经济学人:无酗酒酒吧 酒不醉人

搜索关注在线英语听力室公众号：tingroom，领取免费英语资料大礼包。

　　无酗酒酒吧

　　Shaken not slurred¹

　　酒不醉人

　　Fashionable urbanites revive a temperance tradition

　　时尚的都市人恢复了节制饮酒的传统

　　None for the road

　　无人醉倒在路边

　　WEST LONDON，Friday night, 9pm. In the Redemption bar, music hums and candles flicker². A barman shakes cocktails³ under a neon sign. But the rowdy carousing⁴ often associated with British pubs at the weekend is absent. Although the cocorita is served with a margarita-style rim⁵ of salt, it contains no alcohol. Redemption is one of a small but growing number of drinkeries that serve no liquor.

　　伦敦西部，星期五晚上9点。Redemption酒吧里，闪闪的烛光中飘扬着音乐。霓虹灯下酒吧服务员摇晃着鸡尾酒杯。然而，往常周末经常会有的吵闹的欢饮，却没有在这里出现。酒吧虽然提供了cocorita，但是里面却不含酒精。不提供烈性酒的酒吧虽少，但它们的数量在不断增加，Redemption就是其中之一。

　　Worries about booze are on the rise. Hospitals complain that alcohol-related admissions are soaring; some police chiefs have called for new powers to tackle disorderly drunks. On February 4th the Home Office announced a new plan that ought to stop retailers⁶ from selling alcoholic⁷ drinks below cost—something they occasionally do to attract shoppers. This, said Norman Baker⁸, the Liberal Democrat⁹ minister in charge, would “stop the worst examples of very cheap and harmful drink”.

　　人们对酗酒的担忧日益加剧。医院抱怨称因酒就医的人越来越多；警察部门的负责人呼吁当局给予他们更多权力来对付酗酒的人。2月4日，内政部出台新规定，旨在禁止零售商销售低于成本价的酒饮料——他们经常用这种廉价的酒品来吸引顾客。内政部防止罪案次长，自由民主党人诺曼·贝克说，该项规定将消除过于便宜的劣质酒所带来的非常恶劣的影响。

　　Yet Britain is in many ways becoming more abstemious¹⁰. In 2001 the average household consumed 1.5 litres of alcoholic drinks a week; by 2011, the latest year for which figures are available, that had fallen to 1.1 litres. The young in particular seem to be giving up boozing: over the same period, the number of 18- to 24-year-old men admitting to drinking heavily at least once a week fell from 37% to 22%; women became less sozzled, too. This year four times as many people gave up booze for “dry January” as did so last year, says Emily Robinson of Alcohol Concern, a charity. Dry bars benefit from this fad¹¹: Redemption's customers quadrupled between December and January.

　　英国在很多方面都变得更加节制。在2001年，平均每家每周消费1.5升酒饮料；到了2011年，最近的一个有相关统计数字的年份，这一消费量降到了1.1升。年轻人放弃酗酒的尤其多： 2001年时，18-24周岁的男青年中有37%的人每周至少酗酒一次；到了2011年，这一比例降为22%。女性在饮酒方面也变得更加节制。艾米丽·鲁滨逊来自一家名为“关注饮酒”的慈善组织，她说，今年响应“二月戒酒”运动的人是去年同期的三倍。戒酒酒吧从这一风气中受益：Redemption的顾客在12月到1月之间翻了两番。

　　Abstemious bars have also opened in Liverpool and Nottingham, and are planned for Brighton and Newcastle—two famously high-living towns. Unlike many cafés, they stay open late. They emulate¹² bars in other ways, with live music, comedy acts and films to pull in punters. When the lights go down and the DJ plays at Sobar, which opened in Nottingham in January, it looks like any city bar, hopes Alex Gillmore, the manager. Redemption misses the hefty profits made on alcohol, but temperance brings its own benefits. Business remains¹³ steady throughout the week rather than spiking¹⁴ at the weekend, says Catherine Salway, its founder¹⁵. The absence of drunken, obstreperous¹⁶ patrons means that bouncers are unnecessary.

　　利物浦和诺丁汉也开了一些节制酒吧，两个著名的奢侈之城——布赖顿和纽卡尔斯也有此计划。与咖啡厅不同，戒指酒吧在夜里会开到很晚。在其他方面，它们与正常酒吧相仿，用轻音乐、喜剧表演和电影招徕顾客。诺丁汉的Sobar开张于今年的1月份，其经理亚历克斯·吉尔默希望当灯光变暗，DJ响起时，它看起来像正常酒吧一样。Redemption失去了酒品带来的丰厚的利润，但是节制饮酒会带来它自身的利润。Redemption的创始人凯瑟琳·梭威说，酒吧的生意每天都保持在一个稳定的水平，而不是在周末的时候有个峰值。没有了酒鬼，没有了喧闹，说明海量的人并不是必须的。

　　Sobar, like the Brink¹⁷ in Liverpool, is linked to a do-gooding drug and alcohol charity. But ordinary drinking dens¹⁸ are becoming a little drier, too, out of business sense rather than temperance principle. Pubs can make almost as much selling food as drink—and more are serving it. Both in pubs and at home, less boozy drinks are becoming popular. Total sales of beer by volume dropped slightly in the year to January, but those of the weaker kinds, with just 1.3-3.3% alcohol by volume, jumped 32%, according to Kantar Worldpanel, a market-research firm. Sales of “adult” sparkling soft drinks are growing too. Perhaps the café-culture British politicians have so long yearned¹⁹ for is at last emerging. A sobering thought.

　　同利物浦的Brink一样，Sobar也与一家倡导戒毒戒酒的慈善组织有关。但是，普通的酒吧也开始迎合戒酒的风尚了，它们是出于商业的目的，而不是因为节制的原则。酒吧几乎可以卖出同酒品销量一样多的食品，而且很多酒吧都在提供食物。无论是在酒吧还是在家里，少饮酒都成为了一种时尚。市场调查公司Kantar Worldpanel的数据显示：截止到1月份，今年来啤酒的总销量略有下降，但是酒精度数较低的品种—酒精占比为1.3-3.3%（体积比例）的啤酒——销量下降了32%。成年人软饮料的销量不断增加。英国政客所向往的咖啡文化或许正在涌现。这是一种有节制的理念。

　　1.associate with 与…交往，联系

　　例句:But vishaal believes that combat gent can find a place for itself by providing lower cost clothes than high-end boutiques without the stigma²⁰ some shoppers associate with low-end discount stores.

　　不过维沙尔相信，Combat Gent可以提供比高端服装店价格更低的服装，却又不会让购物者把它与低端折扣店联系在一起。

　　2.call for 要求;需要

　　例句:Your plan will call for a lot of money.

　　你的计划需要许多钱。

　　3.ought to 理应;应当

　　例句:You ought to kick back at such malicious²¹ slander²².

　　你应当反击这种恶毒的污蔑。

　　4.give up 放弃;投降

　　例句:Despite rumblings in the press, it's not time yet to give up on the electric car.

　　尽管媒体对电动汽车颇有微词，但现在就说要放弃它还为时尚早。

分享到：