英国卫报:奈斯派索的咖啡革命是如何被粉碎的(2)

The following year, 1976, Nestle filed its first patent for a single-serve coffee system.

第二年，也就是1976年，雀巢为单杯咖啡系统申请了第一项专利。

“Favre is one of those people who pop up in history and do great things,”

“法弗尔是那些突然出现在历史上并做出伟大成就的人之一。”

Marco Restelli, Nespresso’s head of product and development, told me at Nespresso’s offices in Lausanne.

在雀巢公司位于洛桑的办公室里，胶囊咖啡机产品和开发部门的负责人马尔科·瑞思特里告诉我。

“OK, it’s not Einstein, but what he achieved within kitchen appliances will stay with us for a long time.”

“他不是爱因斯坦式的人物，但是他在厨房用具方面取得的成就会陪伴我们很长时间。”

Today, some 14bn Nespresso capsules are sold every year, both online and from 810 brightly lit boutiques in 84 countries.

现在，雀巢胶囊咖啡每年的销量大约是140亿颗，网上和84个国家的810个灯火通明的精品店都有销售。

More than 400 Nespressos are drunk every second. Hundreds of rivals and imitators have emerged,

每秒有超过400杯雀巢胶囊咖啡被喝掉。数百家竞争对手和模仿者都已出现，

some making capsules for Nespresso machines, others pushing competitor systems.

有些为雀巢制作胶囊咖啡机，其他人则推广竞争对手的咖啡机。

The firm employs more than 13,000 people and the Nespresso magazine,

雀巢公司雇佣了超过13000名员工，而且雀巢杂志的发行量超过200万本。

which the company has referred to as a “bi-annual pleasure guide”, has a circulation of more than 2m.

雀巢将该杂志称为“一年两次的快乐指南”。

In 2013, the most recent year it released figures, Nespresso’s revenues totalled $10.8bn.

雀巢最近一次公布收入是在2013年，那年咖啡胶囊收入总计达108亿美元。

Its success has provided its public face, the actor George Clooney, with the means to maintain a private satellite over Sudan.

雀巢的成功使它的代言人乔治·克鲁尼可以在苏丹上空布置一颗人造卫星。

For a certain kind of business traveller, the sight of a little Nespresso pod in a drawer by the minibar has become as familiar as a Gideon Bible.

对于某些商务旅行者来说，小冰箱抽屉里的胶囊咖啡机就像基甸的圣经一样熟悉。

Buying a machine grants you membership of the Nespresso Club, literally¹, and also membership of the Nespresso club, metaphorically² –

买一个咖啡机就能成为雀巢俱乐部的字面意义上的会员，还能成为俱乐部实际意义上的会员，

a global fellowship of people who care enough about their morning brew³ to spend 40 or 50p on 5 grams of it,

这是一个全球性的协会，会员都是非常关心自己早晨的咖啡，愿意花40到50便士买5克咖啡的人，

but not enough to spend more than 30 seconds preparing it.

但不愿意花超过30秒的时间准备它。

In their homes, the distinctive⁴ hum, whirr and clunk of a machine in action has taken its place alongside the churn of a dishwasher.

在他们家里，咖啡机运转时特有的嗡嗡声、转动声和哐当声已经取代了洗碗机的搅拌声。

“If Nespresso had been a startup from Silicon⁵ Valley, everyone would be hailing them,”

如果雀巢是从硅谷起家的，每个人都会为其叫好。”

says Rory Sutherland, the vice-chair of the advertising⁶ agency Ogilvy, who owns three Nespresso machines. “They’re like a Swiss Apple.”

拥有三台雀巢咖啡机的广告公司奥美副总裁罗里·萨瑟兰说。“它们就像瑞士的苹果。”

Thirty years after its first successes, Nespresso has scale, experience and buying power that no other premium⁷ coffee company can match.

雀巢咖啡机在其取得首次成功三十年后，在规模、经验和购买力方面都是其他优质咖啡公司无法比拟的。

But increasingly it finds itself threatened from below by its rivals’ cheaper capsules, and from above by fussier⁸ coffee enthusiasts⁹.

