LULU GARCIA-NAVARRO, HOST:
These days, lots of people are ordering for takeout or delivery [1]. That’s if your local restaurants aren’t closed. Industry-wide, it’s chaos. Revenue is down or gone.[2] Restaurant workers aren’t working. Here’s NPR’s Yuki Noguchi.
YUKI NOGUCHI, BYLINE:
Just about every restaurant nationwide has been hit hard [3] at once. That makes this disaster unique.
SEAN KENNEDY:
The coronavirus epidemic – it’s unchartered territory for us.
NOGUCHI:
Sean Kennedy is a spokesman for the National Restaurant Association. Restaurants of all stripes are in varying states of collapse, and that industry is the country’s second-largest private employer, with 15.6 million workers.
KENNEDY:
It doesn’t matter if you’re a big chain or a small corner diner [4]. You’re seeing the impact immediately, and you’re really questioning, how long do I need to be bracing myself [5] for?
NOGUCHI:
Melvin Rodrigue lived through Hurricane Katrina. It destroyed his home and shut down his famed restaurant Galatoire’s in the French Quarter of New Orleans.
MELVIN RODRIGUE:
I think Katrina is going to prove to be a cakewalk compared to this.
NOGUCHI:
And it all went down with breathtaking speed [6]. Last Sunday, Louisiana officials first raised the idea of a shutdown [7]. Then things accelerated. By Monday, the mandated closure had moved up twice.
RODRIGUE:
For a restaurant, you have to have certainty in order to operate. And those are three changes in one day, one 24-hour period.
NOGUCHI:
Just like that, the economy seized up. Rodrigue is trying to adapt, turning his 115-year-old white-table restaurant into a takeout joint, using up fresh seafood that was supposed to go into iconic Creole specialties like shrimp remoulade and trout amandine.
Then there’s his dwindling supply of cash. Insurance won’t cover losses. There’s rent, utilities. He feels an urgent obligation to [8] carry on for the sake of his 160 workers, most of whom he had to lay off. In between all this, he’s counseling waiters and sous chefs about how to stretch their budgets [9].
RODRIGUE:
If you have the choice between buying a box of Hamburger Helper and going to the drive-through somewhere, you need to be as frugal as you possibly can for your own sake and your family’s sake.
NOGUCHI:
And so you can see how the cycle keeps repeating onto itself. Many restaurant owners are searching for ways to help their staff. Some are trying to sell gift cards and giving proceeds to employees. A new federal law passed this week granting workers at smaller businesses up to two weeks of paid leave. But the Restaurant Association’s Kennedy says that would require restaurants to fund the leave [10], and most are already too cash-strapped [11]. Reimbursement from the federal government, as well as any potential bailouts, might arrive too late.
KENNEDY:
They simply aren’t going to have the financial wherewithal to fund that paid sick leave mandate.
NOGUCHI:
The collapse has a massive impact on [12] workers and their families. Carolyn Stromberg Leasure is set to give birth next week in Charlottesville, Va. But her chef husband lost his job this past week, which means they have no health insurance. It’s a terrifying prospect.
CAROLYN STROMBERG LEASURE:
Really, I have a lot of anxiety. I have a lot of trouble sleeping.
NOGUCHI:
Leasure says she’s overwhelmed with the chaos. She’s calling around to try to find insurance coverage. On top of that [13], she has health concerns about the birth itself. She decided to induce labor earlier, hoping to avoid overcrowded hospitals.
LEASURE:
As a worker, like, losing your job a week before you’re having a baby – you find out that you don’t have insurance is a really big deal.
NOGUCHI:
One that she hopes to try to resolve soon.
Yuki Noguchi, NPR News.
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Source: https://www.npr.org/2020/03/22/819189939/closed-all-at-once-restaurant-industry-faces-collapse
* 本报道源于 National Public Radio，如有侵权，请联系删除。
表 达 总 结
1 order for takeout or delivery
外带或者叫外卖
餐厅吃饭点完单以后最常被问到的就是 “for here or to go”；如果是自己表达想外带或者叫外卖，以上那就是对应的表达。
几个用法：
I want to support Utah restaurants, but is it safe to order takeout and delivery?
Many local restaurants shift to takeout as COVID-19 restrictions take hold.
How to order food and grocery delivery during a COVID-19 outbreak?
2 Revenue is down or gone.
收入不是减少就是没有。
不管是什么行业，想说受到这次的影响，它们的收入不是减少了就是没收入，可以用这个表达，用词上简单到位。
3 be hit hard
= to be badly affected by something that has happened
受打击
可以说生意上：
Travel industry has been hit hard by the coronavirus clampdown.
也可以指人：
Many families have been hit hard by the layoffs.
4 a big chain or a small corner diner
大型连锁店还是小店
Chain 本身就有指 a single company that has multiple stores or restaurants，当你想要说类似麦当劳星巴克等等大型的连锁店的时候，直接用 a big chain 去表达就可以。
This is the advantage of a small business over a big chain.
A small corner diner 字面上比较好理解，不额外解释。
5 brace myself
撑；支撑；振作
生活中比较常见的用法有指实际上为了稳住自己而去做的动作，比如：As the boat leaned to the right, I braced myself for whatever might happen next. 也有指精神上为某事做好准备，比如：I had braced myself for rejection, so hearing that I’d gotten the promotion was a very pleasant surprise!
在这个报道里想说的就是 “餐厅们不知道自己还需要撑多久”。
6 with breathtaking speed
以惊人的速度
可以用 with breathtaking speed（This is real and it’s happening with breathtaking speed.）。也可以表达为 at a breathtaking speed（The world is changing at a breathtaking speed.）
7 raised the idea of a shutdown
提出关店的这个想法
提出想法，除了 propose，come up with ，raise 也可以用起来。
8 feel an urgent obligation to
感到急需去；感到有急切义务去
Have 和 feel 都可以用。have / feel an obligation to 就相当于 it is one’s duty to，中间可以根据前后文加入具体的修饰，比如这里讲的是 “急切”，an urgent obligation；比较常见的也有 feel a moral obligation to ，表示一种道德上的义务。
9 stretch the budget
延长预算的使用；节俭预算以延长使用
Stretch 本身是伸展的意思，放在 stretch the budget 这个表达里也很好理解。句子中比如：She has some great ideas for stretching the family meal budget.
10 fund the leave
为休假提供资金
这里的 leave 是接上文讲到的 paid leave（带薪休假），如果给员工长达两周 paid leave，对餐厅来说压力也是很大的，因为需要餐厅去给他们的 paid leave 买单。
这里积累一下 fund 作为动词的用法，为…提供自信/给…拨款/为…买单。
11 cash-strapped
资金短缺的，缺钱的
= do not have enough money to buy or pay for the things they want or need
可以讲人也可以讲公司：cash-strapped students；cash-strapped local authorities.
12 have a massive impact on
对某事物有巨大影响
除了 huge / great ，还可以用 massive 表示非常非常非常大的。比如如果你想说这次的疫情对航空企业有巨大的影响：COVID-19 outbreak will have a massive impact on airlines. 或者说对海鲜有很大影响：The coronavirus outbreak has had a massive impact on the seafood industry.
除那以外
on top of = in addition to ，也是个比较常用的连接表达。比如：On top of his accident, he caught pneumonia.
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