双语阅读｜一支冰淇淋如何在饱经战火的也门生存？
CHOLERA spreads, with over 200,000 new cases reported. Malnutrition is rife. Government salaries were last paid a year ago. But the customers keep coming at the local franchise of Baskin-Robbins, an American ice cream brand, in Sana’a, Yemen’s rebel-held capital. Since the war erupted, the company has added a new branch to the five it already has in the capital. “Our best-seller is pralines,” says one of the managers, who last month served more than 16,000 customers.
霍乱肆意蔓延，新增20万病例报告。引发霍乱的原因中，营养不良是一种非常普遍的现象。距上一次政府发放薪水已是一年前，然而，在反对派占领的也门首都萨那，美国冰淇淋零售店芭斯罗缤（ Baskin-Robbins）分店却永远不缺顾客。战争爆发后，芭斯罗缤在萨那新开设了一家分店，如今仅在首都就有六家分店。“我们的销量冠军是杏仁糖，”一家分店的主管说道。仅五月，这家分店就接待16000多位消费者。
When Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates first began bombing in March 2015, getting supplies quickly became a problem. The tubs are shipped from America, but bombing knocked out the refrigeration units in Aden, the southern port, and the road north was treacherous. So Baskin-Robbins rerouted their orders through Salala, a port in neighbouring Oman. Each month a freezer truck brings its fresh stock of 20 flavours 1,500km (900 miles) through the desert. The journey is expensive and tiresome but mostly safe, so long as the gunmen manning some 60 checkpoints en route are kept happy. For the right fee, they will also refrain from inspections, which in the heat might make the ice cream melt.
2015年3月，沙特阿拉伯和阿联酋发动首次突袭轰炸，物资供应迅速成为一个棘手难题。塑料食品盒从美国海运，在途经也门南部港市亚丁时，炸弹轰炸破坏了饭盒的制冷装置，继续北上之路变得艰难无比。在这种情况下，芭斯罗缤重新调整了运送路线，订单经由也门邻国阿曼的一个港口沙拉拉。每月一辆装有冰柜的卡车穿越1500公里的沙漠之地，送来20种口味的新鲜冰淇凌。虽然一趟行程成本高昂、耗时耗力，只要把沿途60道关卡的武装人员哄高兴了，安全系数最高。此外，在沙漠的高温天气下冰淇淋很可能因为检查而融化，由于收了好处费，这些武装人员也会“慷慨”地免去耗时的检查手续。
Import duties have put up costs. The company has to pay them twice: to the internationally recognised government at the Omani crossing; and to the rebels at a new office on the mountainous approach roads to Sana’a. But such is the demand in a country where temperatures can exceed 50ºC that the franchise still turns a profit. Air strikes can interrupt business, sending Yemenis rushing home, but they have grown less common. Of eight outlets in the rebel-held north, only one has had to close, because it lies close to a military base.
进口关税提高了成本。芭斯罗缤的成本包括两部分：一部分付在阿曼港口获的国际认可的政府，另一部分付给首都萨那企图夺取政权、建立新政府的反对派。然而，在这个气温超过 50ºC的国家里，对冰淇凌的大量需求仍能使供应商有利可图。空袭可以影响做生意，把也门人纷纷赶进室内避难，不过，如今空袭已变得不那么常见了。反对派占领的也门北部有八个芭斯罗缤分店，其中只有一个由于紧邻军事基地而被迫关闭。
The south of Yemen has been more problematic. Artillery fire from the rebels besieging the government-held city of Taiz, 300km south of Sana’a, has destroyed that city’s sole Baskin-Robbins outlet. And Aden’s three ice-cream parlours were looted or bombed when rebels stormed the coastal city when the war began. Eventually, though, one was rebuilt, and a deal was reached to allow the precious tubs to cross enemy lines. “Business is business and fighting is fighting,” explains a Yemeni magnate. But when war only boosts the warlords’ opportunities for extortion, why should they ever stop?
也门南部的问题则更多。反对派的炮火包围了塔伊兹——一座由政府控制，在萨那300公里以南的城市，摧毁了塔伊兹唯一一个芭斯罗缤分店。战争起初，反对派大军扫荡亚丁，这个海边城市的三个冰淇凌店相继遭到洗劫或轰炸。尽管如此，最终其中一家得到了修缮，并达成一项协议：允许珍贵的塑料食品盒经过敌人战线。“做生意是一码事，打仗又是另一码事。”也门一位富豪这样解释道。然而，当战争只会为军阀提供更多敲诈勒索的机会时，他们怎么可能停止战争呢？
编译：张玺元
编辑：翻吧君
英文来源：经济学人