美国国家公共电台 NPR Not Out To Lunch: Businesses That Rely On Federal Workers Suffer The Shutdown

Not Out To Lunch: Businesses That Rely On Federal Workers Suffer The Shutdown

MICHEL MARTIN, HOST:

We're going to talk a bit more about the partial shutdown of the federal government, which is entering its third week. We've talked earlier this hour about workers not receiving their pay. But that also means garbage piling up at national parks, taxpayers¹ not getting questions answered from the IRS. We'll have more on that tomorrow. But the shutdown also has repercussions² for businesses that federal workers use, like restaurants. This week, Colorado Public Radio's Dan Boyce checked in during what's normally the lunch rush just outside of Denver.

DAN BOYCE, BYLINE³: The Denver Federal Center in the suburb of Lakewood houses 28 government agencies in 44 buildings. It's a big complex. And call around those offices right now...

(SOUNDBITE OF VOICEMAIL RECORDINGS)

UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #1: You have reached the public room at the Bureau of Land Management.

UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #2: Due to the lapse⁴ in appropriation⁵...

UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #3: Due to a lapse in funding of the federal government budget, I am out of the office.

UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #2: We are prohibited from conducting work as federal employees.

UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #1: But we'll return your call upon our return to the office. Thank you, and sorry for the inconvenience.

BOYCE: Colorado has about 6,500 Department of Interior employees, 3,700 Department of Agriculture employees, 1,400 Department of Transportation workers. A lot of them are out of work and are not going out to lunch.

UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #4: You're up on one.

BOYCE: It's being felt.

NICK ANDURLAKIS: I think we've lost, you know, maybe 20 percent of our business, 25 percent of our business.

BOYCE: Nick Andurlakis runs Nick's Cafe down the street from the federal center.

ANDURLAKIS: I've had the cafe for 32 years. It's an Elvis cafe.

BOYCE: Boy, is it - walls adorned⁶ with photos and Elvis album covers. And Nick's specialty⁷ sandwich...

ANDURLAKIS: We have the Fool's Gold Sandwich. It's a peanut butter, jelly and bacon sandwich.

BOYCE: He says he normally sells a dozen of those Fool's Gold Sandwiches, give or take, every day. On this lunch day, it's pretty quiet. Andurlakis says his slower business is probably partially⁸ from a government shutdown. A lot of people are also still out for the holidays, right?

ANDURLAKIS: So it's hard to say.

BOYCE: He says everybody suffers a little with these government shutdowns. Still, he thinks they usually happen for a reason, and he supports the cause of more border security.

ANDURLAKIS: I'm the kind of guy that wants the country to be safe. I can understand where the president's coming from.

BOYCE: He calls the shutdown a little political fistfight.

UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #5: Order up.

BOYCE: Right across the street from the federal centers, it's the local Tokyo Joe's franchise⁹. Cooks pull from plastic bins¹⁰ of fresh stir fry vegetables near a line of grilling¹¹ chicken breasts. Manager Jolie Voss says 30 to 40 percent of her customer base comes from the federal center.

JOLIE VOSS: You kind of just get used to seeing the same faces. Bob from accounting's going to come in and get his white chicken bowl. So to not see those faces as often - you really notice.

BOYCE: Managing a franchise, she's expected to meet certain sales quotas¹², and her business is down thousands of dollars this week.

VOSS: We have to start sending people home earlier. Some people are losing hours. We're starting to waste more food product, which means we're spending more money on things that we're just not going to go through. And, in general, it just decreases the morale¹³ of my store.

BOYCE: Meanwhile, Washington is keeping the federal government closed, Voss says squabbling over petty affairs. For the customers who are in Tokyo Joe's, the bright side - maybe they get through the line faster. Jeda McKenney is sitting at a table outside. He's not a federal employee, and he's not paying much attention to the shutdown.

JEDA MCKENNEY: Yeah, I guess when stoplights stop working and, you know, they don't shovel¹⁴ my snow, I'll - you know, I'm that guy.

BOYCE: Those, of course, not federal obligations - point taken, though. None of the lunch customers I spoke¹⁵ with had really noticed any effects of the shutdown. But again, the businesses federal workers use - they certainly are. And while the furloughed workers are likely to get back pay, a sandwich shop is not going to get paid for a sandwich not eaten.

