Potato chips 馬鈴薯片

陳延洲

Potato chip lovers in New Zealand could be in for a big shock. New Zealand is facing a possible potato shortage in the next few months. This means there could be a lack of potato chips （crisps in British English） until next year. Newspapers are calling this situation the “chipocalypse”. They combined the words “chip” and “apocalypse1” to make this new word. A possible chipocalypse is because of a very wet winter in New Zealand. This has hit potato growers. In some areas， a third of the potato crop has been lost. The wet weather has particularly hit the potatoes that are used to make potato chips. This means makers will make fewer potato chips and prices for potato chips will be higher.

新西蘭的薯片愛好者可能會大為震驚。未來幾個月，新西蘭可能面臨馬鈴薯短缺的局面。這意味著薯片（在英國英語中叫作“炸馬鈴薯片”）在明年之前都會短缺。報紙稱這種情況為“薯片末日”。他們把“薯片”和“末日”兩個詞綜合起來，創造了這個新詞?？赡艹霈F薯片末日是因為新西蘭異常多雨的冬季，對馬鈴薯種植者造成了沖擊。在有些地區，馬鈴薯損失達三分之一。多雨的天氣尤其對用來制作薯片的那種馬鈴薯造成了重大損失。這意味著商家制作薯片的數量減少，薯片的價格會提高。

A spokesman for New Zealand potato farmers told the Radio Live NZ news station about the problem. Chris Claridge， head of Potatoes New Zealand， said： “It started raining in March， and it just simply hasnt stopped. Weve had the entire years worth of rainfall already， so the rainfall is 25 per cent above average and while that might not sound like a lot what it means is its continuous2， so the soils never get a chance to dry out.” He added， “Potatoes are actually alive. They need to breathe， and so effectively they drown， and then they start to rot because theyre submerged3 in water.” A major supermarket chain said： “We are working closely with our suppliers to manage supply as much as possible.”

新西蘭一名馬鈴薯種植者的發言人將這個問題反映給新西蘭無線直播新聞臺。新西蘭馬鈴薯聯盟負責人克里斯·克拉里奇表示：“從三月份開始就下雨，一直沒有停。現在的降雨量已經達到以前的全年降雨量了，今年的降雨比以前的平均降雨量多了25%，聽上去或許不是很多，但關鍵是降雨還在繼續，所以土壤很難干。”他補充說：“馬鈴薯是有生命的，它們需要呼吸，而現在實際上它們正在溺水，之后會開始腐爛，因為他們一直浸泡在水下。”一個大型連鎖超市表示：“我們正與供應商密切合作，盡可能解決供應問題。”

Notes：

1. apocalypse n. 啟示；天啟；大災難

2. continuous adj. 連續的，持續的；繼續的；連綿不斷的

3. submerge vt. 淹沒；把…浸入；沉浸