今天读经济学人读到一篇特别好的文章，感觉自己脑子里像在放烟花（很激动的意思）。迫不及待想分享给大家。没事儿一起来学英语啊！
讲的是外卖小哥。
During the recent peak of covid-19 cases in China, large metal shelving-units appeared at entrances to residential compounds across Shanghai. Outsiders were not allowed in. But somewhere was needed to hold the myriad packages ordered online by the millions of residents who were staying at home. The shelves groaned under the weight of disinfectant and vitamin tablets, sacks of rice and flour, cooking oil and vegetables.
这段讲的是在疫情的爆发期，整个上海的住宅区入口处都出现了大型的金属货架。 外来者不允许进入。但是数百万住在家里的居民在网上订购的无数包裹需要一个地方来存放。 架子在消毒剂和维生素片剂，大袋米粉，食用油和蔬菜的重量下吱嘎作响。（很真实吧哈哈）
单词：
myriad adj. 无数的；种种的
groan /grəʊn/ vi. 呻吟；抱怨；发吱嘎声 vt. 呻吟；抱怨 n. 呻吟；叹息；吱嘎声
disinfectant /dɪsɪn'fekt(ə)nt/ n. 消毒剂, 杀菌剂
Food-delivery firms played a crucial role in helping people in China endure the lockdown that began in Hubei province in late January, and the less stringent forms of quarantine that were subsequently implemented in cities across the country. Since early March there have been very few newly detected cases of covid-19 except among travellers from abroad. So controls have eased, allowing shops and restaurants to reopen. But many people are playing safe and staying largely housebound. State media have been calling home-delivery workers “heroes”. Few would disagree.
（懒得翻译了，开始意译）这段讲食品运送公司在人们自我隔离的期间扮演了很重要的角色。三月初的时候很少有新的确诊病例出现了（除了那些回国的）。尽管现在控制已经放松了，但是人们大部分时间还是非常谨慎地在家待着。媒体把外卖小哥叫做“英雄”，很少有人会不同意吧。
单词：
stringent /'strɪn(d)ʒ(ə)nt/ adj. 严格的;严厉的
housebound/‘haʊsbaʊnd/ adj. 居家不外出的,不能离家的
Even before the crisis they were belovedof urbanites. The combination of an abundant supply of cheap labour, a large middle class and near-universal access to smart-phones had fostered the growth of online food-delivery services to a degree unmatched in the rich world. People could have everything from coffee to congee whisked to them in under 30 minutes on the back of a scooter, typically by one of the sector’s two titans, Ele.me and Meituan-Dianping. More than 400m people, or about half of the country’s internet users, had encountered awaimai xiaoge, or “takeaway lad” (more than nine in ten are men) at their door. Residents had become so used to receiving hot meals from them that they jokingly compared them to parents.
甚至在疫情之前，外卖小哥就深受城市居民的喜爱。 廉价劳动力的大量供应，大量中产阶级以及几乎普及的智能手机的结合，促进了在线食品配送服务的增长，达到了富裕国家无法比拟的程度。 人们可以在不到30分钟的时间内拿到从咖啡到粥的所有东西。这些通常是由该部门的两个巨头之一饿了么（看看是怎么翻译的，Ele.me哈哈哈有意思）和美团点评来完成的。 超过4亿人，约占该国互联网用户的一半，在门口“偶遇”waimai xiaoge（外卖小哥）。 居民已经习惯了从他们那里拿到热腾腾的饭，因此开玩笑地将它们与父母进行了比较（大概就是把外卖小哥比作衣食父母哈哈）。
单词：
urbanite/'ɜːb(ə)naɪt/n. 都市人
near-universal普遍性
congee/‘kɒndʒiː/n. 粥
whisk/wɪsk/ verb匆匆带走；迅速送走
scooter/‘skuːtə/n. 小轮摩托车；速可达；单脚滑行车；小孩滑板车
After the novel coronavirus hit, their services became a lifeline. When officials told firms to stay shut, they allowed exceptions for “essential” services, includingthose delivering cooked food and groceries. Wary of eating meals prepared by others, many people turned to online supermarkets. Sales of dumpling wrappers and sauces grew more than sevenfold on Meituan’s grocery service—even as takeout orders more than halved, as the giant reported in a downbeat first-quarter forecast. The new joke is that the covid-19 epidemic has turned China into a nation of chefs.