但是它越来越多地发现，自己正遭受到下面竞争对手便宜咖啡机和上面挑剔的咖啡爱好者的威胁。

The more scrutiny¹⁰ Nespresso has attracted, the tighter it has drawn¹¹ the curtains.

雀巢咖啡机受到的关注越多，它就会藏得越深。

It no longer releases figures about its sales or revenues, with its results buried in the overall Nestle reports.

该公司不再发布有关其销售或收入的数据，而是将其业绩隐藏在雀巢的整体报告中。

James Hoffman, the author of the World Atlas¹² of Coffee, describes Nespresso as “a black box of a company”.

《世界咖啡地图集》的作者詹姆斯·霍夫曼把雀巢胶囊咖啡机形容为“公司的黑匣子”。

1 literally   

adv.照字面意义，逐字地；确实

参考例句：

• He translated the passage literally.他逐字逐句地翻译这段文字。
• Sometimes she would not sit down till she was literally faint.有时候，她不走到真正要昏厥了，决不肯坐下来。

2 metaphorically   

adv. 用比喻地

参考例句：

• It is context and convention that determine whether a term will be interpreted literally or metaphorically. 对一个词的理解是按字面意思还是隐喻的意思要视乎上下文和习惯。
• Metaphorically it implied a sort of admirable energy. 从比喻来讲，它含有一种令人赞许的能量的意思。

3 brew   

v.酿造，调制

参考例句：

• Let's brew up some more tea.咱们沏些茶吧。
• The policeman dispelled the crowd lest they should brew trouble.警察驱散人群，因恐他们酿祸。

4 distinctive   

adj.特别的，有特色的，与众不同的

参考例句：

• She has a very distinctive way of walking.她走路的样子与别人很不相同。
• This bird has several distinctive features.这个鸟具有几种突出的特征。

5 silicon   

n.硅(旧名矽)

参考例句：

• This company pioneered the use of silicon chip.这家公司开创了使用硅片的方法。
• A chip is a piece of silicon about the size of a postage stamp.芯片就是一枚邮票大小的硅片。

6 advertising   

n.广告业；广告活动 a.广告的；广告业务的

参考例句：

• Can you give me any advice on getting into advertising? 你能指点我如何涉足广告业吗?
• The advertising campaign is aimed primarily at young people. 这个广告宣传运动主要是针对年轻人的。

7 premium   

n.加付款；赠品；adj.高级的；售价高的

参考例句：

• You have to pay a premium for express delivery.寄快递你得付额外费用。
• Fresh water was at a premium after the reservoir was contaminated.在水库被污染之后，清水便因稀而贵了。

8 fussier   

adj.瞎忙的( fussy的比较级 )；紧张不安的；过分琐碎的；装饰太多的

参考例句：

9 enthusiasts   

n.热心人，热衷者( enthusiast的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• A group of enthusiasts have undertaken the reconstruction of a steam locomotive. 一群火车迷已担负起重造蒸汽机车的任务。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Now a group of enthusiasts are going to have the plane restored. 一群热心人计划修复这架飞机。 来自新概念英语第二册

10 scrutiny   

n.详细检查，仔细观察

参考例句：

• His work looks all right,but it will not bear scrutiny.他的工作似乎很好，但是经不起仔细检查。
• Few wives in their forties can weather such a scrutiny.很少年过四十的妻子经得起这么仔细的观察。

11 drawn   

v.拖，拉，拔出；adj.憔悴的，紧张的

参考例句：

• All the characters in the story are drawn from life.故事中的所有人物都取材于生活。
• Her gaze was drawn irresistibly to the scene outside.她的目光禁不住被外面的风景所吸引。

12 atlas   

n.地图册，图表集

参考例句：

• He reached down the atlas from the top shelf.他从书架顶层取下地图集。
• The atlas contains forty maps,including three of Great Britain.这本地图集有40幅地图，其中包括3幅英国地图。