英国卫报:奈斯派索的咖啡革命是如何被粉碎的(3)

Nespresso also faces mounting criticism over the environmental impact of its pods.

雀巢胶囊咖啡机也因其咖啡荚对环境的影响而面临越来越多的批评。

(It does not release any figures for how many of its aluminium¹ capsules end up dumped in landfill, rather than recycled.)

(铝胶囊最终被倾倒在垃圾填埋场而非回收利用，而雀巢并未公布其具体数字。)

Talk to people in the industry, and you get the sense that Nespresso’s golden age has passed.

跟行业的人交谈，你就会发现雀巢咖啡机的黄金时代已经过去。

“In the major markets, Nespresso’s getting close to saturation² point, and there’s lots of competition,”

“在主要市场，雀巢咖啡机已经接近饱和了，而且还面临很多竞争。”

says Jean-Paul Gaillard, Nespresso’s former CEO. “The good years are over.”

前首席执行官珍·保罗·盖拉德说。“好日子已经过去了。”

Nespresso triumphed by selling itself as a sophisticated component³ of an elite⁴, globalised lifestyle.

雀巢咖啡机成功地将其打造成精英的、全球化生活方式的精致组成部分。

Wherever you were in the world, you could be a Nespresso person, just as you could wear Nike trainers or use American Express.

不论你在哪里，你都可能是一个雀巢人，就像你可能穿着耐克运动鞋或使用美国运通服务一样。

Now, as that lifestyle looks increasingly bankrupt, it is learning to be just another coffee company.

随着这种生活方式看起来越来越没落，雀巢正在学着成为另一家咖啡公司。

Nespresso helped change the coffee world, but it seems as if the world has moved on.

雀巢的胶囊咖啡机帮助改变了咖啡世界，但似乎世界已经向前发展了。

Nespresso argues its coffee has never been better, but the truth is that Nespresso has never really been about the coffee.

雀巢声称他们的咖啡从来没有这么好过，但事实上，他们胶囊咖啡从来就不是真正的咖啡。

At Nestle headquarters in Vevey, there is a small museum dedicated⁵ to the history of Nespresso.

在位于韦威的雀巢总部，有一个专门展示雀巢咖啡机历史的小博物馆。

Looking at the early prototypes on display – elaborate Rube Goldberg-type machines with outsize tanks and pumps and tubes –

看看展出的早期原型——精心设计的带有超大的油箱、泵和管道的复杂机器，

it is easy to see why it took 10 years after the first patent was filed for the product to come to market.

很容易就能看出，为什么该产品在首次申请专利十年后才上市。

As a private company, Nestle was able to fund its pet project without justifying⁶ the cost to the stock market.

作为一家私营公司，雀巢能够在不说明股市成本合理的情况下为其钟爱的项目提供资金。

Within the company, though, there were doubters. Colleagues feared that if Favre’s invention succeeded

不过，公司内部也有人持怀疑态度。同事们担心如果法弗尔的发明成功了，

it would cannibalise the company’s existing coffee businesses, especially the flagship Nescafe instant brand.

它将侵蚀该公司现有的咖啡业务，尤其是旗舰品牌雀巢速溶咖啡。

At the time, Nestle saw itself as a mass market company that sold cheap, reliable products:

当时，雀巢视自己为一家大众市场公司，销售廉价可靠的产品：

chocolate and baby food and cereal. This was something different, whatever it was.

巧克力，婴儿食品和麦片。这是不同的东西，不管它是什么。

1 aluminium   

n.铝 (=aluminum)

参考例句：

• Aluminium looks heavy but actually it is very light.铝看起来很重，实际上却很轻。
• If necessary, we can use aluminium instead of steel.如果必要，我们可用铝代钢。

2 saturation   

n.饱和(状态)；浸透

参考例句：

• The company's sales are now close to saturation in many western countries.这家公司的产品销售量在许多西方国家已接近饱和。
• Road traffic has reached saturation point.公路交通已达到饱和点。

3 component   

n.组成部分，成分，元件；adj.组成的，合成的

参考例句：

• Each component is carefully checked before assembly.每个零件在装配前都经过仔细检查。
• Blade and handle are the component parts of a knife.刀身和刀柄是一把刀的组成部分。

4 elite   

n.精英阶层；实力集团；adj.杰出的，卓越的

参考例句：

• The power elite inside the government is controlling foreign policy.政府内部的一群握有实权的精英控制着对外政策。
• We have a political elite in this country.我们国家有一群政治精英。

5 dedicated   

adj.一心一意的；献身的；热诚的

参考例句：

• He dedicated his life to the cause of education.他献身于教育事业。
• His whole energies are dedicated to improve the design.他的全部精力都放在改进这项设计上了。

6 justifying   

证明…有理( justify的现在分词 )； 为…辩护； 对…作出解释； 为…辩解（或辩护）

参考例句：

• He admitted it without justifying it. 他不加辩解地承认这个想法。
• The fellow-travellers'service usually consisted of justifying all the tergiversations of Soviet intenal and foreign policy. 同路人的服务通常包括对苏联国内外政策中一切互相矛盾之处进行辩护。