VOA常速英语:仅有一个人的巧克力工厂的成功

So once the beans are cracked in the winnower, the nibs, which is the meat of the bean, goes into the grinder.Two big stone reels in it.And it just spins round and round and grinds the nibs into liquid called coco liquor.To that I add sugar, that is all of my chocolate is.Just coco beans and sugar, that’s what’s in here right now."
“一旦豆子在这个风车里被挤碎之后，和谐豆，豆子里面的仁就会进入研磨机。两块大石头在里面旋转。它一圈又一圈地旋转，将和谐豆磨成叫做和谐溶液的液体状态。然后我再往里面加糖。这就是我的巧克力的所有材料，只有和谐豆和糖，这里面也只有这些东西。”

That ingredient may be simple, but making a good craft chocolate is anything but.
配料可能很简单，但是做出好的手工巧克力却远不止这么简单。

What you’re eating is the result of the chocolate maker’s creative choices.How they process that could be how they roast it, how they grind it, how they conche,how they do all of these myriad things that go into the flavor of the chocolate.So my chocolate is a direct expression of my taste in my creative process,which is distinct from other people’s, even if we use similar equipment."
“你们吃到的就是巧克力制作者的创意性选择的结果。他们怎样操作，也就是他们怎样烘焙和谐豆，怎样将它磨碎，怎样搅拌，他们怎样做这些不同的工作都会反映在巧克力的味道上。因此，我的巧克力就是我的创意性口味的直接表达，跟其他人的不同，即使我们使用相同的设备。”

For Ben Rasmussen, his chocolate love started about eight years ago when he tasted a sample of gourmet dark chocolate.He said he fell in love with it instantly and he started learning to make it by himself.
对于本.拉斯马森来说，他对巧克力的热爱始于八年前他尝了一块美味的黑巧克力样品。他说他立刻就爱上了巧克力，并开始学习自己制作。

I learned how to make it just through the internet and through trial and error and kind of teaching myself on reading old books, study and just doing it,got some used equipment and started messing around with it, fell in love with the process,and that’s basically how it started."
“我在网上、在反复试验中学习如何制作巧克力；通过读一些老旧的书籍来学习，并教自己制作；买来一些二手的设备，开始胡乱制作；我爱上了这个制作过程，基本上这就是我如何开始制作巧克力的。”

In very short order, his company, Potomac Chocolate, was born.The bar from that first batch of chocolate he made in his kitchen was a finalist in that year’s Good Food Awards,which is based out of San Francisco.
很快，他的公司——波托马克巧克力诞生了。他在他的厨房里制作的第一批巧克力棒成为了那一年的美食奖的大奖获得者，此奖项是基于旧金山范围之外的。

That bar also won an Academy of Chocolate Awards in 2011.I won a couple of Academy of Chocolate Awards and a few International Chocolate Awards for four different bars."
“那条巧克力棒赢得了2011年的巧克力学院奖。因为四条不同的巧克力棒，我赢得了几个巧克力学院奖和一些国际巧克力奖。”

Winning those awards led to a high demand for his chocolate,and soon he moved his production out of his kitchen and to his basement, where he makes the chocolates now.Rasmussen also has built most of his own equipment by himself.But chocolate-making is not his full-time job.
赢得这些奖项给他的巧克力带来了高需求量，很快，他将制作从厨房搬到了地下室，他现在就在那里制作巧克力。拉斯马森的大部分设备也都是由他自己建造的。但是制作巧克力并不是他的全职工作。

I’m a Linux system administrator, a computer nerd, and keeps me busy.So finding out how to balance the work at my day job and chocolate is a real struggling,especially considering the fact that I’ve got a family, four kids; So I am a busy guy."
“我是一个Linux的系统管理员，一个电脑迷，我很忙。因此真正的难题是如何找到我每日的工作和巧克力之间的平衡，尤其是考虑到我有一个家庭，有四个孩子。因此，我是一个大忙人。”

The busy guy makes about 140 kilos of chocolate every couple of weeks,and sells them online and in high-end gourmet specialty stores.
这个大忙人每几个星期大概制作140千克巧克力，在网上和一些高端的美食专卖店销售。

The craft chocolate market is really exploding, and I make all of the chocolate myself.So it’s a very small company, but it continues to grow.Every year has been better than the year before, last year was the best by far.”
“手工巧克力市场正在迅速发展。我一个人制作所有的巧克力。所以这是一个非常小的公司，但是它还在不断的发展。每一年都比上一年更好。到目前为止，去年是最好的。”

Rasmussen says he constantly strives to be better today than he was yesterday, and to make the best chocolate he can.
拉斯马森说他在不断地努力使今天比昨天变得更好，并且做出他所能做出的最好的巧克力。

For producer June Soh, I’m Carol Pearson, VOA news, Washington.
为制片人琼.素，VOA新闻，卡罗尔.皮尔森于华盛顿为您播报。