英国卫报:奈斯派索的咖啡革命是如何被粉碎的(13)

As Nespresso has grown, it has come up against an awkward truth:

随着奈斯派索的发展，它遇到了一个棘手的的事实：

the more popular a brand is, the harder it is to maintain a luxury image.

一个品牌越流行，它就越难以维持一个奢侈的形象。

“Our competitor is not other coffee companies,” claimed Duvoisin.

“我们的竞争对手不是其他咖啡公司，”杜瓦辛声称。

“When you go into our boutique, you are comparing us to Dior or Louis Vuitton.”

“走进我们的精品店，你会把我们与迪奥或路易威登相提并论。”

That may have been true once, but its boutiques are now on every high street.

这曾经也许是对的，但是现在每条商业街上都有它的精品店。

At the Touchwood centre in Solihull, Nespresso is opposite an Ernest Jones and next to Pandora.

在英国索利哈尔的火绒中心，奈斯派索店就在一家欧内斯特·琼斯店的对面，旁边是潘多拉店。

On Cheapside, by St Paul’s in London, the boutique faces a Clintons Cards.

在伦敦的齐普赛街，圣保罗大教堂旁边的精品店里，摆放着一张克林顿夫妇的卡片。

Like other high-street businesses, Nespresso has been buffeted¹ by months of coronavirus closure.

和其他大街上的店铺一样，由于冠状病毒关门，奈斯派索也遭受了数月的打击。

In its late-00s incarnation, when most of its pods were sold by mailorder or on the internet,

在2000年代后期，如果它的大部分咖啡胶囊通过邮购或互联网销售，

Nespresso would have been less affected² by coronavirus.

奈斯派索就不会受到冠状病毒的很大影响。

(“When I was there we had the highest percentage profit margin³ in Nestle,” Gaillard told me.

（盖拉德告诉我，“我在公司时，我们的利润率是雀巢中最高的。

“But Nespresso did a ‘reverse-Amazon’. They had an Amazon and turned into a bricks and mortar⁴ business.”)

但是，奈斯派索做了一个“反向亚马逊”。他们从亚马逊变成了实体店。”

Nearly half a century after it was conceived, Nespresso finds itself in an uncomfortable new world.

自从奈斯派索诞生近半个世纪以来，它发现自己处在一个不舒服的新世界。

Consumers who might have once craved⁵ its polished, urbane⁶ chic⁷

那些曾经渴望它精致、优雅的时尚的消费者，

now look for dirty-fingered artisanal blends to use with their pour-overs and Aeropress machines.

现在想要脏手指的手工混纺物来搭配他们的手冲咖啡和爱乐压咖啡机。

A Nespresso machine on the kitchen counter used to prove your membership of a convenience-loving global consumer coffee elite⁸.

在过去，厨房柜台上的咖啡机可以表明你是爱好便携式咖啡的全球咖啡消费精英。

Increasingly it suggests that you are not a serious coffee person, and that your attitude to the future of the planet is suspiciously relaxed.

越来越多地，这表明你不是一位认真的咖啡客，你对于这个星球未来的态度是出奇的放松。

In its heyday⁹, Nespresso fit a story consumers were keen to tell themselves:

在全盛时期，奈斯派索很符合这个消费者愿意告诉他们自己的故事：

that for a small premium¹⁰, quality could be guaranteed, whether you were in Tokyo, Geneva or Los Angeles.

无论你是在东京、日内瓦还是洛杉矶，只要稍微多花点钱，咖啡质量就能得到保证。

Its range of capsules offered the sense of choice, but in reality it was just one option: Nespresso.

它的一系列胶囊提供了选择的感觉，但实际上只有一个选择：奈斯派索。

These days there are more than 400 competitor capsules.

现在市场上有400多种与之竞争的咖啡胶囊。

Cheap plastic ones, refillable eco-ones, limited-edition batches¹¹ from faraway places.

便宜的塑料胶囊，可重复使用的环保胶囊，来自遥远地方的限量版胶囊。

Specialty¹² coffee has infiltrated¹³ the general population to the extent that McDonald’s ran a gently sarcastic¹⁴ TV campaign about the flat white.

