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One summer ago, before the region’s fish and chip industry was shaken by closures, before a death that was hard for people to bear, a lorry heaped with the first fresh potatoes of the season drove along the east coast of Scotland.
一年前的夏天，该地区的炸鱼薯条业尚未因关店而动摇，人们也尚未经历难以忍受的死亡，一辆满载着当季第一批新鲜土豆的卡车沿苏格兰东海岸行驶着。
This lorry wound its way along the East Neuk of Fife, dodging washing lines, mooring bollards and seagulls, parking with impunity to make deliveries.
这辆卡车沿着法伊夫的东纽克蜿蜒前行，卡车避开晾衣绳、系泊桩和海鸥，肆意地停车送货。
There was an understanding in the East Neuk that nobody would ever get angry and honk at the inbound “tattie” lorry, fish and chips being a staple meal, vital to the region’s economy.
东纽克的人们达成了一种共识：没有人会对入港的“土豆”卡车生气、按喇叭，炸鱼薯条是当地的主食，对该地区的经济至关重要。
Tourists come shocking distances to sit on old harbour walls and stab around in takeaway trays with wooden forks.
游客们不远万里来到这里，坐在古老的海港墙上，用木叉在外卖托盘里戳来戳去。
The fish and chips sold in the East Neuk might be the best in the British Isles and because of that (it follows) the best on the planet.
东纽克售卖的炸鱼薯条可能是不列颠群岛上最好的，正因为如此，这里的炸鱼薯条也是(仅次于)地球上最好的。
Even so, by July 2022, local friers were finding it harder and harder to balance their books.
即便如此，到2022年7月，当地炸鱼薯条商发现越来越难实现收支平衡。
The driver of the tattie lorry, a red-cheeked Scotsman named Richard Murray, carried keys for most of the businesses on his route, to save from waking any tired friers who’d been up late the night before, poring anxiously over their sums.
这辆土豆卡车的司机名叫理查德·默里，是一位脸颊红润的苏格兰人，他带着路上经过的大多数店铺的钥匙，以免敲门吵醒疲惫的油炸商贩，这些商贩会在前一晚熬大夜、仔细计算着营业额，焦虑不安。
War in Ukraine coupled with ongoing complications from Brexit had driven up prices of almost all the goods that fish and chip shops depended on, from live ingredients to oil and salt to packaging.
乌克兰战争，加上英国退欧带来的持续复杂局面，推高了油炸商贩所依赖的几乎所有商品的价格，从活的食材，到油、盐，再到包装。
More distressing was the problem of rising energy costs.
更令人苦恼的是能源价格上涨的问题。
This meal is prepared using a great guzzler of a range cooker that must be kept on and roiling at all hours of a trading day.
这道菜是用一个非常耗能源的炉灶准备的，这个炉灶必须在做生意时的所有时间里一直开着、油也必须一直翻腾着。
As the price of gas and electricity threatened to double, then triple, through 2022, friers were opening their energy bills with gritted teeth.
到2022年，天然气和电力的价格可能会翻一番，然后再翻两倍，油炸商贩正咬着牙打开他们的能源账单。
A trade association called the National Federation of Fish Friers said that as many as a third of the UK’s 10,500 shops might go dark, warning of a potential “extinction event”.
一个名为“全英炸鱼商联合会”的行业协会表示，英国10500家商店中，多达三分之一的商店可能会关门歇业，并警告称这可能是一场“灭绝事件”。
It was about 8am when Murray drove his tattie lorry into a village called Pittenweem.
大约早上8点，默里开着他那辆土豆卡车进入了一个叫皮滕威姆的村庄。
He was met on the road by Alec Wyse, a skilled frier, 59 years old and known as Eck, who ran a takeaway called the Pittenweem Fish Bar.
他在路上遇到了亚历克·威斯。威斯现年59岁，是一位手艺不错的油炸商贩。威斯的绰号是艾克，经营着一家名为“皮滕威姆鱼巴”的外卖店。
