VOA慢速英语--历史悠久的费城市场学会了在新冠危机中生存

Historic¹ Philadelphia Market Learns to Survive the COVID-19 Crisis²

The Reading Terminal Market, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, is 128 years old.

It is a historic place with almost 150 different vendors³ who run small shops and restaurants inside an old railroad station. Some of the vendors sell flowers, baked goods, cheese and sandwiches. Others sell meat, fish and things to use in your home like cloth and cooking tools.

When the coronavirus health crisis started one year ago, many of the people who have businesses in the market were worried about the future.

The market is close to Philadelphia's City Hall and the city's convention⁵ center where businesses and organizations hold meetings for thousands of people. But the market lost a lot of customers when people who worked nearby started working from home and people stopped visiting the city.

There was about one-third the usual number of people coming to the market during most of 2020. Some businesses decided⁶ to close for a short time. But the market building stayed open. Some of the businesses that sold necessary products like eggs and flour were able to survive. But many of them had to reduce the number of people they employed or reduce their hours.

Annie Allman manages the Reading Terminal Market. She said businesses were severely⁷ hurt. "We were wiped out," she said.

Stories of business survival⁸

The market is normally a popular stop for visitors to Philadelphia and a place for workers in nearby offices to buy lunch. But numbers from research company Econsult Solutions, Inc. show about 40 percent fewer people than usual visited Philadelphia in 2020.

Other business owners around the U.S. are facing the same kinds of problems. Restaurants, shops and other service businesses are seeing slow recoveries in many parts of the country. But people continue to be worried about traveling or spending time with people other than family.

Athens Voulgaridis runs a store that sells Greek food and sandwiches inside the market. The store opened in 1984. "All our customer base has just disappeared," he said.

Philadelphia permitted people to eat at restaurants indoors only recently. The situation is getting better. But Voulgaridis said sales are down by about 65 percent compared to most years. He used to have six employees. Now he only has three.

Joe Nicolosi owns a sandwich shop in the market called DiNic's. It opened in 1980. Before the pandemic, he would sell about 1,000 sandwiches on a busy Saturday. During the last year, even on busy days, he has only sold about 100.

That has meant fewer jobs. He used to have over 20 employees. During the coronavirus health crisis, he only needed five.

"Twenty-five percent staff size, and we were still overstaffed," he said.

Allman, who supervises⁹ the Reading Terminal Market, said many of the stores are still working because of government aid money. In addition, the market raised over $520,000 in donations through the website GoFundMe.com to help cover operating costs.

Nicolosi closed DiNic's for three months in 2020. Then he tried a service that sends popular foods to customers across the country as a way to keep his business going. He said the service, called Goldbelly, helped his business make money starting in the later part of 2020.

While some businesses were better prepared than others for the coronavirus restrictions¹⁰, all of them have taken some losses. Nicolosi said he has spoken with other shop owners at the market. He thinks people will feel as if things are getting back to normal when they hear that Philadelphia is planning big events again.

One of those events is the city's auto¹¹ show, which is now planned for June. It used to be one of the market's busiest weeks.

Nicolosi is hopeful.

"Knowing that's going to happen, like all right, and that week happening, and it is very busy, then it's like ‘OK we're headed towards a place where we're going to get back to something like where we were at before.'"

Nicolosi said he prepares about six hams each day to make sandwiches. When he starts having to cook more ham, he will know business is getting better.

Right now, more people in Philadelphia are getting vaccinated¹² against the coronavirus. One of the places where people are receiving the vaccine¹³ is the Pennsylvania Convention Center next to the market. It also is where the auto show will be held.

One recent day, people came into the market after getting their vaccine. As a result, the vendors at the market are starting to feel good that business will pick up again.

When it comes back, Nicolosi said he thinks people will be excited to go out to their favorite places and spend money again.

"Whether it's three months, six months or two years, that there's a chance that we're going to come out of this...and people are going to be out more than ever and there's going to be a pent-up urge to eat out and to travel and to you know, do things that kind of people have missed doing even more so than before."

Words in This Story

\vendor⁴ - n. a business that sells a particular type of product

sandwich - n. two pieces of bread with something (such as meat, peanut butter, etc.) between them

customer - n. someone who buys goods or services from a business

wiped out –adj. the way of describing the state of having no money

staff - n. a group of people who work for an organization or business

ham - n. meat from the leg of a pig that is often prepared by smoking or salting

pent-up - adj. held or kept inside; not released

1 historic   

adj.历史上著名的，具有历史意义的

参考例句：

• This is a historic occasion.这是具有重大历史意义的时刻。
• We are living in a great historic era.我们正处在一个伟大的历史时代。

2 crisis   

n.危机，危急关头，决定性时刻，关键阶段

参考例句：

• He had proved that he could be relied on in a crisis.他已表明，在紧要关头他是可以信赖的。
• The topic today centers about the crisis in the Middle East.今天课题的中心是中东危机。

3 vendors   

n.摊贩( vendor的名词复数 )；小贩；（房屋等的）卖主；卖方

参考例句：

• The vendors were gazundered at the last minute. 卖主在最后一刻被要求降低房价。
• At the same time, interface standards also benefIt'software vendors. 同时，界面标准也有利于软件开发商。 来自About Face 3交互设计精髓

4 vendor   

n.卖主；小贩

参考例句：

• She looked at the vendor who cheated her the other day with distaste.她厌恶地望着那个前几天曾经欺骗过她的小贩。
• He must inform the vendor immediately.他必须立即通知卖方。

5 convention   

n.惯例，习俗，常规，会议，大会

参考例句：

• How many delegates have checked in at the convention?大会已有多少代表报到？
• He sets at naught every convention of society.他轻视所有的社会习俗。

6 decided   

adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的

参考例句：

• This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
• There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。

7 severely   

adv.严格地；严厉地；非常恶劣地

参考例句：

• He was severely criticized and removed from his post.他受到了严厉的批评并且被撤了职。
• He is severely put down for his careless work.他因工作上的粗心大意而受到了严厉的批评。

8 survival   

n.留住生命，生存，残存，幸存者

参考例句：

• The doctor told my wife I had a fifty-fifty chance of survival.医生告诉我的妻子，说我活下去的可能性只有50%。
• The old man was a survival of a past age.这位老人是上一代的遗老。

9 supervises   

v.监督，管理( supervise的第三人称单数 )

参考例句：

• The group leader supervises a dozen workers. 组长管十二个工人。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• He makes the wines and supervises the vineyards. 他酿酒并管理葡萄园。 来自辞典例句

10 restrictions   

约束( restriction的名词复数 )； 管制； 制约因素； 带限制性的条件（或规则）

参考例句：

• I found the restrictions irksome. 我对那些限制感到很烦。
• a snaggle of restrictions 杂乱无章的种种限制

11 auto   

n.(=automobile)(口语)汽车

参考例句：

• Don't park your auto here.别把你的汽车停在这儿。
• The auto industry has brought many people to Detroit.汽车工业把许多人吸引到了底特律。

12 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？

13 vaccine   

n.牛痘苗，疫苗；adj.牛痘的，疫苗的

参考例句：

• The polio vaccine has saved millions of lives.脊髓灰质炎疫苗挽救了数以百万计的生命。
• She takes a vaccine against influenza every fall.她每年秋季接种流感疫苗。