VOA常速英语2019--这个地方买菜没有定价，全靠信用

Farmers Market Without Prices Thrives on the Honor System

Business is brisk¹ here at this farmers market in Warrenton in the state of Virginia.

弗吉尼亚州沃伦顿的一个农贸市场生意兴隆。 

People are taking what they need and putting money they owe in a box.

人们各取所需，然后把钱放进这个盒子里。 

That’s what’s special about this place. It’s up to the customer to do the right thing.

这就是这个地方的特色所在。付不付钱、付多少钱完全取决于顾客自己。 

I thought I was dreaming. It…I’ve never lived anywhere where there was such a strong honor system.

我感觉在做梦。我从来没有在信用感如此强的地方住过。 

And so, I wanted to not only give him what I owed him, but I wanted to give more,because I thought, wow, what kind of person is being so trustful.

所以我不仅仅要付钱，我还想多付，因为我会想，这里的老板真是太信任他人了。 

Alvin Henry along with his son started this farm last year with about 15 modest tomato and corn plants.

阿尔文·亨利去年和他的儿子一起创办了这个农场，他们种了大约15株普通的番茄和玉米。 

He’s more than doubled his output this year.

今年的产量翻了一番多。 

I started planting a few tomato plants and some sweet corn and things like this, and I had some extra tomatoes and I started out on a very small table here.

我开始的时候就种一些西红柿、甜玉米和其它作物，后来多出了一些西红柿，我就把它们放到这张小桌子上。

The table was probably four foot by four foot.

这张桌子大概是四乘四英尺。 

And I couldn’t be there all the time, and my front door here, the office here.

我不能一直守在这里，我办公室的前台在这里。 

I’m a real estate appraiser² by trade and my front office here had a mail drop in it,and so I started asking people simply to put the money to change for the tomatoes in the front door.

我是一名房地产估价师，我的前台在这里，这儿也是收邮件的地方，所以我一开始就直接让顾客把买西红柿的钱放在前台。

Farming is still a way of life in this part of Northern Virginia, and markets like this are common during the summer and into the fall.

在北弗吉尼亚州的这一带，农业仍然是养家糊口方式，像这样的市场在夏季和入秋很普遍。 

And for Henry, he just wanted to get rid of his extra produce without having to hire employees or be at the market all the time.

对亨利来说，他只是想不雇员工，不守店面，轻松地处理掉多余的产品。 

Pick what you want at your price.

你自己出价买你需要的产品。 

You know, everything is…I don’t know, I can’t say enough good things about this.

这简直太……我不好说，找不到更好的词来形容这家店了。 

I get some eggs and I put my money in the salt. And you know, sometimes I maybe a dollar short, I maybe a dollar over, I’ll pay the next time.

我买了一些鸡蛋和盐。你知道的，我偶尔可能会差1美元，那就下次多带1美元补上。 

Henry says it’s all about trust, and despite what you think, he seldom ends up feeling shortchanged.

亨利说，信任是一切的根本，不管你怎么想，他很少会感觉别人少付了钱。 

It makes them feel good.

这种形式让他们感觉很好。 

I just…trust them and they…they put the money in and it all works out, and actually sometimes I think I have more money than what I should have.

我只是……相信他们，他们只需……把钱投进箱子里，大家都很喜欢这种方式，甚至有时候我觉得收到的钱比我应得的还要多。

Henry’s day job is in real estate, but farming in this market earned an enormous source of pride for him.

亨利白天的工作是做房地产生意，但在这个市场里的农贸生意给了他很大的自豪感。 

I don’t know if that’s like a particular thing to our region of America,like particularly coming out of rural communities but I feel like there has to be like a high level of trust in your community.

我不知道这样的市场是不是在美国很独特，例如只有农村社区才会有这样的市场，但我感觉前提是这个社区一定要有高度的信任感。

Henry says theft isn’t a problem.

亨利说，他根本不怕小偷。 

In fact he says the local bears steal a lot more as produce than people ever have.

事实上当地的熊偷吃的农产品要比人多多了。 

For Yahya Barzinji, I’m Kevin Enochs, VOA news, Washington.

叶海亚·巴津基实地采访，凯文·伊诺克斯播报，美国之声新闻华盛顿报道。 

1 brisk   

adj.轻快的，生气勃勃的，（天气等）令人振作的

参考例句：

• The actress is walking at a brisk pace.那位女演员正以轻快的步伐走着。
• It's great to work outdoors during brisk fall days.清爽的秋日里在户外工作是很愉快的。

2 appraiser   

n.评价者，鉴定者，估价官

参考例句：

• The certification is invalid without the signature of appraiser, checker and approver. 鉴定书无主检、审核、批准签字无效。 来自互联网
• The "quasi-balance" appraiser is the people and the historical development. “准平衡”的评判者是人民大众和历史发展。 来自互联网