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(单词翻译:双击或拖选)
SCOTT SIMON, HOST:
A couple of high-tech1 entrepreneurs thought they'd put a personable name on an impersonal2 product. Paul McDonald and Ashwath Rajan, formerly3 of Google, unveiled a box this week with glass doors stocked with nonperishable items that people can unlock with their cell phones while a camera records what they take and charges them. It's essentially4 a tech-connected vending5 machine. But the entrepreneurs chose a name for their venture that many people found offensive - bodega. The name's taken from small neighborhood shops, usually in New York, stocked with products people run out of or suddenly crave6 - candy, gum, soda7 and, yes, cigarettes, newspapers, lottery8 tickets, condoms, tampons and soap.
Many bodegas are in Hispanic neighborhoods run by Hispanic and Asian shopkeepers. They become a stop for people out to walk their dogs or take a stroll from their apartments who decide to linger for a few minutes to buy a magazine or candy bar and talk to other people about how bad the Mets are, how nice the weather is, and kvetch about politicians, landlords and the Number 7 train from Flushing.
Bodegas are often the place sixth graders stop after school to buy a Coke or a candy bar. The bodega owners know their name and tells them, run home and do your homework. The bodega owner will often let a good customer just take something they need if they have no money until they get their paycheck. There is no app for that.
Real bodegas are small affordable9 businesses you don't need a stock offering to open. But if the high-tech-minibar faux bodega takes off, it could be at the expense of bodegas owned by real people who keep a cat on the counter and become vital characters in a neighborhood. To me, it's like sacrilegious. You want to take this name and use it to make money off it, Frank Garcia, who chairs the State Coalition10 of Hispanic Chambers11 of Commerce, told The New York Post.
The instant reaction on social media was so sharp that Paul McDonald and Ashwath Rajan had to quickly write on Medium, we did some homework - speaking to New Yorkers, branding people, and even running some survey work asking about the name and any potential offense12 it might cause. But it's clear that we may not have been asking the right questions of the right people. Despite our best intentions and our admiration13 for traditional bodegas, we clearly hit a nerve, said the entrepreneurs. We intended only admiration. But their statement leaves a question unanswered - will the name stay?
(SOUNDBITE OF PRETTY LIGHTS' "YELLOW BIRD")
1 high-tech | |
adj.高科技的 | |
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2 impersonal | |
adj.无个人感情的,与个人无关的,非人称的 | |
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3 formerly | |
adv.从前,以前 | |
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4 essentially | |
adv.本质上,实质上,基本上 | |
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5 vending | |
v.出售(尤指土地等财产)( vend的现在分词 );(尤指在公共场所)贩卖;发表(意见,言论);声明 | |
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6 crave | |
vt.渴望得到,迫切需要,恳求,请求 | |
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7 soda | |
n.苏打水;汽水 | |
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8 lottery | |
n.抽彩;碰运气的事,难于算计的事 | |
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9 affordable | |
adj.支付得起的,不太昂贵的 | |
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10 coalition | |
n.结合体,同盟,结合,联合 | |
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11 chambers | |
n.房间( chamber的名词复数 );(议会的)议院;卧室;会议厅 | |
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12 offense | |
n.犯规,违法行为;冒犯,得罪 | |
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13 admiration | |
n.钦佩,赞美,羡慕 | |
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