(本文選自《經濟學人》20200425期)
背景介紹：
斯裡蘭卡是位於印度洋的一個熱帶島國，截至5月1日晚，斯裡蘭卡新冠肺炎累計確診病例達690人。為了遏制新冠肺炎疫情的傳播，斯裡蘭卡政府實施了一系列限制措施，其中就包括關閉了全國所有的酒吧和酒鋪。於是，喝不到酒的斯裡蘭卡人紛紛開始自己釀酒。
Faced with a ban on booze, Sri Lankans have been making moonshine
The closure of shops selling alcohol was supposed to curb covid-19
「Dates, jaggery?」 asked the grocer, offering the main ingredients for brewing palm wine. His customer bought both, tucking them away with his onions and lentils before disappearing down a narrow lane in a suburb of Colombo, Sri Lanka’s capital.
雜貨店老闆拿出了釀造棕櫚酒的主要原料，問道：「買椰棗還是棕櫚糖？」顧客將這兩樣各買了一些，並把它們藏在了洋蔥和扁豆下面，然後轉身消失在斯裡蘭卡首都科倫坡郊區的一條窄巷中。On March 21st the government closed all bars and liquor shops as part of a series of restrictions to curb the spread of covid-19. The intention, it said, was to prevent 「drink parties」 at which the virus might spread and to reduce unnecessary shopping trips.
3月21日，作為遏制新冠肺炎疫情傳播的一系列限制措施的一部分，政府關閉了所有的酒吧和酒鋪。其目的正是為了防止「酒會」導致病毒傳播，同時也減少了人們不必要的購物出行。Small wonder: when the government first began introducing countrywide measures to slow the spread of the disease, 「wine shops」—ubiquitous small stores selling mainly beer and liquor—were mobbed (social distancing be damned) by customers frantically stocking up.
這也在意料之中，當政府為了遏制疫情傳播最早在全國範圍內採取措施時，各地的「酒鋪」（一些隨處可見的、主要售賣啤酒和白酒的小商店）就已經擠滿了瘋狂囤貨的顧客（保持社交距離的忠告早已被拋諸腦後）。Since then, booze has been hard to obtain. Supermarkets offer deliveries, but few have a licence to sell alcohol. For a time, enterprising distributors arranged deliveries of liquor, too, until the authorities made it clear that these were banned.
從那時起，人們就很難買到酒了。超市雖然提供配送服務，但很少有超市具有酒類銷售許可證。有段時間，一些膽大的酒水經銷商也在提供配送服務，直到後來當局對此明令禁止。A black market has sprung up, but sellers are hard to find and prices are prohibitive. A bottle of 「gal」, which is distilled from coconut-palm sap, goes for almost three times its normal price of about 1,850 rupees ($9.75).
黑市由此應運而生，但賣家難尋，同時價格也高得離譜。一瓶由椰樹樹汁經蒸餾製成的「gal」酒的售價幾乎是平時價格（約1850盧比，合9.75美元）的三倍。The obvious, albeit illegal, solution is home-brewing. Sri Lankans desperate for a tipple are mixing everything from beets to pineapple with sugar, water and yeast, and leaving the cocktail to ferment. The result can be cloudy, fizzy and sickly sweet, but is at least mildly alcoholic.
儘管私自釀酒是非法的，但這顯然是個辦法。犯了酒癮的斯裡蘭卡人將甜菜、菠蘿等原料與糖、水、酵母混合在一起，使其發酵。最終可能釀成了一種渾濁、起泡、甜得發膩的液體，但它至少帶有淡淡的酒味。The more ambitious are trying to distil these brews into something stronger. One home-distiller describes fending off inquiries from the man who delivers cooking-gas canisters, who wants to know why his consumption has shot up. The next wave of hospital admissions, a common joke runs, won’t be victims of the virus, but of alcohol poisoning.
更有想法的人正試著將其蒸餾成度數更高的酒。一位家庭釀酒師描述了他是如何避開一位送煤氣罐師傅的問詢的，那人想知道他的用氣量為何會猛增。現在流行著一個笑話，下一批住進醫院的病人不是因為感染病毒，而是因為酒精中毒。The police say they have uncovered 18,000 instances of illicit alcohol production. On April 13th, for instance, officials arrested two men making liquor in 36 barrels in a swamp. Home-brewers are harder to catch.
警方表示，他們破獲的非法釀酒案件已達1.8萬起。比如4月13日，警察就逮捕了兩名在沼澤地裡釀造了36桶酒的男子。而家庭釀酒師就更難抓獲了。The government, which is losing some 500m Sri Lankan rupees ($2.6m) a day in forgone tax, has asked the telecoms regulator to find some way to stem the sharing of recipes on social media.
政府每天損失約5億盧比（約合260萬美元）的稅收，現已經要求電信監管機構想辦法阻止人們在社交媒體上分享釀酒的方子。「They are using Grade Six science knowledge to manufacture alcohol at home,」 complains Kapila Kumarasinghe of the excise department. All the same, he admits, 「We can’t very well go house to house, raiding kitchens.」
稅務部門的卡皮拉·庫馬拉辛哈抱怨稱，「人們正在利用他們6年級水平的科學知識在家中釀酒。」儘管如此，他不得不承認，「我們不可能挨家挨戶地搜查人們的廚房。」本文翻譯：Vinnie
校核：Vinnie
編輯：Vinnie
在斯裡蘭卡，私自釀酒屬於違法行為（即使只是為了自己喝，而非商業目的）。一方面，售賣私釀酒對國家稅收造成了損失；另一方面，很容易因釀造工藝問題導致中毒事件的發生。但隨著全國的酒吧和酒館因防疫政策而被迫關閉，犯了酒癮的斯裡蘭卡人只好冒著生命危險以及被抓的風險，私自釀起酒來。重難點詞彙：
moonshine [ˈmuːnʃaɪn] n. 私釀酒
tuck away 藏起來
ubiquitous [juːˈbɪkwɪtəs] adj. 普遍存在的；無所不在的
tipple [ˈtɪpl] n. 烈酒 v. 酗酒
forgo [fɔːrˈɡoʊ] v. 放棄；停止
推薦閱讀：
經濟學人 | 今天，你使用公筷了嗎？
經濟學人 | 抖音海外徵戰之路
經濟學人 | 人們待在家中，城市成為了動物們的樂園！
經濟學人 | 日本女性發起一場抵制高跟鞋的運動
經濟學人 | 新冠肺炎康復者正在成為人們的救星
每天一篇雙語經濟學人沒有看夠！
關注微信公眾號：考研英語同源外刊
每天推送一篇最新雙語同源外刊文章