VOA慢速英语2021 美国亚裔企业在疫情期间遭受损失（在线收听）

Jan-Ie Low and her family have owned a restaurant in Las Vegas for the past 15 years. Like many restaurants during the pandemic, it shut down for two months last year.

简-艾伊·洛（Jane - Le Low）和家人在拉斯维加斯经营了一家餐厅15年了。和疫情期间的许多餐馆一样，这家餐馆去年关闭了两个月。

When the SATAY Thai Bistro & Bar reopened it could not have people inside. Because of the hot desert heat, people could not eat outside either. And conventions which bring people to Las Vegas were cancelled because of the health crisis. So they turned the restaurant into a food delivery business.

当沙嗲泰国酒馆酒吧重新开张时，室内不可以招待顾客。因为地处沙漠，天气炎热，人们也不能在户外用餐。由于这场健康危机，能为拉斯维加斯带来游客的会议也被取消了。所以他们把餐厅改造成了外卖店。

"If you don't adapt, you're going to be left behind," said Low. Even with the changes, sales dropped by half from 2019.

“如果不调整改变，我们就会被甩在后面，”洛说道。即使我们改变了经营方式，销售额也比2019年下降了一半。

The pandemic has been especially hard on Asian-owned businesses like the Low's.

这场疫情对于洛这样的亚裔经营的企业尤为不利。

Many Asian Americans operate small businesses like restaurants and nail salons. These service industries were hit hard by pandemic restrictions on indoor gatherings.

许多亚裔美国人经营着餐馆和美甲沙龙等小生意。这些服务业受到因疫情限制室内聚集人数的沉重打击。

Language barriers and limited relationships with banks have made it harder for them to learn about government aid. And they have also faced a rise in hate crimes from those that blamed Asians for the virus.

由于语言障碍和缺乏银行人脉关系，他们更难获得政府的援助。他们还要应对将新冠病毒归咎于亚裔而日益激增的仇恨犯罪。

A JP Morgan Chase Institute study showed that, by the end of March, sales for Asian-American businesses dropped by more than 60 percent. In comparison, most small businesses faced a 50 percent drop during the pandemic.

摩根大通研究所的一项研究显示，到3月底，亚裔美国人经营的企业的销售额下降了60%以上。相比之下，大多数小型企业在疫情期间的销售额下降了50%。

Michael Park's family has owned a dry cleaning business in Philadelphia for 34 years. He said business has gotten better since the summer. But sales are still only 25 percent of what they were before the pandemic. Park is using government loans to stay in business.

迈克尔·帕克(Michael Park)一家在费城经营干洗店已经34年了。他说，自从夏天以来生意有所好转了。但销量仍然只有疫情开始前的25%。帕克正在利用政府贷款维持店铺运转。

"We're just trying to stay afloat," he said.

“我们只是想（把店）维持下去，”他说。

Trouble getting aid

Last year, the U.S. government created the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) to help small businesses hurt by the pandemic.

去年，美国政府设立了薪资保护计划(PPP)来帮助受疫情影响的小企业。

Researchers at the University of California at Santa Cruz and the University of Nevada found that many minority-owned businesses were left out at the start of the program. The program was later changed to include more small and community-based lenders, which resulted in more support for minority-owned businesses.

加州大学圣克鲁兹分校和内华达大学的研究人员发现，许多少数族裔拥有的企业在该计划初期阶段被排除在外。该计划后来进行了调整，纳入了更多小型和社区贷款机构，从而为少数族裔经营的企业提供了更多支持。

Jamie Lee works for a community development organization that supports small businesses in Seattle's Chinatown area. She said many business owners she works with just know enough English to serve customers. But some might feel their English is not strong enough to go through the complex process to seek government assistance.

杰米·李(Jamie Lee)就职于一个社区发展组织，该组织支持西雅图唐人街地区的小企业。她表示，和她一起共事的很多企业主的英语水平虽然足以服务顾客。但有些人可能觉得自己的英语水平无法应付寻求政府援助的复杂程序。

Teizi Mersai runs Lam's Seafood Market, a Vietnamese-American-owned food store in Seattle. He said small businesses like his have survived with the help of neighborhood groups and local aid organizations.

泰兹·默西(tezi Mersai)在西雅图经营着越南裔开的林氏海鲜市场(Lam’s Seafood Market)食品店。他表示，像他这样的小企业是在社区团体和当地援助组织的帮助下存活下来的。

"The community really does come together," he said.

“社区真的要团结在一起，”他说道。

An Asian American worker at the store, however, was attacked on his way home from the store. He was not seriously hurt. It is unclear whether the attack was a hate crime but employees are taking precautions.

然而，该店的一名亚裔工人下班回家路上遭到袭击。他的伤势不重。目前还不清楚此次袭击动机是否为仇恨犯罪，但员工们正在采取预防措施。

We "tell everyone to make sure you travel in pairs as much as you can," Mersai said.

默西说：“我们要告诉大家的是，一定要尽可能多人地结伴出行。”

Words in This Story

delivery-n. the act of taking something to a person or place

adapt- v. to change your behavior so that it is easier to live in a particular place or situation

sale-n. the act of selling something : the exchange of goods, services, or property for money

afloat-adj. having enough money to continue : able to continue without suffering financial failure