英国传统购物街的未来 The future of Britain's high streets丨随身英语

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12-2019

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英国的传统商业街被称为 "high street" 高街，这是购物者过去购买时尚品牌和必需品的地方，也是能找到熟悉高街品牌商店和连锁咖啡馆的地方。然而现在，面对来自大型购物中心和互联网购物的竞争，传统购物街的数量逐年减少，再也不见往日的熙攘。“随身英语” 讨论英国购物街近年来的变化。

Do you like shopping? For shopaholics in the UK, the place to head to used to be the "high street". This location refers to the streets in the centre of a town where businesses and popular branches of retail chains could be found. 

It was the place where you could find familiar fashion brands and essential everyday items. But change in our shopping habits has taken its toll on the British high street.

News about shops losing money and shutting is now common. Some city-centre department stores have closed and even long-established retailers such as Marks and Spencer have reported profit slumps. 

According to the accountancy firm Pricewaterhouse Coopers and the Local Data Company, a record 2,481 shops disappeared from UK high streets last year — up by 40 percent. Even some large warehouse-style stores in out-of-townretail parks, have gone bust and shut up shop.

As the BBC's Emma Simpson writes, things have become a lot harder for traditional retailers in recent years. They have faced rising costs from wages, business rates and the requirement to introduce Europe's new data law. 

But the biggest threat has come from online shopping. She says "Consumers now spend one in every five pounds online — and if businesses are seeing 20 percent fewer sales on the shop floor, as well as their fixed costs rising, then profit margins will be squeezed."

While some of us like to window shop — browsing for things to buy, only to purchase them online at a discount — the fact is that, overall, shoppers are making fewer visits to high streets. Eventually, town centres could become like ghost towns. If people aren't out and about shopping, they won't use other services, like cafes, restaurants and cinemas. It also results in job losses. 

The British Retail Consortium has already warned that 900,000 UK retail jobs could be lost by 2025. The high street has also suffered from the advent of big shopping malls, which offer a retail experience under one roof, with free parking, away from the bad weather!

Meanwhile, back on the high street, some shops still exist. Analysts have said it's those that have moved away from traditional retailing that are surviving. These include beauty salons, nail bars and independent coffee shops — but are these kinds of shops enough to keep the British high street open for business?

词汇表

shopaholic

英 [ʃɒpəˈhɒlɪk] 美 [ˌʃɑpəˈhɔlɪk]

购物狂

branch

英 [brɑːn(t)ʃ] 美 [bræn(t)ʃ]

分店

retail chain

连锁店

brand

 英 [brand] 美 [brænd]

品牌

take its toll

造成损失

department store

百货公司

retailer

英 [ˈri:teɪlə(r)] 美 [ˈritelɚ]

零售商

profit

英 [ˈprɒfɪt] 美 [ˈprɑfət]

利润

slump

英 [slʌmp] 美 [sləmp]

猛跌，下滑

warehouse-style store

仓储式商店

out-of-town

城外的，市郊的

retail park

（郊外的）购物区，零售商业区

bust

英 [bʌst] 美 [bəst]

破产的

business rate

商业税

consumer

英 [kənˈsjuːmə] 美 [kənˈsumər]

消费者

shop floor

实体店里，商店里

fixed costs

固定成本

margin

英 [ˈmɑːdʒɪn] 美 [ˈmɑrdʒən]

利润

window shop

只逛不买；浏览商店橱窗，但无意购买

browse

英 [braʊz] 美 [braʊz]

随意看

ghost town

“鬼镇”，被废弃的城镇

shopping mall

购物中心

beauty salon

美容院

nail bar

美甲店

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