纽约时报 吃肉的日子到此结束(5)

Isn't a movement away from meat elitist? No.

远离肉类不是精英阶级才会做的事情吗？不是。

A 2015 study found that a vegetarian¹ diet is $750 a year cheaper than a meat-based diet.

2015年的一项研究发现，一年下来，吃素的开支比吃肉要便宜750美元。

People of color disproportionately self-identify as vegetarian and disproportionately are victims of factory farming's brutality².

自我定位为素食主义者的人格外多的是有色人群，受工业化养殖伤害最深的也是有色人群。

The slaughterhouse employees currently being put at risk to satisfy our taste for meat are overwhelmingly brown and black.

最近，因为我们的食肉欲陷入感染新冠肺炎风险的屠宰厂员工中，有绝大部分都是黄种人和黑人。

Can't we work with factory-farming corporations to improve the food system? No.

与搞工业化养殖的企业一起就无法改进我们的食品供应体系吗？答案是肯定的。

Well, unless you believe that those made powerful through exploitation

当然，除非你相信，这些通过剥削他人做大做强的企业

will voluntarily destroy the vehicles that have granted them with spectacular wealth.

会愿意主动捣毁给他们带来巨额财富的车轮。

Factory farming is to actual farming what criminal monopolies are to entrepreneurship.

工业化农业之于传统农业就好比罪恶的垄断之于创业。

If for a single year the government removed its $38-billion-plus in props³ and bailouts,

如果政府撤回380亿+美元的年支持和救助资金，

and required meat and dairy corporations to play by normal capitalist rules, it would destroy them forever.

要求肉类和乳制品公司遵守常规的资本运作规则，这些公司势必彻底下线。

The industry could not survive in the free market.

因为自由市场没有他们丝毫的立足空间。

Perhaps more than any other food, meat inspires both comfort and discomfort⁴.

或许，在所有食物中， 要论带来的愉悦和不适，肉类都是首屈一指的。

That can make it difficult to act on what we know and want.

正因为如此，践行我们的所知所想才会如此艰难。

Can we really displace meat from the center of our plates?

把肉从我们的餐盘中央拿走，我们真能做到么？

This is the question that brings us to the threshold of the impossible.

这一问题又将我们带回了那个我们无法跨越的门槛面前。

On the other(one) side is the inevitable⁵.

门槛这边是避无可避的灾难。

With the horror of pandemic pressing from behind, and the new questioning of what is essential,

后有疫情大爆发带来的恐惧穷追不舍，前有对究竟什么才是我们不可或缺之物的思考，

we can now see the door that was always there.

那扇一直都在的门终于走进了我们的视野。

As in a dream where our homes have rooms unknown to our waking selves,

正如梦里的家有我们自己都不知道的房间，

we can sense there is a better way of eating, a life closer to our values.

我们能感觉到，应该还有更好的饮食习惯，与我们的价值观更契合的生活方式。

On the other side is not something new, but something that calls from the past —

门槛另一边的世界并不新鲜，不过就是历史的召唤——

a world in which farmers were not myths,

在那个世界里，农民不再是神话人物，

tortured bodies were not food and the planet was not the bill at the end of the meal.

（动物）饱受折磨的身体不再是（人类的）食物，我们的家园地球也不再是末日的代价。

One meal in front of the other, it's time to cross the threshold.

就让我们一餐一餐地，一步一个脚印地跨过那道门槛。

On the other side is home.

因为门槛的另一边才是我们的家。

1 vegetarian   

n.素食者；adj.素食的

参考例句：

• She got used gradually to the vegetarian diet.她逐渐习惯吃素食。
• I didn't realize you were a vegetarian.我不知道你是个素食者。

2 brutality   

n.野蛮的行为，残忍，野蛮

参考例句：

• The brutality of the crime has appalled the public. 罪行之残暴使公众大为震惊。
• a general who was infamous for his brutality 因残忍而恶名昭彰的将军

3 props   

小道具； 支柱( prop的名词复数 )； 支持者； 道具； （橄榄球中的）支柱前锋

参考例句：

• Rescuers used props to stop the roof of the tunnel collapsing. 救援人员用支柱防止隧道顶塌陷。
• The government props up the prices of farm products to support farmers' incomes. 政府保持农产品价格不变以保障农民们的收入。

4 discomfort   

n.不舒服，不安，难过，困难，不方便

参考例句：

• One has to bear a little discomfort while travelling.旅行中总要忍受一点不便。
• She turned red with discomfort when the teacher spoke.老师讲话时她不好意思地红着脸。

5 inevitable   

adj.不可避免的，必然发生的

参考例句：

• Mary was wearing her inevitable large hat.玛丽戴着她总是戴的那顶大帽子。
• The defeat had inevitable consequences for British policy.战败对英国政策不可避免地产生了影响。