VOA常速英语2016--一间坐落在农村小镇的书店获得巨大成功分享到:

Book Store in a Tiny Rural Town Enjoys Mega Success 一间坐落在农村小镇的书店获得巨大成功分享到:

MOUNT CRAWFORD, VA — 

A bookstore in the tiny town of Mount Crawford, Virginia is nothing fancy - no comfy chairs or coffee like you find in some other stores. Yet this store has proven resilient over the years through a simple philosophy of giving people what they want: books, lots and lots of books.

Getting there in the heart of the Shenandoah Valley is simple. Drive along country roads and just follow the road signs pointing the way, toward the large warehouses¹ tucked into a hillside.

想要到那个地方去很容易。你只需驱车沿着乡间小路一直走，沿途的路标会指引你前进的方向，最后便会到达一堆藏身于山坡的大型仓库前面。

Inside, shoppers with baskets in tow browse² tables and shelves brimming with books.Many are loyal customers, like Zoe Dellinger.

仓库里面，顾客们手提着购物篮，在满是书本的桌子和架子旁边浏览。其中许多人都是这家书店的忠实顾客，比如Zoe Dellinger。

“I’ve been coming here since I was in my early 20s," Dellinger said."The thrill of finding a new book is very serendipitous³ here because you can’t come and say I’m buying the new Nicholas Sparks book today.That’s not what this place is about.This place is about finding wonderful treasures.”

“我20岁出头就已经常常过来这里了，”Dellinger说道。“在这里你很少会有那种发现一本新书的激动心情，因为你没法过来之后跟人家说，我要买这本尼古拉斯·斯帕克斯的新书。那不是这个地方真正的意义，它真正的意义是让你去发现奇妙的宝藏。”

And those treasures are available at deeply discounted prices.

而你只需支付超低的折扣价格，就可以带走这些宝藏。

“I found a wonderful book that I wanted.It was very expensive at the time: 25, 26 dollars is expensive for me to purchase a new book.I found the book here for $5.I was so excited, so that has kept me coming back just to see what treasures I will find, "said Delinger.

“当时我想要一本超棒的书，可是对于当时的我来说那书太贵了：花25或者26刀买本新书对我来说太奢侈。后来我在这里也找到了那本书，才卖5刀，我真是兴奋坏了，这让我选择常常过来，看看自己能找到什么宝贝。”Delinger说道。

In its 2,300 square-meter two-building facility,the Green Valley Book Fair has a half million new and old books in a wide variety of categoriesincluding politics, religion, science, travel, cooking, children’s books and just about anything you can think of.

这间名叫绿谷书市的书店共两层，占地2300平方米，里面新书旧书加一起一共有50万本，并且种类繁多，包括政治、宗教、科学、旅游、烹饪以及儿童书籍，总之几乎任何你能想到的东西它都有。

But it wasn’t always this big.

但其实这间书店并非一直都是这么大的规模。

“My parents actually started this book store about 46 years ago," General manager Michele Branner said."My dad collected old books and decided⁴ that he wanted to sell some of them.This is the old barn that the cow stalls were taken out of, and that my parents actually had shelves built on each row.People would come in and shop and buy books out of here.And it went so well.It’s just kind of evolved to what it is today.”

“实际上，我父母大约46年前开办了这间书店，”总经理Michele Branner称。“我父亲以前收集了很多旧书，后来他决定卖掉其中一些。这是一个旧畜棚，把里面的牛棚搬出来以后，我父母在每一排都放置了书架。人们走进书店，四处逛一逛，然后从这里买一些书回去。书店的一切都进行得很顺利，慢慢地也就演变成了现在这个样子。”

The Green Valley Book Fair opens only six times a year for three-week sessions.About 25,000 people visit during each session, and the fair generates about $2 million in annual revenue.

绿谷书市一年只开放六次，一次持续三周。每次书店开放时大约都会有25000人前来购买，书市年营业收入大概有200万美元。

“We buy our books at a fraction of retail⁵ and we can sell them for the prices that we do and keep our overhead low.That’s why we don’t have any fancy buildings or anything like that,” said Branner.”

“我们买书只需花费零售价的一小部分，因此卖出时的价格可以像我们现在一样低廉，这可以让我们一直保持低成本。也因如此，我们没有漂亮建筑之类的东西，”Branner如是说道。

People have come to visit from all over the U.S. and from faraway places like Kenya, Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Russia.

来这里买书的顾客遍布全美，还有一些顾客来自肯尼亚、沙特阿拉伯、土耳其和俄罗斯。

"We are from Bristol, Connecticut, and we have a whole family with us this time.So, we said you gotta see this book fair and so we brought them all here today.It meets every family’s need that likes to read," said Whitton.

“我们是从康乃狄克州的布里斯托尔来的，这次全家都来了。我们跟大家说，你们一定得来看看这间书店，于是这次就把大家全带过来了。这间书店可以满足所有喜爱阅读的家庭的需要。”

It’s a simple business ethic⁶: give the people what they want.And despite what you may hear about electronic devices being the ’end of print,’it looks like there are plenty of people who want nothing more than to settle in with a good book.

这是一条很简单的商务伦理：给人们提供他们想要的东西。尽管可能你常会听说，电子设备将会“终结纸质书时代”，但似乎世界上还是会有许许多多的人，他们想要的只是一本好书，给心灵找个栖息的地方。

1 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。

2 browse   

vi.随意翻阅，浏览；(牛、羊等)吃草

参考例句：

• I had a browse through the books on her shelf.我浏览了一下她书架上的书。
• It is a good idea to browse through it first.最好先通篇浏览一遍。

3 serendipitous   

adj.偶然发现的

参考例句：

• There was a serendipitous second advantage working with a library of equations. 利用方程库有个意外收获的附带好处。 来自互联网
• Strategic networking prepares us for serendipitous moments. 战略性人际交往让我们为不时之需做好准备。 来自互联网

4 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。

5 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。

6 ethic   

n.道德标准，行为准则

参考例句：

• They instilled the work ethic into their children.他们在孩子们的心中注入了职业道德的理念。
• The connotation of education ethic is rooted in human nature's mobility.教育伦理的内涵根源于人本性的变动性。