VOA慢速英语2020 新冠对婚庆业影响严重

Concerns about the growing number of coronavirus illnesses in the United States and elsewhere has greatly affected¹ the wedding industry.

人们对美国以及其他地方新冠病例数量增加的担心已经大大影响了婚庆业。

People who are about to be married are facing difficult choices: do they postpone², cancel or go ahead with their wedding plans?

即将结婚的人面临着艰难的抉择：是延期、取消还是继续按计划走？

"So much extra stress," said 26-year-old Hayley Pass. She and her fiancé had 155 confirmed guests for their March 22 wedding in Cedar³ Grove⁴, New Jersey⁵.

26岁的海莉表示，“我额外的压力太大了。”海莉和自己的未婚夫邀请的宾客中有155个确诊病例，他们的婚礼原定3月22日在新泽西州罗汗柏林举行。

Pass added, "After all this planning it's like, really, we're going to postpone? We just really want it to happen but it seems like the worst is yet to come."

海莉补充表示，“我们都筹划这么久了，而我们现在要纠结是的是——要延期举办婚礼吗？我们太期待这场婚礼了，但现在似乎还不是最糟糕的情况。”

The couple will only cancel the wedding if their location cancels on them or if their closest loved ones decide not to attend.

除非婚礼举办地取消婚礼或者这对新人最亲近的人们决定不参加婚礼，不然他们俩是不会取消婚礼的。

Other couples have also decided⁶ to keep their wedding dates for now, with the busiest wedding months ahead.

还有其他一些新人也决定暂时按照原定婚礼日期进行，而最繁忙的结婚月即将到来。

Postponing⁷ or canceling a wedding raises many questions. Will businesses and sellers all be available on the same new date and time? Will couples lose money that they already paid?

无论是延期还是取消都会引发很多问题。一些企业和买家在新日期是否还能提供服务？新人们已经支付的定金是否会打水漂？

Usual wedding insurance does not cover concern over a spreading virus. That concern has caused many governments to place restrictions⁸ on travel and large gatherings⁹ in places around the world.

一般的婚庆保险无法保障病毒扩散引发的担忧。这样的担忧已经让很多政府限制了出行和大规模集会。

Some insurance companies are answering questions over how policies work in such an unusual situation.

一些保险公司解答了政策在特殊情况下是怎样的问题。

For most people, the new coronavirus causes only mild or moderate symptoms, such as fever and cough. For some, especially older adults and people with existing health problems, it can cause more severe illness, including pneumonia¹⁰. Most people recover.

对大多数人来说，新冠病毒只引发了轻度或中度症状，比如发热、咳嗽。对一些人来说，尤其是一些年龄稍大的成年人来说，如果他们已经有一些健康问题的话，新冠病毒会引发更为严重的疾病，如肺炎。大多数人都可痊愈。

People in the wedding industry are feeling the effects of widespread concern over the virus.

婚庆业的一些人感受到了人们对病毒广泛担心的影响。

Abby Murray is a travel agent in Charlotte, North Carolina. She specializes in planning honeymoons¹¹ – trips many couples take after a wedding. At this time of year, she would usually have 20 customers. She now has two.

艾比是北卡州的一名旅行代理人。她专门负责蜜月规划——蜜月是很多新人在结婚后都会做的出行。在每年的这个时候，艾比通常都有20个客户，但现在她只有2个客户。

Murray said, "People are scared to book their honeymoons right now. People don't even want to explore it. They're going to move forward with their weddings but take their honeymoons at a later date."

Virus containment¹² measures across China have caused factories there to slow their production of goods – including wedding dresses.

The Green Bride shop in Littleton, Colorado, usually receives up to 60 wedding dresses shipped from China each month from February to May. But this February, it received only four.

Holly¹³ Marsh¹⁴ is one of the store owners. She said, "If the wedding is in June, and the dress is supposed to be here in February and it's not going to get here until May, what do you tell them?"

David Gaffke owns the store Complete Bridal in East Dundee, Illinois. He depends greatly on China for manufacturing the dresses he sells.

"It's frustrating¹⁵ when it comes to having to tell a bride that we're not able to fulfill¹⁶ your needs," he said. "This is the most important dress they're going to wear."

Photographer Michael Busada in Washington, D.C. depends on weddings for about half of his business. He has 36 weddings under contract this year, including one that recently canceled after the bride was possibly exposed to the coronavirus. Another wedding went from a large location with 150 guests to a home ceremony with 20.