疫情期间，外卖小哥的服务成为了生命线。 除了“基本”服务，包括提供熟食和杂货的服务，其他的公司都要求关闭了。因为 比较担心别人准备的饭菜（带病毒），很多人转向了网上超市。尽管外卖订单减少了一半以上，美团的杂货店的饺子皮和调味酱的销售额增长了七倍以上。 一个新的玩笑：covid-19使中国变成了厨师大国（这句话真的有意思哈，爱了爱了）。
单词：
lifeline /‘laɪflaɪn/n. 生命线；救生索
downbeat /‘daʊnbiːt/adj. 悲观的；不强烈的
The lives of the xiaoge have changed, too. Zhang Shuai, a 24-year-old from the central city of Zhengzhou who delivers for Meituan in Shanghai, has to wear a mask while working. The firm takes his temperature twice a day, notes it on a card pinned to his jacket and uploads it to the app for users to see. He undergoes many more checks when he picks up orders and carries them into residential compounds, most of which are now open again to outsiders.
这段讲的是外卖小哥的生活也发生了变化。以一个叫做张帅的24岁小伙子为例，他每天要量两次体温，并将其记录在固定在夹克上的卡片上，然后将其上传到应用程序中，以供用户查看。 当他拿起订单并将其带入住宅区时，他将经受更多的检查。
（自认为没啥生词）
Yet the job is still alluring to people like Mr Zhang. Indeed, he signed up with Meituan when infections were mounting. It was just too hard to find any other job, he says. And, at 10,000 yuan ($1,400) a month, his earnings are higher than the average urban wage in Shanghai, partly thanks to subsidies from Meituan and tips from grateful customers. He will quit only when the disease ends. Another migrant worker says he shares his single-room accommodation with five other riders. Is he anxious about living cheek-by-jowl with them? “I’m not afraid of death,” he grins, speeding off.
然而，这项工作仍然吸引着像张先生这样的人。 当感染的人增加时，他与美团签约。 他说很难找到其他工作。 他每月的收入为人民币10,000元（合1,400美元），高于上海市的平均工资，这在一定程度上要归功于美团的补贴和客户给的小费。 只有在疫情过去后他才会辞职。 另一名外来务工人员说，他与其他五个骑手住一间屋子。 与舍友这么拥挤地住着，他会有所担心吗？ “我不怕死，”他咧嘴一笑，飞驰而去。
单词：
allure vt. 吸引；引诱，诱惑 n. 诱惑力 vi. 诱人，吸引人
cheek-by-jowl adv. 紧挨着（如果直译，就是脸贴下巴，是不是很拥挤，这个词很灵魂了）
The gig economy has transformed Chinese cities. Young workers from villages were once largely invisible to urban residents as they toiled on production lines. Now many of them eschew regimented factory work in favour of less structured lives. They have become omnipresent, clad in their firms’ coloured jackets and weaving perilously through traffic. Millions also work for other kinds of app-based transport services, for example as couriers or drivers for ride-hailing companies.
零工经济改变了中国的城市。村庄的年轻工人在生产线上劳碌时，城市居民在很大程度上是看不见的。 现在，他们（外卖小哥）中的许多人避开生活刻板的工厂工作，而倾向于结构化程度较低的生活。 他们无所不在，穿着公司的彩色外套，在交通中危险地穿梭着。 数以百万计的人还为其他类型的基于app的运输服务工作，例如作为快递员或者作为网约车的司机。
单词：
gig economy 零工经济
eschew /ɪs’tʃuː/vt. 避开；远避；避免
regimented /ˈredʒɪmentɪd/ adj. 非常严格的；死板的；严格规划的；排列整齐的
omnipresent /ɒmnɪ'prez(ə)nt/ adj. 无所不在的
clad /klæd/ adj. 穿衣的；覆盖的 v. 穿衣（clothe的过去式和过去分词）
weave /wiːv/ v. 迂回行进，穿行（以避开障碍）
perilously /‘periləsli/adv. 充满危险地,危机四伏地
ride-hailing 网约车
vouch /vaʊtʃ/ vt. 担保；证明；传出庭作证 vi. 保证；证明；确定
The xiaoge have helped build food delivery in China into a $46bn business, the world’s largest and twice the size of Ameri- ca’s. In 2018 Meituan and Ele.me had about 6m riders between them. Demand for workers is growing fast. Sanford C. Bernstein, a research firm, reckons Meituan will need more than 1m delivery people a day next year, 200,000 more than last year. On average last summer, its yellow-jacketed army handled 20,000 orders a minute.
