VOA常速英语:Washington DC Restaurant Faces Tough Adjustments in COVID Era

When we last visited Farewell in February,business for the retro chic vegan eatery was booming.
当我们二月份最后一次造访Farewell时，这家复古时尚的素食餐厅的生意正在蓬勃发展。
Theyre coming back every you know to eat all the time repeatedly,and without that main customer base, we wouldnt be here.
人们经常光顾我们餐厅，没有这个主要的客户基础，我们就不会发展到这一步。
So Im extremely grateful for the people who make our restaurant happen.
所以我非常感谢那些让我们的餐厅得以发展的人。
Owner Doran Peterson is a nutritional expert,passionate about introducing animal-free products to her menu.
店主多兰·彼得森是一位营养专家，她热衷于将不含动物制品的产品引入菜单。
Everything from plant-based hamburgers to vegan pastries.
从植物性汉堡到素食糕点应有尽有。
But then the lockdown order in Washington DC.
直到后来华盛顿特区发布了封锁令。
I guess it was March 16th, we started winding down just based on what was happening,pulling back operations, restricting seating,just kind of like minute by minute waiting to see what was happening.
我觉得那天是三月十六号，我们开始根据事态发展逐步缩小我们的规模，节省不必要行为，限制座位，每一分钟都在等待，看看到底发生了什么。
And we thought it was going to be two weeks.
我们以为这个过程只会持续两周。
Two months later, Peterson who owns two restaurants struggles to cope.
两个月后，拥有两家餐厅的彼得森举步维艰。
Yeah, I wouldnt call them profits right now.
我现在不会把它们叫做利润。
There are no profit.
根本没有利润。
She laid off a third of her staff, took out a second loan, and delayed her rent payments.
她解雇了三分之一的员工，申请了第二笔贷款，并推迟了房租的支付。
Takeout and online orders which used to be less than 15 percent of the business,now accounts for nearly all of it.
外卖和在线订单过去只占业务的不到百分之十五，现在几乎占据了全部。
We are generating daily gross sales enough so that we can pay for the ingredients,and pay for our current staff and keep them employed right now.
我们每天产生的总销售额足够我们支付原料的费用，支付我们现有员工的工资，并让他们不至于失业。
She wishes there was more guidance from the city and the federal government,on how to receive financial assistance.
她希望市政府和联邦政府能就如何获得财政援助提供更多指导。
As traumatic as the experience has been, Peterson says failure has never been an option.
尽管这段经历令人痛苦，但彼得森表示，失败从来都不是一种选择。
To be totally like honest and personal, failure for me means losing my house,it means 50 employees are out of work.
坦诚地说，对我来说，失败意味着失去我的房子，意味着我的五十名名员工全部失业。
Peterson says the business environment has changed forever.
彼得森说，商业环境已经发生了永久改变。
But she hopes changes caused by the pandemic will mean,a greater focus on the health and well-being of communities,on the workers who make businesses run, and less on the bottom line.
但她希望疫情带来的变化将意味着人们会更多地关注社区的健康和福祉，更多地关注让企业运营的工人，而非底线。
Mill Arsega VOA news Washington
美国之音记者Mill Arsega华盛顿报道