纽约时报 纽约小农场生意意外兴旺的背后(4)（在线收听）

When an employee tested positive for the coronavirus,

一名员工新冠病毒检测呈阳性后，

Mr. Corwin, unable to provide safe work conditions,

由于无法继续提供安全的工作环境，

shut down production on March 30 and laid off 47 unionized workers — more than 80 percent of his employees.

科温先生于3月30日关闭了鸭场，还解雇了47名工会员工-——相当于其员工总数的80%以上。

"I'm thankful that I stopped it when I did," he said.

“我很庆幸我当时就停工了，”他说。

"We had one person test positive, and now she's fine."

“我们只有一个人检测呈阳性，现在她已经没事了。”

Mr. Corwin says an operation the size of his can't make it on retail sales alone,

科温表示，类似他那样规模的业务仅靠零售仍然无法弥补疫情的损失，

even when the demand for fresh meat on Long Island has risen to height-of the-summer levels.

尽管长岛地区对新鲜肉类的需求已经提前上涨到夏季水平。

Currently, one of Crescent's best customers is Miloski's,

目前，Crescent最大的客户之一是Miloski家，

a poultry farm and meat store in Calverton known for its rotisserie duck to-go.

这家家禽农场兼肉店位于卡尔弗顿，该店的招牌菜是外带烤鸭。

"Miloski has gone from buying 10 boxes a week to 25 boxes a week," he said.

“Miloski的订单已经从一周10箱增加到了一周25箱，”他说。

"But I need to sell 3,000 a week."

“但我每周需要卖出的量是3000箱。”

Mr. Corwin said the presidential executive order invoking the Defense Production Act to keep meat processing plants open was encouraging.

科温表示，总统为维持肉类加工厂的运营，援引“国防生产法案”的行政命令颇为振奋人心。

He is retrofitting his plant with Plexiglas partitions, and has gloves and masks on order,

目前，他正在给工厂配置Plexiglas亚克力隔板，还订购了手套及口罩，

and is hoping to bring back his workers and reopen in early summer.

希望能藉此召回工人，于初夏时节复工。

But for that to happen, his restaurant clients must reopen and start serving duck again.

但他要复工顺利，他的餐厅客户也需重新开张，开始供应鸭肉菜品。

"Let's hope that the powers that be have the foresight for what's best for us," Mr. Corwin said, "so we can clim b out of this."

“就让我们期盼当权者有远见，知道什么对我们最好吧，”科温说，“因为这样我们才能走出困境。”

But adaptation is possible, even for the narrowest of farms.

但即使是最狭小的农场，适应疫情也不是全无可能。

Taylor Knapp is the proprietor of Peconic Escargot,

泰勒·纳普是Peconic Escget的老板，

a Long Island farm that supplied restaurants with the rarest of luxuries — fresh snails.

他的农场也在长岛，农场为餐馆供应的是最稀有的奢侈品——新鲜蜗牛。

The snail market, no surprise, has collapsed.

毫无疑问，蜗牛市场已然崩溃。

But Mr. Knapp is also a chef.

但纳普本人还是一名厨师。

So over a weekend, he turned his pop-up dinners, held in empty restaurants,

仅仅过了一个周末，他就从在空闲餐厅制作快闪美食的知名主厨

into a fine-dining takeout in the parking lot of a former inn.

转型成了一个在前宾馆停车场制作精致外卖的厨师。

Customers pop the trunk just long enough to receive a six-course meal, a votive candle and a long-stem rose.

顾客打开后备箱，只需等待六道菜加一支许愿蜡烛，一朵长茎玫瑰被放入车内的时间即可返回。

The snail farm is on pause.

蜗牛养殖场已经陷入停滞。

"Thankfully, the creatures we raise have a five-year life span," Mr. Knapp said.

“庆幸的是，我们养的这东西能活5年，”纳普说。

"I don't think we are at risk of closing, but even if restaurants reopen in June,

“我并不觉得我们的生意已经做到头了，但即便6月份大小餐厅都重新开业，

fine dining is going to be changed — if not forever, for a very long time."

高档美食也无法回到从前了——即便不是永远，也是很长很长一段时间。”