商业周刊:无协议脱欧后的第一天(9)(在线收听

3:30 p.m., Isle of Mull, Scotland

下午3点30分,苏格兰莫尔岛

The final batch of the 100,000 lemon melt shortbreads Joe Reade's biscuit factory produces each day are turning gold in his industrial oven.

乔·雷德的饼干厂每天生产的最后一批10万个柠檬奶油酥饼,在他的工业烤箱里变成了黄金。

A dozen white-coated, hair-netted workers, including Poles and Romanians, mix Irish butter, Sicilian lemon oil, Brazilian sugar, and British flour.

包括波兰人和罗马尼亚人在内的十几名头发梳理整齐的白衣工人,将爱尔兰黄油、西西里柠檬油、巴西蔗糖和英国面粉混合在一起。

They bake the resulting dough at 200C before dipping the biscuits in Belgian white chocolate.

他们先在200摄氏度烘烤面团,然后将饼干蘸上比利时白巧克力。

Then they wrap the treats in cream-colored packets bearing the Island Bakery name in dark-blue lettering.

随后,他们用奶油色的包装袋包装好食物,包装上面用深蓝色字体写着海岛面包店的名字。

Come 4 p.m., the production line stops. Boxes of shortbreads are loaded onto trucks, to be taken by ferry to the Scottish mainland, then on to Germany and the Netherlands.

下午4点时,生产线停工。整箱的奶油酥饼装上卡车,用渡轮运到苏格兰大陆,然后再运到德国和荷兰。

British Airways is one of Reade's biggest customers, but in all, 25% of his sales come from exports to the EU.

英国航空公司是雷德最大的客户之一,但总的来说,其销售额的25%来自对欧盟的出口。

There'll be no exporting to Europe today.

今天,不可能出口到欧洲了。

The license certifying his biscuits as an organic food—he also heats his oven with renewable wood and generates his own electricity from a wind turbine—is no longer valid.

证明其饼干为有机食品的许可证已经失效,他还用可再生木材加热烤箱,用风力发电机发电。

He'll need a new one from the EU to sell his product there,

他需要欧盟颁发的新许可证,以便在那里销售其产品。

and its rules prevented him from applying for it until the U.K. had actually left. It could be months before the permit is approved.

而规则规定,只有英国离开欧盟后,他才能进行申请,那可能要等几个月。

"This is total madness," Reade mutters under his breath.

“这简直是疯了,”雷德低声咕哝道。

He took precautionary measures, encouraging his European customers to bring forward orders to beat the Brexit deadline.

他采取了预防措施,鼓励其欧洲客户提出订单,以打破脱欧的最后期限。

He doesn't need to ship to the Continent for a few weeks, but then the pain will start.

他几周内不需要去欧洲大陆,但是令人头疼的事情还是会开始。

Reade wants Scotland to break away from the U.K. and rejoin the EU. Recent opinion polls suggest a majority of Scots agree.

里德希望苏格兰脱离英国,重新加入欧盟。最近的民意调查显示,大多数苏格兰人都表示同意。

  原文地址:http://www.tingroom.com/lesson/syzk/496959.html