美国国家公共电台 NPR After Being Banned, Kinder Eggs Are Coming To America

 

AUDIE CORNISH, HOST:

Kinder Eggs are coming to America.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

UNIDENTIFIED PERSON: Wee.

UNIDENTIFIED MAN: Kinder Surprise from Ferrero.

ARI SHAPIRO, HOST:

These are hollow chocolate eggs made by the Italian candy maker¹ Ferrero. The Kinder Surprise is a kind of egg with a collectible toy inside. It is sold in many parts of the world, just not in the U.S.

CORNISH: That's because for years, the Food and Drug Administration has banned the Kinder Surprise. It's considered a choking hazard due to the mix of edible² and non-edible parts.

SHAPIRO: That ban has not stopped traveling Americans from sneaking³ them in.

JOE WOS: They're just the most perfect item in the universe.

SHAPIRO: That is self-proclaimed Kinder Egg smuggler⁴ Joe Wos of Pittsburgh, Pa. He's been doing this since the 1990s, usually just in small amounts.

CORNISH: Except that one time on a trip home from Belgium.

WOS: I went really big. I decided⁵ to purchase a couple boxes of Kinder Eggs.

CORNISH: Kinder contraband⁶. Wos was stopped in New York. Customs officers confiscated⁷ the eggs.

WOS: Finally, they said I could have the toys provided I ate all the chocolate. And it wasn't even a situation where they said, throw out the chocolate, you can get the toys. They wanted to see me suffer, so I had to eat 20 chocolate eggs.

SHAPIRO: That doesn't sound like suffering, that sounds like a dream.

CORNISH: Hopefully Wos won't face that choice again. Next year, a slightly different version of the Kinder Surprise will be sold in the U.S. It's called the Kinder Joy. It's still shaped like an egg, but inside there are two separate sealed halves.

SHAPIRO: The food and the toy won't touch. That was the problem with the Kinder Surprise.

CORNISH: For Wos, the Kinder Joy a step in the right direction. He'll be able to get his fix legally, even if it's not quite the same as the Kinder Surprise.

WOS: I hope it'll be enough. You know, I'd hate to have to return to a life of crime.

SHAPIRO: And a word from U.S. Customs about the Kinder Surprise. They would like to remind us that this version of the Kinder Egg is still verboten, a no-go.

CORNISH: But they are hoping the new Kinder Joy will bring them some relief. In one year alone - 2015 - they confiscated about 30,000 Kinder Surprises.

1 maker   

n.制造者，制造商

参考例句：

• He is a trouble maker，You must be distant with him.他是个捣蛋鬼，你不要跟他在一起。
• A cabinet maker must be a master craftsman.家具木工必须是技艺高超的手艺人。

2 edible   

n.食品，食物；adj.可食用的

参考例句：

• Edible wild herbs kept us from dying of starvation.我们靠着野菜才没被饿死。
• This kind of mushroom is edible,but that kind is not.这种蘑菇吃得，那种吃不得。

3 sneaking   

a.秘密的，不公开的

参考例句：

• She had always had a sneaking affection for him. 以前她一直暗暗倾心于他。
• She ducked the interviewers by sneaking out the back door. 她从后门偷偷溜走，躲开采访者。

4 smuggler   

n.走私者

参考例句：

• The smuggler is in prison tonight, awaiting extradition to Britain. 这名走私犯今晚在监狱，等待引渡到英国。
• The smuggler was finally obliged to inform against his boss. 那个走私犯最后不得不告发他的首领。

5 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。

6 contraband   

n.违禁品，走私品

参考例句：

• Most of the city markets were flooded with contraband goods.大多数的城市市场上都充斥着走私货。
• The customs officers rummaged the ship suspected to have contraband goods.海关人员仔细搜查了一艘有走私嫌疑的海轮。

7 confiscated   

没收，充公( confiscate的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• Their land was confiscated after the war. 他们的土地在战后被没收。
• The customs officer confiscated the smuggled goods. 海关官员没收了走私品。