本期精读选自The Economist关于新加坡小吃摊的报道：Singapore’s government helps old food hawkers but not young ones

去过新加坡的同学可能了解过那里的小贩中心（hawker centre），这是由政府兴建的室外开放式饮食集中地，里面售卖的食品物美价廉、种类繁多，比如一份海南鸡饭仅需要3新元（大约是人民币15元）。多年来新加坡政府也以小贩中心为荣，认为小贩中心为低收入人群提供了社会安全保障。但小贩中心目前也面临年轻劳动力不足的困境，因为那里的工作辛苦且收入微薄，同时政府的租金政策也对年轻摊主不利。本文详细分析了这一问题。

文章小标题Out with the new起得很好，它改编自一句名言：Out with the old, in with the new（让旧的过去，让新的到来），这里Out with the new可以指小贩中心把年轻摊主都赶走了，只留下了老摊主。

向公众号回复：小吃摊，可以获得本文的英文原文、翻译版以及音频。

开头段介绍了新加坡独特的街头小吃文化。

SOME COUNTRIES build palaces or temples as monuments to their greatness. Singapore builds hawker centres. In these open-air food courts lined with stalls and formica tables it is possible to taste Singapore’s history.

一些国家建造宫殿或寺庙以彰显其伟大，而新加坡则建立小贩中心。在这些摆满摊位和福米卡塑料桌子的露天美食广场中，你可以“品尝”到新加坡的历史。

开头两段通过新加坡和其他国家的对比突出新加坡对街头小吃文化的重视程度。Something is a monument to somebody/something是一个固定搭配，意思是“某事是……的见证”。

新加坡的小贩中心长这样：

Dolloped unceremoniously on a plate or banana leaf or scooped steaming into a plastic bowl, dishes such as roti prata and Singapore laksa conjure up the Indian and Chinese migrants whose own cuisines, slowly over centuries, mingled with that of the indigenous Malays.

像罗迪普拉塔和新加坡叻沙这样的小吃被随意摆放在盘子或芭蕉叶上，或者盛到塑料碗里（此时它们还散发着热气），这样的场景让人联想到来自印度和中国的移民。他们的烹饪风格在过去数个世纪的时间里慢慢与当地马来人的融合在一起。

这个句子可能稍微有点复杂，句子的主干是：dishes conjure up the Indian and Chinese migrants，前面的Dolloped unceremoniously…a plastic bowl是伴随状语，其中Dolloped unceremoniously on a plate or banana leaf, scooped steaming into a plastic bowl 这两部分是并列成分，whose…the indigenous Malays这部分是定语从句，修饰the Indian and Chinese migrants，这一分句相当于：the Indian and Chinese migrants’ own cuisines slowly mingled with the cuisine of the indigenous Malays over centuries.

And since one can eat one’s fill at a hawker centre for the price of a flat white, it is no surprise that eight in ten Singaporeans visit such establishments at least once a week, according to a survey conducted by the National Environment Agency in 2018.

而且既然一个人在小贩中心里面用一杯小白咖啡的价格就能大快朵颐，那么10个新加坡人里面有8个每周至少会光顾一次这类场所，这一点也就不足为奇了（数据来自国家环境局在2018年进行的一项调查）。

eat/drink one’s fill是一个固定搭配，意思相当于“开怀大吃/畅饮”，flat white是一种咖啡的名称，中文名为“小白咖啡”。

Singapore is so proud of its street food that it hopes UNESCO will include it in its catalogue of humanity’s most precious arts.

新加坡对街头美食是如此骄傲，以至于它希望联合国教科文组织将其列入人类最珍贵的艺术品目录。

第二段介绍了新加坡小贩中心目前遇到的困境——年轻人数量不足

The UN’s heritage inspectors had better tuck in fast. The median age of the chefs is 60. A government report published in 2017 warned that there were “too few [aspiring hawkers] to be able to sustain the hawker trade in the long run”.

联合国的文化遗产检查员最好在那里吃快点。小贩中心的厨师中位年龄为60岁。一份于2017年发布的政府报告提醒到，“（有抱负的摊贩）人数不足，难以在长期维持摊贩美食这一行业”。

Tuck in意思是“尽情地吃”，The UN’s heritage inspectors had better tuck in fast. 这一句用了幽默的手法，作者提醒联合国的检查员要吃快点，因为再慢点那里的厨师可能因为年龄太大都要退休了。

When old masters die, many take their recipes with them, says K.F. Seetoh, achampion of hawker food. Only Singaporean citizens can work in hawker centres managed by the government, the vast majority.

街头小吃的拥护者K.F.塞托说：“当老厨师离世时，很多人的烹饪方法也随之消失”。只有新加坡公民才能在政府管理的小贩中心工作（这些小贩中心占绝大多数）。

Champion在这里不是指“冠军”，而是指“拥护者，捍卫者”，比如“妇女权利的捍卫者”可以说：a champion of women's rights

But young Singaporeans have little appetite for toiling in piping-hot stalls for long hours and little pay. “It’s near impossible to get manpower for this trade,” Mr Seetoh wrote in January.