这些小伙子帮助中国的外卖食品业发展成为全球最大的规模达460亿美元的业务，规模是美国的两倍。 在2018年，美团和饿了么之间有大约600万骑手。 对工人的需求正在迅速增长。 研究公司桑福德·伯恩斯坦（Sanford C. Bernstein）认为，明年美团每天将需要超过100万运送人员，比去年增加了20万。 平均而言，去年夏天，黄色夹克大军每分钟处理2万份订单。
For migrants from the countryside, the job is an unusually easy ticket to city life. Factory workers must have a skill, and often a home-town peer to vouch for them. But some riders are hired as soon as they upload copies of an identity card and health certificate to an app. The pay is usually better than on an assembly line.
对于来自农村的人来说，这份工作是进入城市生活的捷径。 工厂工人必须具备一定的技能，并且必须有个同乡为他们提供担保。 但是，只要将身份证和健康证明上传到应用程序，骑手就会被雇用。 薪水通常比装配线上要好。
单词：
vouch /vaʊtʃ/ vt. 担保；证明；传出庭作证 vi. 保证；证明；确定
Nearly one-third of Meituan’s riders were once factory hands. Their switch reflects a nationwide trend. In 2018, for the first time, more migrant workers took up jobs in services than in manufacturing.
The epidemic could result in even more of them doing gig work. Many of China’s battered companies are shedding staff, but not food-delivery firms. Freshippo, Alibaba’s e-grocer, has engaged 2,000 staff from 30 idled restaurant chains. Since the start of the epidemic Meituan has hired more than 450,000 new riders, most of them for work in their home provinces because of virus-related travel restrictions.
美团的骑手中有近三分之一曾经是工厂的工人（hand这里是工人的意思）。 他们的转变反映了全国趋势。 2018年，从事服务业的工人数量首次超过了制造业。
新冠可能导致更多的人去做零工。 中国许多遭受重创的公司正在裁员，但食品配送公司却不然。 阿里巴巴的电子杂货商Freshippo（这个是盒马生鲜的意思哦！）已经从30家闲置的饭店连锁店雇用了2,000名员工。 自从流行病爆发以来，美团已经招募了超过450,000名新骑手，由于出行限制，他们中的大多数在本省工作。
单词：
Battered/‘bætɚd/- adj. 磨损的；弄垮的；破旧的；受到虐待的 - v. 连续猛击；磨损（batter的过去分词）
shed /ʃed/ v. 去除；摆脱 【例句：The factory is shedding a large number of jobs. 这家工厂正大批裁员。】
In recent years gig jobs have given workers a cushion, says Ji Wenwen of the China University of Labour Relations. In Hegang, a coal town by the Amur river on the Russian border, a tenth of takeaway riders were once miners. One of them is Luo Qiong, who makes twice as much with Ele.me as he did down the pit. “I earn more than local civil servants,” he says proudly.
中国劳动关系学院的Ji Wenwen说，近年来，零工的工作给工人提供了缓冲。 在俄罗斯边境阿穆尔河旁的煤炭小镇鹤岗，十分之一的外卖车手曾经是矿工。 其中之一就是罗琼，他在饿了么上赚的钱是他做矿工时的两倍。 他自豪地说：“我的收入比当地公务员还多。”
单词：
civil servant 公务员
The dreams of today’s migrants are often different from those of factory workers in the earlier years of China’s industrial boom. Many have never worked the land and have no intention of returning to it. They are better educated. A fifth of delivery workers have been to university or vocational college. And they want respect. In surveys, nearly half of riders at Meituan express anxiety about their status. Fewer than one in three at Ele.me feel they are respected enough by customers.
当今流动工人的梦想通常不同于中国工业繁荣的早期工厂工人的梦想。 许多人从未耕作过土地，也无意回去耕作。 他们受过良好的教育。 五分之一的运送工人上过大学或职业学院。 他们希望得到尊重。 在调查中，近一半的美团骑手对自己的状况感到焦虑。 在饿了么中，只有不到三分之一的人感到客户对他们足够尊敬（我的废话：不管是什么行业都应该受到尊敬啊，看到这里心凉凉）。
Such frustrations may grow. During the epidemic, firms rolled out contactless delivery systems, with packages being hung on door knobs or, in some big-city office and apartment blocks, placed in dedicated lockers installed by the companies. Face- to-face interaction with waimai xiaoge, once a near-daily feature of city life, ceased. It may never be fully restored.
