VOA慢速英语2019 由于担忧冠状病毒 唐人街生意惨淡

Asian American businesses are seeing a drop in customers because of fears over the new coronavirus outbreak in China.

由于担心在中国爆发的新型冠状病毒，亚裔美国人企业的客户量有所下降。

In many places, city officials are trying to stop the financial harm with efforts like information campaigns and personal visits to stores and restaurants. They aim to bring attention to the fact that there have been few confirmed cases of the disease¹ in the United States. They say there is no reason to avoid Asian American businesses.

在很多地方，城市官员正试图通过诸如信息宣传活动和亲临商店和饭店等措施来阻止经济损失。他们旨在让人们关注到这样一个事实，那就是在美国几乎没有确诊病例。他们说没有理由要避开亚裔美国人的企业。

The newly² opened Asian District in Mesa, Arizona, was organizing a night market for the end of February. Then, news of a case of the illness known as COVID-19 was confirmed at nearby Arizona State University.

亚利桑那州梅萨市新开业的亚洲区将于2月底组织一个夜市。随后附近的亚利桑那州立大学传出了确诊一例新型冠状病毒患者的新闻。

Comments on social media and phone calls started almost immediately, said Vicente Reid. He is chief of the Arizona Asian Chamber³ of Commerce⁴.

韦森特·里德表示，社交媒体上几乎立刻就有了评论，他的电话也几乎立刻开始响了起来。他是亚利桑那州亚洲商会的负责人。

Reid said, "I probably should stop picking up my phone altogether. "

里德表示：“我也许应该完全不接电话。”

The new coronavirus has sickened tens of thousands of people, mostly in China. Fifteen people in the U.S. have been confirmed to have the virus. All but two had recently traveled to China.

新型冠状病毒已经使得数万人患病，其中大多数患者在中国。美国已经有15人确诊。除了两人以外的其他所有人近期都去过中国。

Fewer people at restaurants

饭店生意惨淡

Vegetarian⁵ Dim⁶ Sum House has been a popular place to eat in Manhattan's Chinatown for 23 years. But recently, owner Frankie Chu said he will not be able to pay his rent this month.

素食点心屋23年来一直是曼哈顿唐人街的热门就餐地。但是最近，餐厅老板弗兰克·朱表示，他这个月要付不起房租了。

Chu said restaurant sales have dropped 70 percent over the last two weeks. On a recent weekday, just three couples stopped in for lunch. Normally⁷, Chu said he gets up to 30 people for lunch. At dinnertime, his narrow restaurant usually gets about 70 customers. These days, he has about four.

朱表示，过去两周饭店的生意下降了70%。最近的一个工作日，只有3对夫妻进来吃午餐。朱表示，通常情况下，有多达30人进店吃午餐。在晚餐时间，他狭窄的餐厅里通常会吸引约70名顾客。这些天他大约只有4名顾客。

"I don't know how long I can stay here," Chu said. "After 9/11, it wasn't this bad."

朱表示：“我不知道我能维持多久。911之后生意就没有这么惨淡过。”

The situation has concerned New York City officials and business leaders. They have launched⁸ a campaign to bring people back to hard-hit communities in Manhattan, Queens and Brooklyn.

这种状况已经引起了纽约市官员和商业领袖的关注。他们发起了一场将人们带回曼哈顿、皇后区和布鲁克林区这些受冲击严重的社区的活动。

"Chinatown is bleeding," said Wellington Chen. He is executive⁹ chairman of the Chinatown Partnership¹⁰, a local business and community group. "This thing is thousands of miles away. This fear is really out of proportion¹¹."

惠林顿·陈表示：“唐人街正在遭受冲击。”他是唐人街合伙企业的执行主席，这是一家当地商业和社区组织。他说：“疫情发生在千里之外。这种担忧完全是小题大做。”

New York City is home to more than 500,000 Chinese Americans, the biggest population of any U.S. city. Some New Yorkers whose families are from China say they feel now like foreigners because of a disease spreading in another country.

纽约市拥有超过50万华裔美国人，是美国华裔人口最多的城市。一些有家人来自中国的纽约人表示，由于一种在其它国家传播的疾病，他们现在感觉像是老外。

"It's a little annoying to be honest," said Christina Seid, owner of the Chinatown Ice Cream Factory. Her father started the business 40 years ago.

唐人街冰淇淋厂老板克里斯蒂娜·塞德表示：“说实话这有点烦人。”她的父亲在40年前创办了这家企业。

Her great-grandparents immigrated¹² to New York from China. She said business has been slower than usual but added that the winter months are not busy for ice cream stores. She said she feels hopeful that things will soon return to normal.

她的曾祖父从中国移民到纽约。她表示，生意比平时清淡，但是又说，冰激凌店冬天本来生意就不好。她说希望一切会很快恢复正常。

There have been no confirmed cases of the virus in New York City. Officials and politicians are trying to prove to locals that there is no reason to avoid any neighborhood. Many city leaders have been eating at Chinese restaurants and publishing pictures of themselves doing so, using the hashtag #SupportChinatown.

纽约市没有确诊病例。官员和政客们正试图向当地人证明没有理由要避开任何邻居。很多城市领导人一直在中餐厅就餐，并使用“支持唐人街”的标签发布他们就餐时的照片。

In Boston, Massachusetts, Mayor¹³ Marty Walsh has launched a similar social media campaign. He has asked people to share pictures of themselves supporting small businesses in that city's Chinatown with the hashtag #LoveBostonChinatown.

