Droughts, storms and global demand tests America’s love affair with avocado
Raising production to meet demand will be tricky
Jan 25th 2018 | NEW YORK
ALTHOUGH New Yorkers are not renowned for their patience, they do not seem to mind waiting their turn for a fresh serving of avocado. At Avocaderia, which claims to be the world’s first avocado bar, in Brooklyn, long queues stretch from the counter outward into a large food hall.
The venue’s popularity is a sign of the times: the avocado is fast becoming America’s favourite fruit. Although domestic production has stayed flat, imports have more than trebledover the past ten years, according to the Department of Agriculture. It estimates that the annual consumption of the average American has increased from about one pound (0.5 kilograms) in 1989 to more than seven pounds in 2016; total consumption that year weighed in at 2.3bn pounds.
treble: (trebles; trebled; trebling) to become three times as great or as many: triple
纽约人并不是特别有耐性，但是他们却很有耐心等一份新鲜的牛油果餐！
America’s enthusiasm for avocados may be dented, however, by soaring prices. The wholesale price for a case of 48 avocados peaked at $83.75 in September, up from $34.45 a year before, according to the American Restaurant Association. Some restaurants were forced to add a surcharge on guacamole, or temporarily to scrap it from their menus altogether. Others swallowed the bill. Chipotle, a Mexican-themed restaurant chain, said that “historically high avocado costs” were a big reason why it posted disappointing financial results last year.
Supply shortfalls, brought about by droughts, storms and wildfires in California, Chile and Mexico, help to explain the jump. Production in California dropped by 44% in 2017. Harvests in Mexico that year were off by 20%. Labour strikes in the country further reduced supply.
dent: to decrease something; to make something weaker
guacamole: a Mexican food made of mashed avocado usually mixed with chopped tomatoes and onion
牛油果价格涨太多了，导致部分餐厅要么加价，要么把牛油果那道菜下架了，当然食客要饱口福的话，就必须得咬牙付钱啦
Growing global demand is also pushing up prices. Both Chile and Peru have concluded trade agreements with China, eliminating tariffs on their avocado exports. Peru’s avocado sales to China, although small in volume compared with Chile’s and Mexico’s, surged by 3,700% in 2016. Other countries, including Canada and Japan, have also worked up their appetite, raising aggregate imports by 32% between 2014 and 2016.
Raising production will be tricky. This is because avocados are a fussy plant to grow, says Mary Lu Arpaia of the University of California, Riverside. Salinity levels need to be just right, the slope of the terrain not too steep and temperatures stable. Erratic weather conditions can easily kill the crop.
aggregate: formed by adding together two or more amounts: total
中国和智利，秘鲁达成了协议，免除这两国的牛油果进口税，使2016年秘鲁出口到中国的牛油果量涨了3700%
牛油果很难种，盐度要刚刚好，土地坡度要有但不能太陡，温度又要稳定，是一个贵族“水果”
Even so, it seems a good bet that queues like the ones in Brooklyn will multiply. The founders of Avocaderia are already looking for new opportunities to expand after only having been in business for ten months. Demand is huge says one of them, Alessandro Biggi. “On opening day we actually ran out of avocados after just 90 minutes and things haven’t slowed down since.”
这家Avocaderia刚刚开业10个月就要开分店了，他们开业那天90分钟就把牛油果用完了，而且需求一点没降，吃惊！
总结：牛油果虽然好吃，但不至于那么好吃吧，现在去赚钱还来得及么
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Results
Lexile®Measure: 1000L - 1100L
Mean Sentence Length: 14.81
Mean Log Word Frequency: 3.15
Word Count: 400
这篇文章的蓝思值是在1000-1100L， 适合英语专业大一的水平学习，是经济学人里最简单的
使用kindle断断续续地读《经济学人》三年，发现从一开始磕磕碰碰到现在比较顺畅地读完，进步很大，推荐购买！点击这里可以去亚马逊官网购买~
网友评论