美国国家公共电台 NPR--High energy prices and inflation are taking a toll on U.K. businesses

High energy prices and inflation are taking a toll¹ on U.K. businesses

Transcript²

More than 11,000 small businesses closed in the UK last year. Many smaller shops could not keep up with higher energy costs, inflation and competition from online retailers⁴.

LEILA FADEL, HOST:

High energy prices and inflation are taking a toll on U.K. businesses, and researchers say smaller retailers are struggling to survive. Willem Marx reports.

WILLEM MARX: In Britain, a country long ago described as a nation of shopkeepers, many small store operators today are struggling to survive.

WAZ ABBAS: One seventy-eight, thank you.

MARX: In the town of Broxburn, just west of Scotland's capital city, Edinburgh, Waz Abbas has served his convenience store customers for 23 years.

ABBAS: Perfect. Thank you so much. Cheers, guys. See you later.

MARX: But now rising fuel costs are creating fresh financial pressures.

ABBAS: Everything that comes to your door is delivered, so the fuel is going to impact it, irrespective of whether you're getting a block of cheese or a pallet of beer delivered. It is going to affect the cost of it. So it came to a point that businesses like ours couldn't absorb it any longer.

MARX: His electricity bills have also more than doubled since November, partly a consequence of the conflict in Ukraine. Despite massive government subsidies⁵, he's worried about raising his prices further in response.

ABBAS: By how much can you put up a jug⁶ of milk? How much can you put up a bag of crisps? How much can you put up a bar of chocolate before you, the end user, thinks, well, actually, I can't afford to now eat that bar of chocolate?

MARX: If this energy cost crisis continues, Abbas is concerned he'll either need to let staff go or else force his wife and himself to work for free. Other alternatives, he says, are even worse.

ABBAS: Too many guys now are looking at, actually, either we will survive this year, or we will close our door and walk away rather than pay the bills. That is where it's got to.

MARX: Across Britain, many retailers are facing similarly tough choices. The Centre for Retail³ Research found that more than 11,000 independent stores closed in 2022 alone. Professor Joshua Bamfield published those findings.

JOSHUA BAMFIELD: A lot of retailers have said to themselves, there is no way we can turn the shop into a paying proposition. We're paying to keep it open, so we might just as well close it.

MARX: He says the U.K.'s current recession and inflation are only partly to blame. The move to online shopping has played a huge role too, by creating short-term uncertainty⁷.

BAMFIELD: We talk about crisis. The British retail industry is in a stage of transition. I think that within a couple of years, it should be clearer what the right answer is in every area, and retail will be in a rather better position.

MARX: In the meantime, government support is seeking to stabilize⁸ the situation for shop owners with lower tax rates and support for utility bills, at least through this winter. But long-term trends and the changing behavior of British shoppers could create new opportunities too, says Harvir Dhillon, an economist⁹ at industry trade group the British Retail Consortium.

HARVIR DHILLON: Commerce isn't just opening up the store now and having a warehouse¹⁰ to store your goods and your various different products. It's fairly possible, in today's economy, for somebody to start up a business and start promoting it on Instagram and get a micro-retail business off the ground that way.

MARX: Waz Abbas says he's adapting to digital retailing¹¹ as best he can, but by the time his kids are his age, he fears Britain's centuries-old tradition of shopkeeping may have become a thing of the past. For NPR News, I'm Willem Marx in London.

1 toll   

n.过路(桥)费；损失，伤亡人数；v.敲(钟)

参考例句：

• The hailstone took a heavy toll of the crops in our village last night.昨晚那场冰雹损坏了我们村的庄稼。
• The war took a heavy toll of human life.这次战争夺去了许多人的生命。

2 transcript   

n.抄本，誊本，副本，肄业证书

参考例句：

• A transcript of the tapes was presented as evidence in court.一份录音带的文字本作为证据被呈交法庭。
• They wouldn't let me have a transcript of the interview.他们拒绝给我一份采访的文字整理稿。

3 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。

4 retailers   

零售商，零售店( retailer的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• High street retailers reported a marked increase in sales before Christmas. 商业街的零售商报告说圣诞节前销售量显著提高。
• Retailers have a statutory duty to provide goods suitable for their purpose. 零售商有为他们提供符合要求的货品的法定义务。

5 subsidies   

n.补贴，津贴，补助金( subsidy的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• European agriculture ministers failed to break the deadlock over farm subsidies. 欧洲各国农业部长在农业补贴问题上未能打破僵局。
• Agricultural subsidies absorb about half the EU's income. 农业补贴占去了欧盟收入的大约一半。 来自《简明英汉词典》

6 jug   

n.(有柄，小口，可盛水等的)大壶，罐，盂

参考例句：

• He walked along with a jug poised on his head.他头上顶着一个水罐，保持着平衡往前走。
• She filled the jug with fresh water.她将水壶注满了清水。

7 uncertainty   

n.易变，靠不住，不确知，不确定的事物

参考例句：

• Her comments will add to the uncertainty of the situation.她的批评将会使局势更加不稳定。
• After six weeks of uncertainty,the strain was beginning to take its toll.6个星期的忐忑不安后，压力开始产生影响了。

8 stabilize   

vt.（使）稳定，使稳固，使稳定平衡；vi.稳定

参考例句：

• They are eager to stabilize currencies.他们急于稳定货币。
• His blood pressure tended to stabilize.他的血压趋向稳定。

9 economist   

n.经济学家，经济专家，节俭的人

参考例句：

• He cast a professional economist's eyes on the problem.他以经济学行家的眼光审视这个问题。
• He's an economist who thinks he knows all the answers.他是个经济学家，自以为什么都懂。

10 warehouse   

n.仓库；vt.存入仓库

参考例句：

• We freighted the goods to the warehouse by truck.我们用卡车把货物运到仓库。
• The manager wants to clear off the old stocks in the warehouse.经理想把仓库里积压的存货处理掉。

11 retailing   

n.零售业v.零售(retail的现在分词)

参考例句：

• career opportunities in retailing 零售业的职业机会
• He is fond of retailing the news. 他喜欢传播消息。 来自《简明英汉词典》