One summer ago, before the region's fish and chip industry was shaken by closures, before a death that was hard for people to bear, a lorry heaped with the first fresh potatoes of the season drove along the east coast of Scotland.

去年夏天之前，这个地区的炸鱼薯条产业尚未因大批店铺关闭而受到震荡，也尚未出现那场令人们无法释怀的死亡事件，一辆卡车满载着当季第一批新鲜土豆，沿苏格兰东海岸行驶着。

This lorry wound its way along the East Neuk of Fife, dodging washing lines, mooring bollards and seagulls, parking with impunity to make deliveries.

这辆卡车在法夫的东纽克蜿蜒前行，一路避开晾衣绳、系船柱和海鸥，送货时随便找个地方就停车，不用害怕罚款。

There was an understanding in the East Neuk that nobody would ever get angry and honk at the inbound "tattie" lorry, fish and chips being a staple meal, vital to the region's economy. Tourists come shocking distances to sit on old harbour walls and stab around in takeaway trays with wooden forks.

东纽克的人们都知道，没有人会对进入小镇的"土豆"卡车发火或按喇叭，因为炸鱼薯条是当地的主食，对该地区的经济至关重要。游客们不远万里来到这里，坐在古老的海港围墙上，用木叉在外卖盘子里戳炸鱼薯条吃。

The fish and chips sold in the East Neuk might be the best in the British Isles and because of that (it follows) the best on the planet. Even so, by July 2022, local friers were finding it harder and harder to balance their books.

东纽克卖的炸鱼薯条可能是不列颠群岛上最好吃的炸鱼薯条，因此也是地球上最好吃的炸鱼薯条。即便如此，到2022年7月，当地炸鱼薯条店主发现越来越难实现收支平衡。

The driver of the tattie lorry, a red-cheeked Scotsman named Richard Murray, carried keys for most of the businesses on his route, to save from waking any tired friers who'd been up late the night before, poring anxiously over their sums.

这辆土豆卡车的司机名叫理查德·默里，是一位脸颊红红的苏格兰人，他带着路上经过的大多数店铺的钥匙，以免敲门吵醒疲惫的店主，这些店主在前一晚都熬了夜，焦虑不安地仔细计算着账面金额。

War in Ukraine coupled with ongoing complications from Brexit had driven up prices of almost all the goods that fish and chip shops depended on, from live ingredients to oil and salt to packaging.

乌克兰战争，加上英国脱欧带来的持续复杂局面，推高了炸鱼薯条店所依赖的几乎所有商品的价格，从生鲜食材，到油、盐和包装盒。

More distressing was the problem of rising energy costs. This meal is prepared using a great guzzler of a range cooker that must be kept on and roiling at all hours of a trading day.

更令人苦恼的是能源价格上涨。做炸鱼薯条需要用到非常耗天然气的炉灶，在做生意时炉灶一整天都得开着，保持油锅翻滚。

As the price of gas and electricity threatened to double, then triple, through 2022, friers were opening their energy bills with gritted teeth.

2022年，由于天然气和电的价格可能会增加一倍甚至两倍，店主们拿到能源账单时都是咬着牙打开。

A trade association called the National Federation of Fish Friers said that as many as a third of the UK's 10,500 shops might go dark, warning of a potential "extinction event".

一个名为"全国炸鱼店主联合会"的行业协会表示，英国10 500家炸鱼店中，多达三分之一的商店可能会关门歇业，并警告称这可能是一场"灭绝事件"。

It was about 8 a.m. when Murray drove his tattie lorry into a village called Pittenweem. He was met on the road by Alec Wyse, a skilled frier, 59 years old and known as Eck, who ran a takeaway called the Pittenweem Fish Bar.

大约早上8点，默里开着他那辆土豆卡车进入了一个叫皮滕威姆的村庄。他在路上遇到了亚历克·威斯。威斯今年59岁，是一位手艺不错的炸鱼店主，绰号叫艾克，经营着一家名为"皮滕威姆炸鱼吧"的外卖店。