纽约时报 吃肉的日子到此结束(1)

The End of Meat Is Here

吃肉的日子到此结束

By Jonathan Safran Foer

文/乔纳森·萨夫兰·福尔

Jonathan Safran Foer is the author of “Eating Animals” and “We Are the Weather.”

乔纳森·萨夫兰·福尔系《吃动物》、《我们即天气》作者。

Is any panic more primitive¹ than the one prompted by the thought of empty grocery store shelves?

有比超市货架被清空引发的恐慌更质朴的恐慌吗？

Is any relief more primitive than the one provided by comfort food?

有比慰藉心灵的美食带来的宽慰更质朴的宽慰吗？

Most everyone has been doing more cooking these days,

最近这些天，大家下厨的次数似乎都更频繁了，

more documenting of the cooking, and more thinking about food in general.

记录下厨的次数也更多了，对食物的思考也多了起来。

The combination of meat shortages and President Trump²’s decision to order slaughterhouses open

一边是肉类供应陷入紧张状态，一边是特朗普总统不顾生命受到新冠病毒威胁的工人的连番抗议，执意让多家屠宰场继续生产的决定，

despite the protestations of endangered workers has inspired many Americans to consider just how essential meat is.

不少美国民众纷纷开始思考肉类对我们究竟有多重要这一问题。

Is it more essential than the lives of the working poor who labor³ to produce it?

比辛辛苦苦加工肉类的穷人的命都重要吗？

It seems so.

表面来看，是这样的。

3

An astonishing 6 out of 10 counties that the White House itself identified as coronavirus hot spots

已经被白宫认定为新冠肺炎热点区域的10个县中有6个县

are home to the very slaughterhouses the president ordered open.

都是总统点名继续开工的屠宰场的所在地。

In Sioux Falls, S.D., the Smithfield pork plant, which produces some 5 percent of the country’s pork,

南达科他州苏福尔斯的史密斯菲尔德猪肉厂在全国猪肉市场占有的份额高达5%左右，

is one of the largest hot spots in the nation.

该厂便是全美国最大的热点区域之一。

A Tyson plant in Perry, Iowa, had 730 cases of the coronavirus — nearly 60 percent of its employees.

爱荷华州佩里的泰森工厂已经爆发了730例冠状病毒病例——几乎占到了该厂员工总数的60%。

At another Tyson plant, in Waterloo, Iowa, there were 1,031 reported cases among about 2,800 workers.

爱荷华州滑铁卢的一家泰森工厂共有大约2800名工人，目前已有1031人确诊。

Sick workers mean plant shutdowns, which has led to a backlog⁴ of animals.

工人感染意味着工厂面临关闭，工厂关闭又会导致农场家畜积压。

Some farmers are injecting pregnant sows to cause abortions⁵.

一些养殖户已经开始给怀孕母猪注射疫苗使其流产。

Others are forced to euthanize their animals, often by gassing or shooting them.

其他养殖户则在无奈之下选择了给自家家畜安乐死，通常是通过毒气或枪杀等方式。

It’s gotten bad enough that Senator Chuck Grassley, an Iowa Republican,

目前，事态已经恶化到了爱荷华州共和党参议员查克·格拉斯利

has asked the Trump administration to provide mental health resources to hog⁶ farmers.

要求特朗普政府为生猪养殖户提供心理健康支援的地步。

1 primitive   

adj.原始的；简单的；n.原(始)人，原始事物

参考例句：

• It is a primitive instinct to flee a place of danger.逃离危险的地方是一种原始本能。
• His book describes the march of the civilization of a primitive society.他的著作描述了一个原始社会的开化过程。

2 trump   

n.王牌，法宝；v.打出王牌，吹喇叭

参考例句：

• He was never able to trump up the courage to have a showdown.他始终鼓不起勇气摊牌。
• The coach saved his star player for a trump card.教练保留他的明星选手，作为他的王牌。

3 labor   

n.劳动，努力，工作，劳工；分娩；vi.劳动，努力，苦干；vt.详细分析；麻烦

参考例句：

• We are never late in satisfying him for his labor.我们从不延误付给他劳动报酬。
• He was completely spent after two weeks of hard labor.艰苦劳动两周后，他已经疲惫不堪了。

4 backlog   

n.积压未办之事

参考例句：

• It will take a month to clear the backlog of work.要花一个月的时间才能清理完积压的工作。
• Investment is needed to reduce the backlog of repairs.需要投资来減轻积压的维修工作。

5 abortions   

n.小产( abortion的名词复数 )；小产胎儿；（计划）等中止或夭折；败育

参考例句：

• The Venerable Master: By not having abortions, by not killing living beings. 上人：不堕胎、不杀生。 来自互联网
• Conclusion Chromosome abnormality is one of the causes of spontaneous abortions. 结论：染色体异常是导致反复自然流产的原因之一。 来自互联网

6 hog   

n.猪；馋嘴贪吃的人；vt.把…占为己有，独占

参考例句：

• He is greedy like a hog.他像猪一样贪婪。
• Drivers who hog the road leave no room for other cars.那些占着路面的驾驶员一点余地都不留给其他车辆。