在马萨诸塞州的波士顿市，市长马蒂·沃尔什发起了类似的社交运动。他请求人们使用“热爱波士顿唐人街”的标签分享自己支持该市唐人街小企业的照片。

In the San Francisco Bay Area, the situation is serious enough that Sunny Wong's family is considering temporarily closing one of the four restaurants they own in Oakland Chinatown. Even some of his friends and longtime customers have told him about false stories of people getting sick at one of his restaurants.

在旧金山湾区，情况严重到让沙利·黄的家人开始考虑暂时关闭他们在奥克兰唐人街4家餐厅中的一家。甚至他的一些朋友和老顾客都告诉他关于有人在他的一家餐厅生病的谣言。

"They hear stories and rumors¹⁴ and they just don't really look for the facts in a situation," Wong said.

黄表示：“他们听到故事和谣言，只是不会去探究真相。”

Nom Wah Tea Parlor¹⁵ is the oldest restaurant in Manhattan's Chinatown. Manager Vincent Tang said the restaurant had a 40-percent drop in business over the past three weeks. During a recent weekday, nearly half the tables were empty.

南华茶餐厅是曼哈顿唐人街最古老的餐厅。餐厅经理韦森特·唐表示，过去三周这家餐厅的营业额下降了40%。在最近的一个工作日，近一半的桌子都空着。

Some customers at Nom Wah said they were surprised that others were staying away.

南华茶餐厅的一些顾客表示，他们惊讶于其他顾客不来了。

"It didn't cross my mind at all," said customer Kate Masterson. "It's not happening here," she said of the outbreak.

顾客凯特·马斯特森表示：“我完全没想到。”谈到疫情时她表示：“这里又没发生疫情。”

1 disease   

n.疾病，弊端

参考例句：

• The doctors are trying to stamp out the disease.医生正在尽力消灭这种疾病。
• He fought against the disease for a long time.他同疾病做了长时间的斗争。

2 newly   

adv.新近，最近；重新，再度；以新的方式

参考例句：

• Have you reviewed for this newly published novel?你给这本新出版的小说写书评了吗？
• It is a newly planted tree and it has not established yet.这是一颗新栽的树，还没有扎下根来。

3 chamber   

n.房间，寝室；会议厅；议院；会所

参考例句：

• For many,the dentist's surgery remains a torture chamber.对许多人来说，牙医的治疗室一直是间受刑室。
• The chamber was ablaze with light.会议厅里灯火辉煌。

4 commerce   

n.商业，贸易；社交

参考例句：

• Commerce binds the two countries together.贸易把这两国结合在一起。
• They drew up plans aimed at expanding commerce.他们拟定了发展商业的计划。

5 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。

6 dim   

adj.昏暗的；朦胧的；v.(使)暗淡，(使)模糊

参考例句：

• The light is too dim for me to read easily.光线太暗，我很难阅读。
• I was so tired that my eyesight grew dim.我太累了，眼睛有点发花。

7 normally   

adv.正常地，通常地

参考例句：

• I normally do all my shopping on Saturdays.我通常在星期六买东西。
• My pulse beats normally.我脉搏正常。

8 launched   

v.发射( launch的过去式和过去分词 )；[计算机]开始（应用程序）；发动；开展（活动、计划等）

参考例句：

• He launched a bitter diatribe against the younger generation. 他对年轻一代发起了猛烈的抨击。
• The product was launched amid much fanfare worldwide. 这个产品在世界各地隆重推出。

9 executive   

adj.执行的，行政的；n.执行者，行政官，经理

参考例句：

• A good executive usually gets on well with people.一个好的高级管理人员通常与人们相处得很好。
• He is a man of great executive ability.他是个具有极高管理能力的人。

10 partnership   

n.合作关系，伙伴关系

参考例句：

• The company has gone into partnership with Swiss Bank Corporation.这家公司已经和瑞士银行公司建立合作关系。
• Martin has taken him into general partnership in his company.马丁已让他成为公司的普通合伙人。

11 proportion   

n.比率，比例；大小

参考例句：

• His head is out of proportion to the size of his body.他的头部与身体大小不成比例。
• The proportion of imports to exports is worrying the government.进口与出口的比例令政府担忧。

12 immigrated   

v.移入( immigrate的过去式和过去分词 )；移民

参考例句：

• He immigrated from Ulster in 1848. 他1848年从阿尔斯特移民到这里。 来自辞典例句
• Many Pakistanis have immigrated to Britain. 许多巴基斯坦人移居到了英国。 来自辞典例句

13 mayor   

n.市长

参考例句：

• The new mayor said he would clean the city up.新市长说，他要整顿本市。
• The mayor hurried into his office,brushing off the reporters.市长赶快走进办公室，拒不接见记者。

14 rumors   

n.传闻( rumor的名词复数 )；[古]名誉；咕哝；[古]喧嚷v.传闻( rumor的第三人称单数 )；[古]名誉；咕哝；[古]喧嚷

参考例句：

• Rumors have it that the school was burned down. 有谣言说学校给烧掉了。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Rumors of a revolt were afloat. 叛变的谣言四起。 来自《简明英汉词典》

15 parlor   

n.店铺，营业室；会客室，客厅

参考例句：

• She was lying on a small settee in the parlor.她躺在客厅的一张小长椅上。
• Is there a pizza parlor in the neighborhood?附近有没有比萨店？