NPR 08-01:In Japan, a Mecca for Sushi Lovers寿司圣地——东京

Tokyo is the site for the world's largest fish market, a place famous for the ultra-high quality tuna featured at the city's best sushi restaurants.

Our friend Madeleine Brand is on assignment in Japan right now, she is doing stories for our Climate Connection Series. And while she is in Tokyo ,she's gone by the world's largest fish market. It's a place famous for the ultrahigh quality tuna featured at Tokyo's best sushi restaurants.

The demand for tuna is so great now that even though it seems like there is a glut¹ of tuna standing² in Tsukiji fish market. Just looking at the hundreds of tuna lying here on pallets, they really are being overfished and it is a big problem for the tuna worldwide.

Now Madeleine doesn't really know her way around this market yet, so she went with a guide. His name is Tim Horniac. He's a freelance writer , a big sushi fan , he had all kinds of statistics³ about the fish in this market fished from all over the world.

2,500 tons of fish worth over 23 million dollars are sold here everyday. And tuna can fetch prices up to 20 million yen⁴, which, correct me if I'm wrong, is something like 200,000 dollars for a single fish.

Feel kind of sorry for them lying here. They look like sad little corpses⁵ with their tails cut off, a big gash⁶ under their fin⁷.

And you can see the tails are sliced off, in kind of 90-degree-angle cuts so that the traders can directly inspect the meat with their flashlight and they're looking for the freshest fattest tuna that will fetch the highest price.

OK, and this is where it all ends up ,we are sitting in a sushi restaurant right next to the fish market,it is 7 o'clock in the morning and we are having sushi.

This is the best sushi in the world, right here, Tsukiji fish market, Ground Zero for sushi. Hey, eat your heart out, Alex, coz I am about to eat some delicious sushi. Bye-bye, sayonara!

Madeleine Brand enjoying a sushi breakfast with Tim Horniac at the Tsukiji fish market in Tokyo.

1 glut   

n.存货过多，供过于求；v.狼吞虎咽

参考例句：

• The glut of coffee led to a sharp drop in prices.咖啡供过于求道致价格急剧下跌。
• There's a glut of agricultural products in Western Europe.西欧的农产品供过于求。

2 standing   

n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的

参考例句：

• After the earthquake only a few houses were left standing.地震过后只有几幢房屋还立着。
• They're standing out against any change in the law.他们坚决反对对法律做任何修改。

3 statistics   

n.统计，统计数字，统计学

参考例句：

• We have statistics for the last year.我们有去年的统计资料。
• Statistics is taught in many colleges.许多大学都教授统计学。

4 yen   

n. 日元；热望

参考例句：

• He wanted to convert his dollars into Japanese yen.他想将美元换成日币。
• He has a yen to be alone in a boat.他渴望独自呆在一条船上。

5 corpses   

n.死尸，尸体( corpse的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The living soldiers put corpses together and burned them. 活着的战士把尸体放在一起烧了。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Overhead, grayish-white clouds covered the sky, piling up heavily like decaying corpses. 天上罩满了灰白的薄云，同腐烂的尸体似的沉沉的盖在那里。 来自汉英文学 - 中国现代小说

6 gash   

v.深切，划开；n.(深长的)切(伤)口；裂缝

参考例句：

• The deep gash in his arm would take weeks to heal over.他胳膊上的割伤很深，需要几个星期的时间才能痊愈。
• After the collision,the body of the ship had a big gash.船被撞后，船身裂开了一个大口子。

7 fin   

n.鳍；(飞机的)安定翼

参考例句：

• They swim using a small fin on their back.它们用背上的小鳍游动。
• The aircraft has a long tail fin.那架飞机有一个长长的尾翼。