boba tea

Another unlikely pandemic shortage: boba tea

疫情之下，另一种看似不太可能出现短缺的物资：波霸奶茶

A panic erupted on the West Coast this week. Over a drink. It happened when beverage aficionados learned that tapioca, the starch used to make the sweet, round, chewy black bubbles — or pearls — that are the featured topping in the popular boba tea drink, was in short supply.

本周，美国西海岸突然陷入一阵恐慌；因为一款饮品。当饮料狂热者们发现，木薯粉——这种用于制作波霸（也叫珍珠：一种甜甜圆圆、富有嚼劲的黑色球体）的淀粉类食品出现短缺时，恐慌随即爆发；因为波霸是热门饮品波霸奶茶里的招牌配料。

The impending boba shortage is yet another sign of how the pandemic has snarled global supply chains and upended industries. In this case, a surge of pent-up demand for products assembled abroad, coupled with a shortage of workers due to coronavirus cases or quarantine protocols, has caused a monthslong maritime pileup at ports in Los Angeles and San Francisco and left ships delivering goods from Asia — including tapioca — waiting out at sea.***

即将到来的波霸短缺，也是另一种反映疫情阻碍全球供应链、颠覆各行各业的表现。在这种情况下，在海外组装的产品需求出现井喷；新冠病例增加、隔离要求又造成了用工短缺，这些最终导致美国洛杉矶及旧金山港口出现了长达数月的海运堆积；同时，也让那些运送亚洲货物——包括木薯粉——的船只只能在海上等待。

"It's very stressful — no boba means no sales," said Aaron Qian, owner of Tea Hut, a boba store with three locations in the Bay Area. "If you don't have boba, they don't want the tea. They just leave."

“我们的压力很大——没有波霸就没有销售，”奶茶店 Tea Hut 的老板钱亚伦说道，他在旧金山湾区开了三家门店。“如果你没有波霸，他们（顾客）就不要奶茶；然后直接走掉。”

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The boba shortage, which was reported earlier by "The San Francisco Chronicle", has boba fans in a panic. Boba is "something that translates across a lot of Asian cultures," said Zoe Imansjah, a student at the University of California, Santa Barbara. "Something so simple can bring a lot of people together."

《旧金山纪事报》日前报道了波霸短缺的新闻，这让波霸迷们陷入恐慌。加利福尼亚大学圣塔芭芭拉分校的学生佐伊·伊曼斯佳说，波霸奶茶是“一种能跨越多种亚洲文化的东西，一种普通到可以把很多人凝聚起来的东西。”

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All hope is not lost for boba fanatics. Carley Olund, an office manager at iBEV, a smaller boba supplier, said the company had prepared for shipping delays and had enough tapioca stockpiled to get through it.

对于波霸狂热者们来说，也不是完全没有希望。iBEV 是一家相对小型的波霸供应商，公司的业务经理卡利·奥伦德表示，他们已经为货轮延误做好了准备，并囤有足够的木薯粉以应对此次危机。

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For boba drinkers who are affected by shortages, this may be a chance to try different toppings in their tea, like cheese foam, fruit jellies or egg pudding.

而对于那些受到波霸短缺影响的奶茶爱好者们来说，这或许也是一个尝试不同奶茶配料的好机会，比如芝士奶盖、水果果冻或者鸡蛋布丁。

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主编：Felicity

品控：Felicity

审核：Amy

重点词汇

erupt

/ɪˈrʌpt/

v. 爆发，突然发生；（火山）爆发，喷发

英文释义：to start happening suddenly and violently

例句：Violence could erupt at any moment.

aficionado

/əˌfɪʃ.i.əˈnɑː.doʊ/

n. 狂热爱好者，迷

搭配短语：a jazz aficionado

tapioca

/ˌtæp.iˈoʊ.kə/

n. 木薯粉

starch

/stɑːrtʃ/

v. 淀粉；含淀粉的食物

feature

/ˈfiː.tʃɚ/

v. 以……为特色、特征

词性拓展：feature（n. 特征，特点）

例句：A features B.（A 以 B 为特征 / B 是 A 的特色。）

例句：The restaurant features some low-fat foods.

topping

/ˈtɑː.pɪŋ/

n.（菜肴、奶茶、蛋糕等上的）配料；浇汁

相关词汇：top（n. 顶端，顶部）

词性拓展：top（v. 盖在……上面，淋在……上面）

搭配短语：a cake topped with matcha powder

词根词缀：-ing（名词后缀）

搭配短语：a topping of toasted almond；an ice cream topping

impending

/ɪmˈpen.dɪŋ/

adj. 即将发生的，迫在眉睫的

相关词汇：impend（v. 即将发生，迫近）

英文释义：to be about to happen

例句：His retirement is impending.

搭配短语：an impending storm；an impending crisis

snarl

/snɑːrl/

v. 阻碍，妨碍

词性拓展：snarl（n. 结）

英文释义：a knot

搭配短语：snarls of plants

搭配短语：to comb the snarls out of my hair

搭配短语：to snarl sth. up / to snarl up sth.

例句：A traffic accident has snarled up the road all day.

搭配短语：to snarl up the traffic

upend

/ʌpˈend/

v. 使颠覆；使翻转、倒转

英文释义：to turn something upside down

搭配短语：to upend a box

例句：The book has upended my understanding of the whole universe.

assemble

/əˈsem.bəl/

v. 装配，组装

搭配短语：to assemble a bookshelf

相关词汇：assembly（n. 组装，装配）

相关词汇：assembly line（n.（工厂的）装配线，流水线）

protocol

/ˈproʊ.t̬ə.kɑːl/

n.（科学实验、医疗的）规程

maritime

/ˈmer.ə.taɪm/

adj. 航海的，海运的

搭配短语：a maritime disaster

pileup

/ˈpɑɪlˌʌp/

n. 堆积的货物；堆积，累积

相关表达：pile up（堆积，累积）

boba tea

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