Food delivery allows migrant workers to choose their own work hours, but the stress is still immense. Many riders are hired by middlemen who impose tough requirements for the job. The pressure is evident: heavily burdened delivery people often run the final distance to drop-off points. The Hong Kong Confederation of Trade Unions, a pro-democracy labour group, describes gig workers as an “immense army of precariats”.
这种挫败感可能会加剧。 在疫情期间，公司推出了（roll out是正式推出（新产品）的意思，经济学人用的非常多）非接触式交付系统，将包裹挂在门把手上，或者在一些大城市的办公室和公寓楼中，将其放在公司安装的专用储物柜中。与外卖小哥的面对面交流曾经是城市生活的日常，现在已经停止了。 它可能永远不会完全恢复。
外卖小哥可以选择自己的工作时间，但压力仍然很大。 中间人雇用了许多骑手，他们对此工作提出了苛刻的要求。 压力是显而易见的：负担沉重的骑手为了（准时）到下车点通常会跑最后一段路（我觉得哈，这个drop-off point说成下车点有点奇怪，我觉得作者是不是想表达外卖要送到的地方，就是小哥大声喊出手机尾号的地方，另外这个现象真的随处可见了，之前校园里都是跑步前进的外卖小哥…）。某个联合会将零工工人形容为一支“庞大的不稳定无产者军队”。
单词：
frustration /frʌ’streɪʃn/n. 挫折；失败；挫败；失意；沮丧
dedicated /ˈdedɪˌkeɪtɪd/ adj. 专用的
locker/ˈlɔkə/ n. 寄物柜
drop-off point 下车处，下车点
confederation /kənfedə'reɪʃ(ə)n/ n. 联盟；同盟；邦联
precariat /prəˈkerēət/ people whose employment and income are insecure, especially when considered as a class不稳定性无产者，朝不保夕族
Among the army’s recruits is a lanky 22- year-old in a baggy Ele.me jacket who prefers to be identified only by his surname, Liu. He says that, in his distant home-town near the eastern city of Suqian, he would need to “work as long as the machines” in order to earn as much as he does in Shanghai. He now puts aside 5,000 yuan a month. But he works six days a week, ten hours a day, even in the grimmest weather.
Mr Liu says he jumps red lights every day to avoid late-delivery penalties. In the first half of 2019, Shanghai recorded 12 road accidents a week involving food-delivery riders. Many go unreported.
一个身材瘦长的22岁的不愿透漏姓名的刘姓男子穿着宽松的饿了么夹克说，在他遥远的家乡东部城市宿迁附近，他需要“像机器一样长时间工作”，才能赚到与在上海一样多的收入。 现在，他每个月存下5000元。 即使在最恶劣的天气下，他也每周工作六天，每天工作十小时。
刘先生说，他每天都会闯红灯，以免订单超时。 在2019年上半年，上海每周记录有12起涉及送餐骑手的道路交通事故。 还有许多未报道。
单词：
lanky /‘læŋkɪ/adj. 过分瘦长,瘦长得难看
baggy /‘bægɪ/adj. 袋状的，膨胀的；宽松而下垂的
put aside v. 撇开；储存…备用
Over the years, factory workers have used their collective power to press for better pay and conditions. It is harder for dispersed delivery workers to do this, says Geoffrey Crothall of China Labour Bulletin (CLB), an NGO in Hong Kong. If some riders go on strike, algorithms can redirect orders to others still working.
Still, riders use social media to their advantage. They have large chat groups on messaging services such as WeChat and QQ, in which they discuss delivery routes but also employment terms and grievances. Meituan says that two in five of its riders were recommended for the job by home-town friends—recreating, to some extent, the solidarity of the factory. Mr Liu has found a WeChat group filled only with riders from his town. Delivery workers also forge bonds when they congregate, as they often do in areas with good internet con- nections or near busy food courts.
Such networking enables them to coordinate strikes. CLB says the food-delivery industry has become “a major source of worker unrest”. The NGO recorded the first strike by waimai xiaoge in 2016. The tally is now 121. Protests have been about wage arrears, pay cuts and fines.
