽力鼓舞他们的士气。

14 apocalyptic   

adj.预示灾祸的，启示的

参考例句：

• The air is chill and stagnant,the language apocalyptic.空气寒冷而污浊，语言则是《启示录》式的。
• Parts of the ocean there look just absolutely apocalyptic.海洋的很多区域看上去完全像是世界末日。

15 ethical   

adj.伦理的，道德的，合乎道德的

参考例句：

• It is necessary to get the youth to have a high ethical concept.必须使青年具有高度的道德观念。
• It was a debate which aroused fervent ethical arguments.那是一场引发强烈的伦理道德争论的辩论。

16 dilemma   

n.困境，进退两难的局面

参考例句：

• I am on the horns of a dilemma about the matter.这件事使我进退两难。
• He was thrown into a dilemma.他陷入困境。