It has been enjoyed by royalty for centuries and is the only brand served at the Queen’s castles and palaces. But in a few days’ time, the final batch of Malvern Water will be bottled and its production plant in the town shut down.
来自英国伍斯特郡温泉胜地的Malvern矿泉水----莫尔矿泉水(Malvern Water) 千百年来都是英国皇室的“御用矿泉水”。然而最近，当产出最后一批次的莫尔矿泉水后，伍斯特郡温泉胜地的的矿泉水工厂马上就面临停产的命运。
Coca-Cola, the brand’s owner, said today that output was too low for it to keep the site open and it will be sold off for luxury housing. Seventeen workers face redundancy.
莫尔矿泉水的“东家”可口可乐公司负责人说，莫尔矿泉水的产量过低已经不能维持厂房的正常运作，以后的矿泉水存货将全部卖给皇室以求“廉价出清”。
‘This is a great shock,’ said Paul Tuthill, chairman of the Worcestershire spa town’s council. ‘What is the Queen going to do about her water because she always drank Malvern Water? Queen Elizabeth I first sampled Malvern's waters in the 16th century. The current Queen is said to take it with her when she travels abroad.
可口可乐公司负责人Paul Tuthill惋惜道：“这对女王来说，绝对是一个重大打击。”他解释到，女王伊丽莎白二世从小饮用的就是莫尔矿泉水(Malvern Water) ，追溯历史，就连伊丽莎白一世在16世纪的时候饮用的矿泉水也是莫尔。据悉，现任女王就连出国都随身携带莫尔矿泉水。
For the past decade, Malvern has accounted for only 1 per cent of UK bottled water sales.
莫尔矿泉水厂房停产的原因还是其销售量太少太少，据悉，过去十年来，莫尔矿泉水只占了英国矿泉水总量的1%。
A spokesman for Coca-Cola, which has owned Malvern for 23 years, said the ‘tough decision’ to close had been taken because it could not produce water on the ‘scale needed to compete in today’s bottled water sector’.He added: ‘Modern bottled water plants are about ten times the size of Colwall and can often produce more water in a day than we do in a month.‘The size of our site – plus the amount of water we can actually extract – means Malvern is expensive to produce and cannot compete on price.’
负责人Paul Tuthill一直管理莫尔矿泉水长达23年，他说：“关闭厂房无疑是一个艰难的决定”。因为由于莫尔矿泉水产量太少，还有产地（伍斯特郡温泉胜地）地理位置方面的限制，他始终无法和现代矿泉水竞争。看来，女王伊丽莎白二世如果真想要继续饮用莫尔矿泉水是要花费些脑筋了。 |