特色咖啡已经渗透到普通人群中，以至于麦当劳还在电视上对这种纯白咖啡进行了温和的讽刺。

Nespresso once wooed coffee lovers with its ease of use, and instant coffee drinkers with better coffee.

奈斯派索曾经以其简便的使用方式赢得了咖啡爱好者的青睐，也以优质的咖啡赢得了速溶咖啡爱好者的青睐。

Now there are alternatives for every taste.

现在，每种口味都有不同的选择。

1 buffeted   

反复敲打( buffet的过去式和过去分词 )； 连续猛击； 打来打去； 推来搡去

参考例句：

• to be buffeted by the wind 被风吹得左右摇摆
• We were buffeted by the wind and the rain. 我们遭到风雨的袭击。

2 affected   

adj.不自然的，假装的

参考例句：

• She showed an affected interest in our subject.她假装对我们的课题感到兴趣。
• His manners are affected.他的态度不自然。

3 margin   

n.页边空白；差额；余地，余裕；边，边缘

参考例句：

• We allowed a margin of 20 minutes in catching the train.我们有20分钟的余地赶火车。
• The village is situated at the margin of a forest.村子位于森林的边缘。

4 mortar   

n.灰浆，灰泥；迫击炮；v.把…用灰浆涂接合

参考例句：

• The mason flushed the joint with mortar.泥工用灰浆把接缝处嵌平。
• The sound of mortar fire seemed to be closing in.迫击炮的吼声似乎正在逼近。

5 craved   

渴望，热望( crave的过去式 )； 恳求，请求

参考例句：

• She has always craved excitement. 她总渴望刺激。
• A spicy, sharp-tasting radish was exactly what her stomach craved. 她正馋着想吃一个香甜可口的红萝卜呢。

6 urbane   

adj.温文尔雅的，懂礼的

参考例句：

• He tried hard to be urbane.他极力作出彬彬有礼的神态。
• Despite the crisis,the chairman's voice was urbane as usual.尽管处于危机之中，董事长的声音还象通常一样温文尔雅。

7 chic   

n./adj.别致(的)，时髦(的)，讲究的

参考例句：

• She bought a chic little hat.她买了一顶别致的小帽子。
• The chic restaurant is patronized by many celebrities.这家时髦的饭店常有名人光顾。

8 elite   

n.精英阶层；实力集团；adj.杰出的，卓越的

参考例句：

• The power elite inside the government is controlling foreign policy.政府内部的一群握有实权的精英控制着对外政策。
• We have a political elite in this country.我们国家有一群政治精英。

9 heyday   

n.全盛时期，青春期

参考例句：

• The 19th century was the heyday of steam railways.19世纪是蒸汽机车鼎盛的时代。
• She was a great singer in her heyday.她在自己的黄金时代是个了不起的歌唱家。

10 premium   

n.加付款；赠品；adj.高级的；售价高的

参考例句：

• You have to pay a premium for express delivery.寄快递你得付额外费用。
• Fresh water was at a premium after the reservoir was contaminated.在水库被污染之后，清水便因稀而贵了。

11 batches   

一批( batch的名词复数 )； 一炉； （食物、药物等的）一批生产的量； 成批作业

参考例句：

• The prisoners were led out in batches and shot. 这些囚犯被分批带出去枪毙了。
• The stainless drum may be used to make larger batches. 不锈钢转数设备可用来加工批量大的料。

12 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。

13 infiltrated   

adj.[医]浸润的v.（使）渗透，（指思想）渗入人的心中( infiltrate的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• The headquarters had been infiltrated by enemy spies. 总部混入了敌方特务。
• Many Chinese idioms have infiltrated into the Japanese language. 许多中国成语浸透到日语中。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》

14 sarcastic   

adj.讥讽的，讽刺的，嘲弄的

参考例句：

• I squashed him with a sarcastic remark.我说了一句讽刺的话把他给镇住了。
• She poked fun at people's shortcomings with sarcastic remarks.她冷嘲热讽地拿别人的缺点开玩笑。