The intense use of antibiotics means that farmers no longer need to spend much time worrying about their chickens’ welfare. Before the second world war, most birds were raised on small plots. Farmers kept hens for eggs and sold their meat when they got too old to lay any more. But prophylactics have allowed farmers to pack chickens into conditions that would once have been considered unthinkably cramped and dirty. Birds raised in denser quarters do not move around much, and so require less to eat.
大量使用抗生素，这意味着农民不再需要花太多时间担心鸡的健康。二战前，大多数鸡饲养于小块土地。农民养鸡取蛋，当鸡老得不能再下蛋时就把肉卖掉。但是，预防措施使得农民可以把鸡塞进曾经无法想象的拥挤、肮脏的环境中。
Farmers have also benefited from the healthy reputation of chicken. In the 1980s doctors worried that by eating too much beef and pork people were ingesting lots of saturated fat, which was then thought to increase the risk of heart disease. Those fears have since waned, but new evidence suggests that red meat might increase people’s chances of getting colon cancer. In contrast, poultry’s image as a healthy meat survives unscathed.
农民还受益于鸡肉的健康声誉。20世纪80年代，医生担心食太多牛肉和猪肉会摄入大量的饱和脂肪，患心脏病风险加大。此类担忧渐消，但有新证据表明，红肉可能会增加人们患结肠癌的几率。相比之下，鸡肉作为健康肉类的形象却毫发无损。
It is not just fussy Western eaters who increasingly favour chicken. Rising incomes mean that demand for the meat is growing even faster in poorer countries. As a result, chickens are now the world’s most widely traded meat. In economic terms they are, in effect, the opposite of cars. They are produced whole. But their value is maximised once they are broken up.
不仅是挑剔的西方食客越来越喜欢鸡肉。收入增加意味着贫穷国家对肉类的需求增速更快。因此，鸡现在是世界上交易最广泛的肉类。从经济角度来说，它们实际上是汽车的对立面。从经济角度来说，它们实际上是汽车的对立面。生产时是完整的。一旦被拆分，价值就会最大化。
Though Westerners prefer lean, white meat; many in Asia and Africa prefer dark meat, which includes legs and thighs. These preferences are reflected in local prices: in America breasts are 88% more expensive than legs; in Indonesia they are 12% cheaper. Differences in the price of chicken feet are even starker. The thought of eating talons is abhorrent to many Westerners, but they often feature in Cantonese recipes. China now imports 300,000 tonnes of “phoenix claws” every year.
尽管西方人更喜欢瘦肉和白肉；但是亚非的许多人更喜欢深色肉类，包括小腿和大腿。这些偏好反映在当地的价格上：在美国，鸡胸肉比鸡腿贵88%；在印尼便宜12%。鸡爪的价格差异更加明显。很多西方人不喜欢吃鸡爪，但鸡爪经常出现在粤菜菜谱中。中国现在每年进口30万吨“凤爪”。
The fact that different countries specialise in different kinds of production also boosts trade. America and Brazil, the world’s two biggest chicken exporters, are agricultural powerhouses that grow huge amounts of feed, the main cost in poultry production. Thailand and China, in contrast, dominate the processed-meat market which requires cheap, skilled labour. Russia and Ukraine, once net importers of chicken, have become net exporters as their grain industries have grown.
不同国家专门从事不同种类的生产，这一事实也促进了贸易。美国和巴西是世界上最大的两个鸡肉出口国，两国都是农业大国，生产大量饲料，这是家禽生产的主要成本。相比之下，泰国和中国在加工肉类市场占据主导地位，而加工肉类市场需要廉价、熟练的劳动力。俄罗斯和乌克兰曾经是鸡肉的净进口国，但随着粮食工业的发展，已经成为了净出口国。
Producers that sell their meat abroad expose themselves to risks. Chicken has been a flashpoint in trade negotiations. China imposed tariffs on American birds in 2010 and then banned all imports in 2015, shortly after an outbreak of avian flu. Industry observers are pessimistic the ban will be lifted, much to the dismay of American farmers who would love to be paid more for the 20bn chicken feet they produce every year, which currently become animal feed.
出口鸡肉的生产商面临风险。鸡肉一直是贸易谈判的热点。2010年，中国对美国禽鸟征收关税，2015年，禽流感爆发后不久，中国禁止了一切进口。业内观察人士对取消禁令持悲观态度。这令美国农民大为沮丧。农民本希望自己每年生产的200亿鸡爪能获得更高的报酬，而这些鸡肉目前已成为动物饲料。
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