Rocketing Prices Of Foods Elevate Company Profits 物價飆漲 企業荷包跟著賺滿滿


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讀紐時學英文
2022/12/09 第412期 訂閱/退訂看歷史報份
 
 
紐時周報精選 Rocketing Prices Of Foods Elevate Company Profits 物價飆漲 企業荷包跟著賺滿滿
Cheap Drones and Western Weapons Turn Tide 西方武器相助 烏克蘭在砲戰中扭轉戰局
紐時周報精選
 
Rocketing Prices Of Foods Elevate Company Profits 物價飆漲 企業荷包跟著賺滿滿
文/Isabella Simonetti、Julie Cr
譯/陳韋廷

物價飆漲 企業荷包跟著賺滿滿

A year ago, a bag of potato chips at the grocery store cost an average of $5.05. These days, that bag costs $6.05. A dozen eggs that could have been picked up for $1.83 now average $2.90. A 2-liter bottle of soda that cost $1.78 will now set you back $2.17.

一年以前,雜貨店內一袋洋芋片平均售價為5.05美元。如今一袋是6.05美元。一打雞蛋本可以用1.83美元買到,現在平均價格為2.9美元。一瓶售價1.78美元的2公升汽水,如今要價2.17美元。

Something else is also much higher: corporate profits.

其他東西也在走高,如企業獲利。

In mid-October, PepsiCo, whose prices for its drinks and chips were up 17% in the latest quarter from year-earlier levels, reported that its third-quarter profit grew more than 20%. Likewise, Coca-Cola reported profit up 14% from a year earlier, thanks in large part to price increases.

10月中旬,百事公司公布第3季獲利成長超過20%,該季飲料和洋芋片價格較一年前上漲17%。此外,可口可樂公布的獲利年增14%,主要歸因於價格上漲。

Restaurants keep getting more expensive, too. Chipotle Mexican Grill, which said prices by the end of the year would be nearly 15% higher than a year earlier, reported $257.1 million in profit in the latest quarter, up nearly 26% from a year earlier.

上館子用餐也愈來愈貴。年底時售價將比一年前上漲近15%的墨西哥燒烤快餐公司說,該公司上季獲利2億5710億美元,較一年前成長近26%。

For years, food companies and restaurants generally raised prices in small steps, worried that big increases would frighten consumers and send them looking for cheaper options. But over the past year, as wages increased and the cost of the raw ingredients used to make treats like cookies, chips, sodas and the materials to package them soared, food companies and restaurants started passing along those expenses to customers.

多年來,食品公司和餐館通常都是小幅漲價,擔心大幅漲價會嚇到消費者,使得他們尋找更便宜的選擇。但在過去一年,隨著工資調漲,以及製作餅乾、洋芋片、汽水等食品原料跟包裝材料的價格飆升,食品公司和餐廳開始將這些費用轉嫁給顧客。

But amid growing concerns that the economy could be headed for a recession, some food companies and restaurants are continuing to raise prices even if their own inflation-driven costs have been covered. Coca-Cola, PepsiCo and Chipotle did not respond to requests for comment.

但在人們日益擔心經濟可能走向衰退之際,一些食品公司和餐廳仍在繼續漲價,即便它們受通膨帶動的成本已得到彌補。可口可樂、百事可樂與墨西哥燒烤快餐等公司均未回覆記者的置評請求。

"The recent earnings calls have only reinforced the familiar and unwelcome theme that corporations did not need to raise their prices so high on struggling families," said Kyle Herrig, the president of Accountable.US, an advocacy organization. "The calls tell us corporations have used inflation, the pandemic and supply chain challenges as an excuse to exaggerate their own costs and then nickel and dime consumers."

倡議組織Accountable US總裁海瑞格說:「最近的財報電話會議只是強化了一個熟悉且不受歡迎的主題,也就是企業面對苦苦掙扎的家庭,沒必要把價格漲到這麼高。這些會議告訴我們,企業以通膨、疫情及供應鏈挑戰為藉口,誇大自身成本,然後一點一滴榨乾消費者。」

Over the past year, the price of food eaten at home has soared 13%, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, with some items spiking even higher. Cereals and bakery goods are up 16.2% from a year ago, closely followed by dairy, which has risen 15.9%.

根據美國勞工統計局數據,過去一年家用食品價格飆升13%,有些品項甚至漲更多。穀物和烘焙食品較一年前上漲16.2%,緊追在後的是漲幅15.9%的乳製品。

The cost of eating at restaurants has risen 8.5% over the same period.