For NPR News, I'm Dan Boyce in Lakewood, Colo.

1 taxpayers   

纳税人，纳税的机构( taxpayer的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Finance for education comes from taxpayers. 教育经费来自纳税人。
• She was declaiming against the waste of the taxpayers' money. 她慷慨陈词猛烈抨击对纳税人金钱的浪费。

2 repercussions   

n.后果，反响( repercussion的名词复数 )；余波

参考例句：

• The collapse of the company will have repercussions for the whole industry. 这家公司的垮台将会给整个行业造成间接的负面影响。
• Human acts have repercussions far beyond the frontiers of the human world. 人类行为所产生的影响远远超出人类世界的范围。 来自《简明英汉词典》

3 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

4 lapse   

n.过失，流逝，失效，抛弃信仰，间隔；vi.堕落，停止，失效，流逝；vt.使失效

参考例句：

• The incident was being seen as a serious security lapse.这一事故被看作是一次严重的安全疏忽。
• I had a lapse of memory.我记错了。

5 appropriation   

n.拨款，批准支出

参考例句：

• Our government made an appropriation for the project.我们的政府为那个工程拨出一笔款项。
• The council could note an annual appropriation for this service.议会可以为这项服务表决给他一笔常年经费。

6 adorned   

[计]被修饰的

参考例句：

• The walls were adorned with paintings. 墙上装饰了绘画。
• And his coat was adorned with a flamboyant bunch of flowers. 他的外套上面装饰着一束艳丽刺目的鲜花。

7 specialty   

n.(speciality)特性，特质；专业，专长

参考例句：

• Shell carvings are a specialty of the town.贝雕是该城的特产。
• His specialty is English literature.他的专业是英国文学。

8 partially   

adv.部分地，从某些方面讲

参考例句：

• The door was partially concealed by the drapes.门有一部分被门帘遮住了。
• The police managed to restore calm and the curfew was partially lifted.警方设法恢复了平静，宵禁部分解除。

9 franchise   

n.特许，特权，专营权，特许权

参考例句：

• Catering in the schools is run on a franchise basis.学校餐饮服务以特许权经营。
• The United States granted the franchise to women in 1920.美国于1920年给妇女以参政权。

10 bins   

n.大储藏箱( bin的名词复数 )；宽口箱（如面包箱，垃圾箱等）v.扔掉，丢弃( bin的第三人称单数 )

参考例句：

• Garbage from all sources was deposited in bins on trolleys. 来自各方的垃圾是装在手推车上的垃圾箱里的。 来自辞典例句
• Would you be pleased at the prospect of its being on sale in dump bins? 对于它将被陈列在倾销箱中抛售这件事，你能欣然接受吗？ 来自辞典例句

11 grilling   

v.烧烤( grill的现在分词 )；拷问，盘问

参考例句：

• The minister faced a tough grilling at today's press conference. 部长在今天的记者招待会上受到了严厉的盘问。
• He's grilling out there in the midday sun. 他在外面让中午火辣辣的太阳炙烤着。 来自《简明英汉词典》

12 quotas   

（正式限定的）定量( quota的名词复数 )； 定额； 指标； 摊派

参考例句：

• In fulfilling the production quotas, John made rings round all his fellow workers. 约翰完成生产定额大大超过他的同事们。
• Quotas of the means of production are allocated by the higher administrative bodies to the lower ones. 物资指标按隶属关系分配。

13 morale   

n.道德准则，士气，斗志

参考例句：

• The morale of the enemy troops is sinking lower every day.敌军的士气日益低落。
• He tried to bolster up their morale.他尽力鼓舞他们的士气。

14 shovel   

n.铁锨，铲子，一铲之量；v.铲，铲出

参考例句：

• He was working with a pick and shovel.他在用镐和铲干活。
• He seized a shovel and set to.他拿起一把铲就干上了。

15 spoke   

n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说

参考例句：

• They sourced the spoke nuts from our company.他们的轮辐螺帽是从我们公司获得的。
• The spokes of a wheel are the bars that connect the outer ring to the centre.辐条是轮子上连接外圈与中心的条棒。