但对于年轻一代的新加坡人来说，这种需要在闷热摊位上辛苦劳作且报酬微薄的工作并没有吸引力。塞托在一月份写道：“这一行业几乎不可能招到足够的劳动力”。

Appetite在这里用得很巧妙，young Singaporeans have little appetite for toiling…相当于 young Singaporeans have little interest in toiling… 这里用appetite更能贴近本篇的饮食文化主题，读起来更有趣味性。

第三段介绍了在小贩中心工作的年轻人的状况。

The few young Singaporeans willing to put up with such conditions often live hand-to-mouth. When Yu Ting Gay and Alex Ho opened their Italian-Japanese fusion stall in 2017, they hoped to earn S$2,000 ($1,474) a month each.

少数愿意忍受这种艰苦条件的新加坡年轻人通常只能勉强维持生计。当俞廷同和何鸿在2017年设立他们的意大利和日本风格小吃摊位时，他们希望每人每个月能赚2000新元（1474美元）。

Somebody lives hand-to-mouth 是一个固定说法，意思是“某人过着勉强糊口的日子”，意思相近的表达还有somebody ekes out a living/existence

Most of the time they made half that. “Our pockets were quite tight,” says Ms Yu. “For myself, it’s only going to work and going back home, so we meet up with our friends less than before.”

他们大多数时候只能赚到一半的钱。俞女士说：“我们手头很紧。对于我来说，现在生活只剩工作以及收摊回家，所以我们跟朋友聚会的机会也比以前少了。”

第四段说明了小贩中心的老摊主享受的不公平竞争优势。

Older hawkers have an unfair advantage. Many of those who started out in the 1970s and 1980s pay discounted rents: $200 a month on average. They still account for 40% of the 5,500 stalls leased by the government. Younger hawkers must pay market rates: $1,250 a month on average.

年长一点的摊主享有不公平优势。许多在1970到1980年代开设摊位的人租金能够打折：他们平均每月的租金是200美元，而且他们仍然占了政府出租的5500个摊位中的四成。年轻一代的摊主则要按市场价格付租金：平均每月1250美元。

But a report published by the Ministry of Trade in 2015 found that, even though younger hawkers pay more rent, and have on average 15% higher operating costs, they do not pass those costs on to their customers, probably because of stiff competition.

但贸易部2015年发布的一份报告表明，即使年轻摊主要支付更多租金，且他们的运营成本平均要高15%，但由于竞争激烈，他们并没有将这些成本转嫁给顾客。

Pass something on to somebody意思是“将（成本、费用等）转嫁给某人”（make someone else pay the cost of something），例如：Any increase in our costs will have to be passed on to the consumer. 我们的成本只要有提高都得转嫁给消费者。

第五段介绍了街头小吃价格低廉的原因。

With classic dishes like Hainanese chicken rice costing just S$3, hawker food is cheaper than chips. The government wants to keep it that way.

小贩中心的食物非常便宜，像海南鸡饭这样的经典美食仅需3新元。政府希望这种状况能够维持下去。

cheaper than chips改编自一个短语as cheap as chips（意思是“非常便宜”），cheaper than chips带有“比便宜更便宜”的意思，用来强调小摊食物的便宜。像文中提到的海南鸡饭一份3新元，折算成人民币大约是15块，这个价格确实很低。

Singapore’s welfare state is parsimonious, and the authorities have long regarded hawker centres, with their “almost third-world prices”, as “one of our safety-nets”, as Ravi Menon of the central bank has said.

正如新加坡央行的拉维·梅农所说，新加坡的福利制度是极其吝啬的，而当局长期以来一直将具有“几乎是第三世界价格”的小贩中心视为“我们的安全保障体系之一”。

The expectation that hawker food will be cheap is shared by consumers. Several months after Douglas Ng opened A Fishball Story in 2013, he decided to increase the price of his S$3 fish-ball soup by 50 cents because his margins were so thin. Sales fell by half, he says.

消费者对小贩中心食品的低价也有所期望。道格拉斯·伍在2013年开设了“鱼丸故事”摊位，几个月后，他决定将他3新元的鱼丸汤加价50美分，因为原先的利润微薄。他说，销售额因此下降了一半。

Something is shared by somebody这一用法看起来很简单，但懂得这样用的同学并不多，我们可以用the idea/belief/expectation is shared by somebody来表达“某人也同意某个观点/也有同样的期望”，比如我们可以说：

Some educational experts believe that reading is crucial in expanding children’s knowledge and making them smarter. This belief is shared by many parents, who are eager to enroll their children in various reading programs.

结尾段介绍了年轻摊主们的不同命运。

Many youngsters get noticed and thrive. Mr Ng won an accolade from Michelin in 2016 and received a flood of offers of investment.

很多年轻摊主崭露头角，并且生意蓬勃发展。伍先生于2016年获得米其林评星，并收到了大量投资意向。

Many youngsters get noticed相当于Many youngsters get noticed (by other people)，即“很多年轻摊主得到了其他人的注意”，可以引申为“崭露头角”。

Others are not so lucky. Just over a year after Ms Yu’s stall opened, her hawker centre closed for renovations. She and Mr Ho had not managed to save enough to weather the three-month hiatus, so were forced to close for good.

其他人就没有那么幸运了。俞女士的摊位开张仅一年多后，她所在的小贩中心就因为装修而关闭。她和何先生的积蓄不足以应对三个月的停业期，因此摊位不得不永久关门。

for good意思相当于permanently，即“永远”，比如：The injury may keep him out of football for good. 这次受伤可能会使他永远告别足球。