同一時期,在餐廳用餐的價格漲了8.5%。

 

 
Cheap Drones and Western Weapons Turn Tide 西方武器相助 烏克蘭在砲戰中扭轉戰局
文/Andrew E. Kramer
譯/陳韋廷

西方武器相助 烏克蘭在砲戰中扭轉戰局

On the screen of a thermal imaging camera, the Russian armored personnel carrier disappeared in a silent puff of smoke.

紅外線熱影像儀的螢幕上,俄羅斯裝甲運兵車在一陣無聲的煙霧中消失。

"What a beautiful explosion," said 1st Lt. Serhiy, a Ukrainian drone pilot who watched as his weapon buzzed into a Russian-controlled village and picked off the armored vehicle, a blast that was audible seconds later at his position about 4 miles away.

烏克蘭無人機操作員謝爾蓋中尉說:「多麼美妙的爆炸。」他看著自己的武器飛進一個俄羅斯控制的村莊,瞄準擊中裝甲車。數秒鐘後,他所在的大约4英里外位置可聽到爆炸聲。

"We used to cheer, we used to shout, 'Hurray!' but we're used to it now," he said.

他說:「我們曾經歡呼,我們曾經大喊『萬歲!』,但我們現在已經習慣了。」

The war in Ukraine has been fought primarily through the air, with artillery, rockets, missiles and drones. And for months, Russia had the upper hand, able to lob munitions at Ukrainian cities, towns and military targets from positions well beyond the reach of Ukrainian weapons.

烏克蘭戰爭主要在空中作戰,使用的是火砲、火箭、飛彈和無人機。曾有幾個月俄羅斯占上風,能從烏克蘭武器射程外的位置向烏克蘭城鎮及軍事目標投擲彈藥。

But in recent months, the tide has turned along the front lines in southern Ukraine. With powerful Western weapons and deadly homemade drones, Ukraine has artillery superiority in the area, commanders and military analysts say.

但近幾個月來,烏克蘭南部前線形勢逆轉。指揮官和軍事分析家表示,有了西方強力武器和致命的自製無人機,烏克蘭在當地擁有火砲優勢。

Ukraine now has an edge in range and in precision-guided rockets and artillery shells, a class of weapons largely lacking in Russia's arsenal.

目前烏克蘭在射程、精準導引火箭與砲彈上擁有優勢,這類武器在俄羅斯武器庫中基本上是缺乏的。

The Russian military remains a formidable force, with cruise missiles, a sizable army and millions of rounds of artillery shells, albeit imprecise ones. It has just completed a mobilization effort that will add 300,000 troops to the battlefield, Russian commanders say, although many of those will be ill-trained and ill-equipped. And President Vladimir Putin has made clear his determination to win the war at almost any cost.

即便不精準,俄軍仍是支強大力量,擁有巡弋飛彈、規模可觀的軍隊和數百萬發砲彈。俄羅斯指揮官說,俄軍剛完成一項動員工作,將向戰場增兵30萬人,即便當中許多人缺乏訓練和裝備。俄羅斯總統普亭已表明不惜代價贏得這場戰爭的決心。

Still, there is no mistaking the shifting fortunes on the southern front.

然而,南方戰線的命運無疑正在改變。

Ukraine's growing advantage in artillery, a stark contrast to fighting throughout the country over the summer when Russia pummeled Ukrainian positions with mortar and artillery fire, has allowed slow if costly progress in the south toward the strategic port city of Kherson, the only provincial capital that Russia managed to occupy after invading in February.

烏克蘭在火砲方面的優勢日益增強,跟夏天全國各地的戰鬥形成鮮明對比。俄羅斯當時用迫擊砲和大砲猛轟烏克蘭陣地,使其在南部向戰略港市赫松取得緩慢而代價高昂的進展。赫松是俄羅斯2月入侵烏克蘭後,唯一成功占領的省級首府。

"We can reach them and they cannot reach us," said Maj. Oleksandr, the commander of an artillery battery on the Kherson front, who like others interviewed for this article gave only his first name for security reasons. "They don't have these weapons."

赫松前線一個砲兵連的指揮官亞歷山大少校說:「我們能打到他們,但他們打不到我們。他們沒有這些武器。」出於安全考量,他跟接受本文採訪的其他人一樣僅透露自己名字。

This firepower has tipped the balance in the south, raising expectations that a long-anticipated assault on Kherson is drawing near.

這種火力已經打破南部的平衡,讓人們預期,對赫松期待已久的攻擊即將到來。

 

 
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