纽约时报 纽约小农场生意意外兴旺的背后(4)

When an employee tested positive for the coronavirus,

一名员工新冠病毒检测呈阳性后，

Mr. Corwin, unable to provide safe work conditions,

由于无法继续提供安全的工作环境，

shut down production on March 30 and laid off 47 unionized workers — more than 80 percent of his employees.

科温先生于3月30日关闭了鸭场，还解雇了47名工会员工-——相当于其员工总数的80%以上。

"I'm thankful that I stopped it when I did," he said.

“我很庆幸我当时就停工了，”他说。

"We had one person test positive, and now she's fine."

“我们只有一个人检测呈阳性，现在她已经没事了。”

Mr. Corwin says an operation the size of his can't make it on retail¹ sales alone,

科温表示，类似他那样规模的业务仅靠零售仍然无法弥补疫情的损失，

even when the demand for fresh meat on Long Island has risen to height-of the-summer levels.

尽管长岛地区对新鲜肉类的需求已经提前上涨到夏季水平。

Currently, one of Crescent's best customers is Miloski's,

目前，Crescent最大的客户之一是Miloski家，

a poultry² farm and meat store in Calverton known for its rotisserie duck to-go.

这家家禽农场兼肉店位于卡尔弗顿，该店的招牌菜是外带烤鸭。

"Miloski has gone from buying 10 boxes a week to 25 boxes a week," he said.

“Miloski的订单已经从一周10箱增加到了一周25箱，”他说。

"But I need to sell 3,000 a week."

“但我每周需要卖出的量是3000箱。”

Mr. Corwin said the presidential executive order invoking³ the Defense⁴ Production Act to keep meat processing plants open was encouraging.

科温表示，总统为维持肉类加工厂的运营，援引“国防生产法案”的行政命令颇为振奋人心。

He is retrofitting his plant with Plexiglas partitions, and has gloves and masks on order,

目前，他正在给工厂配置Plexiglas亚克力隔板，还订购了手套及口罩，

and is hoping to bring back his workers and reopen in early summer.

希望能藉此召回工人，于初夏时节复工。

But for that to happen, his restaurant clients must reopen and start serving duck again.

但他要复工顺利，他的餐厅客户也需重新开张，开始供应鸭肉菜品。

"Let's hope that the powers that be have the foresight⁵ for what's best for us," Mr. Corwin said, "so we can clim b out of this."

“就让我们期盼当权者有远见，知道什么对我们最好吧，”科温说，“因为这样我们才能走出困境。”

But adaptation is possible, even for the narrowest of farms.

但即使是最狭小的农场，适应疫情也不是全无可能。

Taylor Knapp is the proprietor⁶ of Peconic Escargot,

泰勒·纳普是Peconic Escget的老板，

a Long Island farm that supplied restaurants with the rarest of luxuries — fresh snails⁸.

他的农场也在长岛，农场为餐馆供应的是最稀有的奢侈品——新鲜蜗牛。

The snail⁷ market, no surprise, has collapsed⁹.

毫无疑问，蜗牛市场已然崩溃。

But Mr. Knapp is also a chef.

但纳普本人还是一名厨师。

So over a weekend, he turned his pop-up dinners, held in empty restaurants,

仅仅过了一个周末，他就从在空闲餐厅制作快闪美食的知名主厨

into a fine-dining takeout in the parking lot of a former inn.

转型成了一个在前宾馆停车场制作精致外卖的厨师。

Customers pop the trunk just long enough to receive a six-course meal, a votive candle and a long-stem rose.

顾客打开后备箱，只需等待六道菜加一支许愿蜡烛，一朵长茎玫瑰被放入车内的时间即可返回。

The snail farm is on pause.

蜗牛养殖场已经陷入停滞。

"Thankfully, the creatures we raise have a five-year life span," Mr. Knapp said.

“庆幸的是，我们养的这东西能活5年，”纳普说。

"I don't think we are at risk of closing, but even if restaurants reopen in June,

“我并不觉得我们的生意已经做到头了，但即便6月份大小餐厅都重新开业，

fine dining is going to be changed — if not forever, for a very long time."

高档美食也无法回到从前了——即便不是永远，也是很长很长一段时间。”

1 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。

2 poultry   

n.家禽，禽肉

参考例句：

• There is not much poultry in the shops. 商店里禽肉不太多。
• What do you feed the poultry on? 你们用什么饲料喂养家禽?

3 invoking   

v.援引( invoke的现在分词 )；行使（权利等）；祈求救助；恳求

参考例句：

• You can customise the behavior of the Asynchronous Server and hence re-brand it by defining your own command set for invoking services. 通过定义自己调用服务的命令集，您可以定制自定义异步服务器的行为，通过为调用服务定义自己的命令集从而对它重新标记。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• You can customize the behavior of the Asynchronous Server and hence re-brand it by defining your own command set for invoking services. 通过定义自己调用服务的命令集，您可以定制自定义异步服务器的行为，通过为调用服务定义自己的命令集从而对它重新标记。 来自辞典例句

4 defense   

n.防御，保卫；[pl.]防务工事；辩护，答辩

参考例句：

• The accused has the right to defense.被告人有权获得辩护。
• The war has impacted the area with military and defense workers.战争使那个地区挤满了军队和防御工程人员。

5 foresight   

n.先见之明，深谋远虑

参考例句：

• The failure is the result of our lack of foresight.这次失败是由于我们缺乏远虑而造成的。
• It required a statesman's foresight and sagacity to make the decision.作出这个决定需要政治家的远见卓识。

6 proprietor   

n.所有人；业主；经营者

参考例句：

• The proprietor was an old acquaintance of his.业主是他的一位旧相识。
• The proprietor of the corner grocery was a strange thing in my life.拐角杂货店店主是我生活中的一个怪物。

7 snail   

n.蜗牛

参考例句：

• Snail is a small plant-eating creature with a soft body.蜗牛是一种软体草食动物。
• Time moved at a snail's pace before the holidays.放假前的时间过得很慢。

8 snails   

n.蜗牛；迟钝的人；蜗牛( snail的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• I think I'll try the snails for lunch—I'm feeling adventurous today. 我想我午餐要尝一下蜗牛——我今天很想冒险。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Most snails have shells on their backs. 大多数蜗牛背上有壳。 来自《简明英汉词典》

9 collapsed   

adj.倒塌的

参考例句：

• Jack collapsed in agony on the floor. 杰克十分痛苦地瘫倒在地板上。
• The roof collapsed under the weight of snow. 房顶在雪的重压下突然坍塌下来。