VOA慢速英语2017 美国退伍老兵销售阿富汗香料

Saffron is one of the costliest spices in the world. It is sometimes considered as valuable as money, and has been used as such in history. Saffron comes from a flower that grows mostly in parts of Europe, Iran and India. Now, a company in the United States is developing new markets for saffron grown in Afghanistan.

藏红花是世界上最贵的调味料之一。有时被认为和金钱等值，历史上也曾作为货币使用。藏红花的原料是一种在欧洲、伊朗和印度大量生长的花。如今美国一家公司正在开拓阿富汗藏红花的新市场。

At Cafe Ba-Ba-Reeba in Chicago saffron is very important to Executive Chef Matt Holmes’s menu.

在芝加哥的一家咖啡馆Ba-Ba-Reeba，藏红花是主厨马特.霍姆斯菜单上最重要的材料。 

We feature it in our paellas, which are our signature dish here at Cafe Bar Ba Reeba, as well as use it in a dessert and some other dishes as well. So, it’s incredibly important to have high-quality saffron.

“我们要在海鲜饭中加入藏红花，那是我们Bar Ba Reeba咖啡馆的招牌菜。甜点和其他菜品中也要用到藏红花。所以优质的藏红花非常重要。”

Cooks throughout Asia, the Middle East and the Mediterranean Sea use saffron, but few cooks in the United States know about the spice.

亚洲、中东和地中海的厨师都会用到藏红花，但很少有美国的厨师知道这种香料。 

The company Rumi Spice, which sells saffron to Holmes, is working to change that.

向霍姆斯销售藏红花的鲁米香料公司正致力于改变这一点。 

Kimberly Jung is a founder of Rumi Spice. She says the company takes its name from Jalaluddin Rumi, a 13th-century poet and thinker born in what is now Afghanistan.

金伯利.荣格是鲁米香料的创始人。她说公司的名字来源于加拉鲁丁.鲁米，13世纪阿富汗诗人和思想家。

One of his famous sayings is ‘Where there is ruin, there is hope for treasure.’

“他最著名的一句格言是：哪里有废墟，哪里就有宝藏。” 

Keith Alaniz is another of the founders of the company, along with Emily Miller. They are all former U.S. military members who served in Afghanistan. Alaniz says they returned with more than just battle experience.

基思.阿伦尼兹和艾米丽.米勒是鲁米香料的其他两位创始人。他们都是曾在阿富汗服役的美国退役军人。阿伦尼兹说他们回到美国不仅仅是多了战斗经验。

I was never able to resolve just going to Afghanistan, and spending time; leaving and never thinking about the place again -- especially when you form relationships with people who live there and you understand them and you know their families.

“我不会决心去了阿富汗，在那待了一段时间，走了就不再想那个地方。尤其是你和当地的人们建立了感情，你了解他们，了解他们的家庭。”

So, Jung and Alaniz began to sell saffron produced by Afghan farmers they met in Herat province. There is not much demand for saffron in Afghanistan, so farmers must export it.

所以荣格和阿伦尼兹开始销售他们在赫拉特遇到的阿富汗农民种植的藏红花。阿富汗对藏红花的需求很少，所以农民们必须将藏红花出口。

Alaniz says Afghanistan has basically "been cut off from the international market for 30 years." He says farmers there are producing a great product. But he says they cannot get a fair value for their goods because they are not able to export it.

阿伦尼兹说阿富汗已经“和国际市场中断30年了”。他说那儿的农民生产的藏红花质量很好。但他们不能获得应有的回报，因为他们不能将其出口

Conflict and insecurity in Afghanistan is not the only difficulty in getting Afghan saffron to market.

阿富汗的冲突和不稳定不是阻碍阿富汗藏红花走向市场的唯一因素。 

Abdullah Faiz is the head of the country’s Herat University. He says Afghanistan has been producing saffron for many years but still has no process that guarantees the spice’s quality. So, Herat University is working with Purdue University in Indiana to create a department of food technology for Afghan saffron farmers.

阿卜杜拉.菲斯是阿富汗赫拉特大学的校长。他说阿富汗生产藏红花已经很多年了，但却没有保证其质量的程序。所以赫拉特大学和印第安纳州的普渡大学合作，为阿富汗生产藏红花的农民创建了食品技术部。

Faiz says the department will help train farmers to produce saffron that is pure and safe.

菲斯说该部门会给农民进行培训，生产纯正安全的藏红花。 

Rumi carries out its own careful testing process on its product. Matt Holmes says it was the quality and taste of Rumi’s saffron that convinced him to buy it. But he also likes the company’s support for Afghanistan.

鲁米香料公司有自己检测产品的精细流程。马特.霍姆斯说是鲁米藏红花的质量和口味说服他去购买。但他也欣赏该公司对阿富汗的支持。

And you are kind of doing double duty with the program that they have with helping farmers in Afghanistan and helping women and being a positive influence besides just selling a product, so you really get the best of both worlds.

“做这个项目你肩负着双份责任，帮助了阿富汗的农民，帮助了女性，在销售一份产品的同时产生了积极影响，所以你赢得了两个世界。”

Investors have noticed the company’s success. Billionaire businessman Mark Cuban invested $250,000 after the company competed on the television show "Shark Tank."

“投资者注意到这家公司的成功。亿万富翁马克.库班在该公司登上《鲨鱼坦克》后向其投资了25万美元。”

Words in This Story

spice – n. a substance (such as pepper or nutmeg) that is used in cooking to add flavor to food and that comes from a dried plant and is usually a powder or seed

paella – n. a Spanish dish of rice, meat, seafood, vegetables, and spices

signature – adj. closely associated with someone or something; making a person or thing easy to recognize

dessert – n. sweet food eaten after the main part of a meal

dish – n. the food served in a dish; food that is prepared in a particular way