(本文選自《經濟學人》20191123期)
背景介紹：
我們都知道，咖啡中富含咖啡因，有著提神醒腦的作用。喝上一杯咖啡可以讓我們在接下來的學習、工作中有更高的效率，因此咖啡也越來越成為人們生活中的必需品了。而地處阿爾卑斯山脈的中歐國家瑞士更是一個嗜咖啡如命的國家。
Defending Switzerland’s coffee stockpile
捍衛瑞士的咖啡儲備
If disaster strikes, the Swiss want to be caffeinated
當災難來襲時，瑞士人需要咖啡因
To defend their independence the Swiss have mountains, conscription and a fierce sense of self-reliance. They also have a vast stockpile of food, medicine, animal feed and cooking oil, which they have maintained since the 1920s. This makes sieges easier to withstand, but costs a fortune.
瑞士人靠著山脈、兵役制度和強烈的自力更生精神捍衛著國家的主權獨立。自上世紀20年代以來，瑞士一直保持著大量的食品、藥品、動物飼料和食用油儲備。這使得瑞士更容易抵禦敵人的圍攻，但這同時代價不菲。
So in April the Federal Office for National Economic Supply announced a plan to trim it a little. In future, it suggested, it would no longer pay for a huge emergency supply of coffee. This wonderful drink, it claimed, is not 「vital for life」.
因此，今年4月，瑞士聯邦國家經濟供應辦公室宣布了一項略微削減開支的計劃。它表示，今後將廢除緊急物資儲備中的咖啡儲備。理由則是，這種美味的飲品並不是「攸關生死的」。
The Alpine nation’s coffee-lovers and sellers choked on their macchiatos. Switzerland’s 8.5m residents sip around 9kg (20lb) of coffee per person annually, twice as much as Americans, according to the International Coffee Organisation.
這個地處阿爾卑斯山脈的國家的咖啡愛好者和售賣者可以說對咖啡是愛到窒息了。據國際咖啡組織的數據顯示，瑞士850萬居民每年人均喝掉大約9公斤(約合20磅)的咖啡，是美國人的兩倍。
A Swiss breakfast without coffee would be like a Swiss army knife without a tool for removing stones from horses』 hooves. A poll on Twitter (paid for by Migros, a supermarket chain, which owns Delica, a coffee brand), found that two-thirds of respondents could barely imagine a life without coffee.
一份沒有咖啡的瑞士早餐就像是一把沒有去除馬蹄上石子功能的瑞士軍刀。推特上的一項民意調查顯示，三分之二的受訪者表示無法想像沒有咖啡的生活。
The federal office took note of the outrage and postponed a decision about the plan’s implementation until next year. It may abandon it altogether.
聯邦國家經濟供應辦公室注意到了民眾的憤怒，並決定推遲至明年再考慮該計劃的實施。而最終或許都不會實施了。
The 15 big Swiss coffee retailers, roasters and importers, such as Nestlé, are required by law to store heaps of raw coffee. Together, these mandated coffee reserves amount to about 15,000 tonnes—enough for three months』 consumption.
根據法律規定，瑞士15家大型咖啡零售商、烘焙商和進口商（例如雀巢）必須儲備大量的咖啡生豆。這些法定的咖啡儲備加起來大約有1.5萬噸，足夠維持瑞士全國三個月的消耗量。
The government finances the storage costs through a levy on imports of coffee. All 15 companies are in favour of maintaining the coffee reserve—as long as they are paid for it.
政府通過對進口咖啡徵稅來負擔咖啡儲備的成本。只要政府肯付錢，所有這15家公司都贊成維持咖啡儲備。
IG Kaffee, a lobby group, asks why the government wants to scrap a stockpile that has served Switzerland so well. Shortages are possible, it warns. Low water levels of the river Rhine last year, for instance, led to bottlenecks in the coffee supply chain.
遊說團體 IG Kaffee 質問政府為何要廢除對瑞士來說非常重要的咖啡儲備。它警告稱，咖啡短缺狀況是有可能出現的。例如，去年萊茵河水位過低就導致了咖啡供應鏈的短缺。
A longer interruption would have 「devastating」 consequences for the industry. Moreover, coffee has health benefits, especially in moments of stress, claims IG Kaffee. Quite so. Food shortages, were they to happen, would surely be stressful.
而更長時間的斷供將對咖啡行業造成「毀滅性的」打擊。此外，IG Kaffee 還表示，咖啡有益於健康，尤其能夠幫助人們緩解壓力。確實如此。如果咖啡短缺的狀況真的發生了，人們肯定會倍感壓力。
重難點詞彙：
stockpile [ˈstɑːkpaɪl] n. 庫存；積蓄 vt. 貯存；儲蓄 vi. 積累；儲備物資
conscription [kənˈskrɪpʃn] n. 徵兵；徵兵制度；徵用
maintain [meɪnˈteɪn] vt. 維持；繼續；維修；主張；供養
siege [siːdʒ] n. 圍攻；包圍；圍城；不斷襲擊；長期努力 vt. 圍攻；包圍
implementation [ˌɪmplɪmenˈteɪʃn] n. 實現；履行；安裝啟用
mandate [ˈmændeɪt] n. 授權；命令，指令；委託管理 vt. 授權；託管
interruption [ˌɪntəˈrʌpʃn] n. 中斷；干擾；中斷之事
devastate [ˈdevəsteɪt] vt. 毀滅；毀壞