Busada offered the couple that was forced to cancel a credit or postponement¹⁷, without penalty. "Everybody's struggling. It doesn't do me any good to be the bad guy," he said.

Words in This Story

exposed – adj. open to view

location – n. a place or position

symptoms – n. changes in the body or mind that indicate a disease is present

1 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。

2 postpone   

v.延期，推迟

参考例句：

• I shall postpone making a decision till I learn full particulars.在未获悉详情之前我得从缓作出决定。
• She decided to postpone the converastion for that evening.她决定当天晚上把谈话搁一搁。

3 cedar   

n.雪松，香柏(木)

参考例句：

• The cedar was about five feet high and very shapely.那棵雪松约有五尺高,风姿优美。
• She struck the snow from the branches of an old cedar with gray lichen.她把长有灰色地衣的老雪松树枝上的雪打了下来。

4 grove   

n.林子，小树林，园林

参考例句：

• On top of the hill was a grove of tall trees.山顶上一片高大的树林。
• The scent of lemons filled the grove.柠檬香味充满了小树林。

5 jersey   

n.运动衫

参考例句：

• He wears a cotton jersey when he plays football.他穿运动衫踢足球。
• They were dressed alike in blue jersey and knickers.他们穿着一致，都是蓝色的运动衫和灯笼短裤。

6 decided   

adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的

参考例句：

• This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
• There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。

7 postponing   

v.延期，推迟( postpone的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• He tried to gain time by postponing his decision. 他想以迟迟不作决定的手段来争取时间。 来自辞典例句
• I don't hold with the idea of postponing further discussion of the matter. 我不赞成推迟进一步讨论这件事的想法。 来自辞典例句

8 restrictions   

约束( restriction的名词复数 )； 管制； 制约因素； 带限制性的条件（或规则）

参考例句：

• I found the restrictions irksome. 我对那些限制感到很烦。
• a snaggle of restrictions 杂乱无章的种种限制

9 gatherings   

聚集( gathering的名词复数 )； 收集； 采集； 搜集

参考例句：

• His conduct at social gatherings created a lot of comment. 他在社交聚会上的表现引起许多闲话。
• During one of these gatherings a pupil caught stealing. 有一次，其中一名弟子偷窃被抓住。

10 pneumonia   

n.肺炎

参考例句：

• Cage was struck with pneumonia in her youth.凯奇年轻时得过肺炎。
• Pneumonia carried him off last week.肺炎上星期夺去了他的生命。

11 honeymoons   

蜜月( honeymoon的名词复数 )； 短暂的和谐时期； 蜜月期； 最初的和谐时期

参考例句：

• I suppose all honeymoons are more or less alike. 我想所有的蜜月多多少少都是相似的。
• Honeymoons are stupid things. 蜜月是乏味的事情。

12 containment   

n.阻止，遏制；容量

参考例句：

• Your list might include such things as cost containment,quality,or customer satisfaction.你的清单上应列有诸如成本控制、产品质量、客户满意程度等内容。
• Insularity and self-containment,it is argued,go hand in hand.他们争论说，心胸狭窄和自我封闭是并存的。

13 holly   

n.[植]冬青属灌木

参考例句：

• I recently acquired some wood from a holly tree.最近我从一棵冬青树上弄了些木料。
• People often decorate their houses with holly at Christmas.人们总是在圣诞节时用冬青来装饰房屋。

14 marsh   

n.沼泽，湿地

参考例句：

• There are a lot of frogs in the marsh.沼泽里有许多青蛙。
• I made my way slowly out of the marsh.我缓慢地走出这片沼泽地。

15 frustrating   

adj.产生挫折的，使人沮丧的，令人泄气的v.使不成功( frustrate的现在分词 )；挫败；使受挫折；令人沮丧

参考例句：

• It's frustrating to have to wait so long. 要等这么长时间，真令人懊恼。
• It was a demeaning and ultimately frustrating experience. 那是一次有失颜面并且令人沮丧至极的经历。 来自《简明英汉词典》

16 fulfill   

vt.履行，实现，完成；满足，使满意

参考例句：

• If you make a promise you should fulfill it.如果你许诺了，你就要履行你的诺言。
• This company should be able to fulfill our requirements.这家公司应该能够满足我们的要求。

17 postponement   

n.推迟

参考例句：

• He compounded with his creditors for a postponement of payment. 他与债权人达成协议延期付款。
• Rain caused the postponement of several race-meetings. 几次赛马大会因雨延期。