多年来，工厂工人利用自己的团结的力量来争取更好的工资和条件。香港非政府组织CLB的杰弗里·克洛索（Geoffrey Crothall）表示，分散的送货员很难做到这一点。如果某些骑手罢工，算法可以将订单重定向到其他仍在工作的骑手。
尽管如此，骑手们还是利用社交媒体来获得优势。他们在微信和QQ上创建了群聊，在其中讨论送快递路线以及雇佣条件和申诉。美团表示，五分之二的骑手是由他们自己的老乡推荐来工作的，这在一定程度上恢复了像工厂一样的团结。刘先生找到了一个微信群，里面只有来自他镇上的骑手。快递小哥聚集的时候也会结成纽带，就像他们经常在互联网连接良好的地方或繁忙的美食广场附近（聚集那样）。
这种网络（意思是外卖小哥自己的团体）使他们能够协调罢工。 CLB说，食品配送行业已成为“工人动乱的主要来源”。该非政府组织记录了外卖小哥在2016年的第一次罢工。现在的总数为121。抗议活动涉及拖欠工资，减薪和罚款。
单词：
press for 不断要求
grievance /'griːv(ə)ns/ n. 委屈, 苦衷, 不满, 怨恨
recreate /riːkrɪ’eɪt/vt. 再创造;再现
solidarity /ˌsɒlɪ’dærɪtɪ/n. 团结
court /kɔːt/ n. 建筑物的开阔部分（常有玻璃房顶）；大厅；馆 【例子the food court at the shopping mall 大型购物中心的食品区】
unrest /ʌn’rest/n. 动乱, 骚乱, 不安宁
tally /‘tælɪ/n. 标签；记账；计数器 vt. 计算；记录；使符合vi. 一致；记分
arrears /ə’rɪəz/n. 待完成的事；拖欠；应付欠款
Because workers are not formal employees, companies can usually ignore their complaints. In 2018 a rider was banned from Ele.me’s platform for going on strike for two days about low wages. Still, the two biggest firms know well the public’s sympathy for takeaway riders, who formed one section of a national-day parade through Tiananmen Square in October. They would also rather avoid lots of churn in their workforce.
To boost loyalty, Meituan has created a category call lepao, or happy runners, who get paid more for accepting orders in faraway places. It has also helped set up a mental-health hotline for delivery workers. During the epidemic the firm has offered free online counselling to riders. It will pay up to 300,000 yuan in medical fees to those with covid-19.
In the long run, riders are unlikely to be satisfied. Pun Ngai of the University of Hong Kong says they risk becoming “trapped in the middle”—unable to move forward in urban life and unwilling to retreat to a rural one. Asked, pre-covid, why he had recently travelled 1,700km from his home in the western province of Gansu to Shanghai, a newly arrived waimai xiaoge replied, beaming: “Everyone likes a big city.” He paused. “But you can’t do this for ever. You need to do something that gives you a way up.” Contacted recently, he said he had quit. “Too tiring,” he grumbled.
由于工人不是正式员工，因此公司通常可以忽略他们的投诉。在2018年，饿了么的平台禁止一名骑手就低工资进行为期两天的罢工。尽管如此，两家最大的公司还是很清楚公众对外卖小哥的同情，（外卖小哥组成了国庆节群众游行方阵的一部分通过天安门广场），他们也避免劳动力的大量流失。
为了提高忠诚度，美团创造了一个叫lepao（乐跑？）的类别，即快乐跑步者，接远距离订单的骑手会获得更高的收入。它还为外卖小哥建立了心理健康热线。在疫情期间，该公司为骑手提供了免费的在线咨询。它将为患上新冠的人支付最高30万元的医疗费。
从长远来看，车手不太可能会感到满意。香港大学的潘毅（Pun Ngai）表示，他们有被“困在中间”的风险，他们无法在城市生活中前进，也不愿退居农村。有人问一个新来的小哥为什么他要从甘肃跑到上海，他笑着说：“每个人都喜欢大城市。”他顿了顿。 “但是你不能永远做这个。你需要做一些让你有所收获的事情。”最近再联系他时，他说他已经辞职了。 “太累了。”他抱怨道。
单词：
churn /tʃɜːn/ n. 奶桶，搅拌桶；搅乳器 vt. 搅动,扰乱某物 vi. 大量生产； 大量炮制 n. 搅拌
in the long run 长远；终究
beam/biːm/ v. 笑容满面；眉开眼笑
grumble /'grʌmb(ə)l/ vi. 抱怨；嘟囔
