火车上，医院里，宿舍里，我们在许多地方都能看到有人在吃方便面。方便美味是我们选择方便面的主要原因。但是，随着生活水平的提高，方便面在中国的销量开始下滑。这其中又能反映出中国社会怎样的变化呢？
方便面：请再吃我一口
By Simon Atkinson
译者：倪凌晖
校对：刘 璠
策划：倪凌晖
Why are China instant noodle sales going off the boil?
为什么中国方便面销量不复当年？
本文选自 BBC | 取经号原创翻译
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Easy to make and cheap to buy, instant noodles have long been China's ultimate convenience food.
长久以来，方便面一直都是中国人民最为喜爱的方便食品。它价格便宜，且一泡即食。
Be it a snack for students, a meal on the train, or just the go-to choice for hungry workers, more than 46.2 billion packets were sold in China and Hong Kong in 2013. But by 2016 those sales had tumbled to 38.5 billion packets, according to the World Instant Noodle Association. And let's face it, they would know. That's a drop of almost 17%.
无论是学生，火车上的旅客，还是饥肠辘辘的工人都会选择吃方便面。世界方便面协会的数据显示，2013年，中国和香港地区的方便面销量高达4620亿包。但是，到了2016年，这一数字便跌至了3850亿包，下降了近17%。
Given most other instant noodle markets have remained fairly steady over the past few years (with the notable exception of India where the recall of Maggi noodles led to a sharp drop in 2015) - it is an unusual pattern.
中国方便销量大幅下滑是不寻常的，因为在过去几年，世界其他方便面市场一直很稳定（除了印度在2015年召回马吉面条而导致方便面销量锐减）。
So what's going on? Well here are some theories - which suggest instant noodles could be, in many ways, a great indicator of how China is changing.
究竟发生了什么？下面列出了几种观点来解释这一现象。它们都表明，方便面从许多方面反映了中国社会是如何变化的。
Aspiration: Customers want better food
高期望：人们想要更好的食物
The recipe for instant noodles is fairly straight forward: Just add boiling water, a sachet of sauce, and some small packets of dehydrated vegetables and meat. As appetising as that sounds, one factor in the slump could well be that some Chinese consumers are upping their expectations in the dining department.
方便面的烹饪方法相当简单：只要浇上开水，淋上酱料，撒上脱水的蔬菜和肉，你就能得到一碗香喷喷的方便面。尽管这听上去很诱人，但导致方便面销量下降的一个因素就是：人们对食物的期望越来越高。
"The decline of instant noodle sales shows a shift in China's consumption patterns," said Zhao Ping of the Academy of China Council for the Promotion of International Trade," he told the China Daily. "Consumers are more interested in life quality than just filling their bellies these days."
中国国际促进贸易委员会的赵平（音译）在接受中国日报时说：“方便面销量的下滑反映了中国人消费模式的变化。如今，中国的消费者更加注重生活品质，而不只是填饱肚子。”
Population shift: Rural workers are going home
人口变化：越来越多的农民工回乡生活
One of the big consumers of instant noodles - the theory goes - are migrant workers. And when you think about it, it makes sense. They are away from home, often living in
cramped
conditions with limited cooking facilities, and keen to save as much money as they can to send back to their families.
有理论认为：在中国，农民工是方便面的主要消费群体之一。这是有道理的。农民工们外出打工，常常住在烹调设备有限的
狭小
空间中。他们节衣缩食，想多给家里寄些钱。
cramped
/kræmpt/ adj. a cramped room, etc. does not have enough space for the people in it 狭窄的；狭小的
Until 2014 the number of rural Chinese who had moved to cities had been on the rise. But that trend has now reversed for two consecutive years (and is expected to keep doing so when the 2017 data comes out). Last year 1.7 million fewer migrant workers lived in cities than in 2015, which quite plausibly could be
eating into
noodle sales.
一直到2014年，中国进城农民工人数还是一直在上升的。但是，就在最近两年，农民工进城数量开始下滑。预计2017年的数据任然会保持这一下行趋势。2016年，中国进城的农民工人数就比2015年减少了170万人，
影响了
方便面的销量。
eat into
[PHRASAL VERB 短语动词] 消耗，耗费时间或资源；If something eats into your time or your resources, it uses them, when they should be used for other things. [V P n]
Travel: Infrastructure improving, habits changing
旅途：交通设施的改善以及习惯的变化
Travelling in China 20 years ago, I filled my stomach (and time) by eating pot after pot of instant noodles during cross-country train journeys, which sometimes lasted three days or more. More than once, the combination of a carriage jolting and general clumsiness sent splashes of the hot spicy noodle liquid into my eye. Which hurt.
20年前，我坐在火车上，横跨整个中国，有时一趟旅程要跑上三天或更久。那时，我就是用泡面来填饱肚子，顺便消磨时间的。不止一次，由于车厢剧烈晃动，而我又笨手笨脚的，方便面辛辣的热汤便直接溅到了眼睛里，那可真疼。
But Chinese trains and stations have improved. Journeys are quicker, and the range of food options are far more international - meaning noodle sales on the railways have fallen.
但如今，中国火车和车站的条件都得到了改善。火车提速，火车食品的种类也更加国际化，火车上方便面的销量因此下滑。
And then there is the boom in aviation as middle class Chinese people spend billions flying on domestic and international holidays instead of using trains. Almost 500 million domestic and international journeys were taken in 2016, according to the Civil Aviation Administration of China.
此外，中国航空业正在经历爆炸式的发展。这是因为中国的中产阶级们为中国航空业贡献了数十亿的机票钱。无论是在国内还是国外度假，他们都会选择乘坐飞机出行，而不是火车。根据中国民用航空局提供的数据，2016年，中国国内和国外的累计航班数约为五亿次。
But given a third of all domestic flights were delayed last year (according to industry body IATA), that is a lot of passengers waiting around, so maybe airports could be a good place to boost noodle sales.
但是，据国际航空运输协会透露，这五亿次航班中的三分之一都发生了延误，导致大量乘客滞留在机场。或许机场可以成为一个提升方便面销量的好地方。
Smartphones and the internet: There's another form of 'quick food'
智能手机和互联网：另一种形式的“快餐”
About 730 million people in China now have access to the internet according to government figures. And about 95% of those are using smartphones to connect.
根据中国政府的数据，如今，全中国有7.3亿的网民。其中95%的网民使用智能手机上网。
And apps that offer food delivery to your home, office or wherever you happen to be are a real boom industry. Their menus are undoubtedly more expensive than a pot of instant noodles. But these meals can still be inexpensive. And arguably more tasty.
而且，在中国，无论你身在何处，在家里或在办公室，你都可以通过手机软件订餐。这是一个相当繁荣的行业。手机叫餐肯定要比一碗泡面贵。但是，价格相当实惠，而且比方便面好吃多了。
Optimism
乐观的展望
But put in the global context China is still easily the biggest market for instant noodles as this chart shows:
但从全球来看，中国仍然是最大的方便面市场。从下图我们便能看出这点：
Almost three times as many packets were sold in 2016 than in the nearest rival Indonesia. In fact China's total was roughly the equivalent of Indonesia, Japan, Vietnam, India, the US, South Korea and the Philippines combined. And that means global noodle manufacturers are unlikely to turn away from the Chinese market. Japan's instant noodle business Nissin Foods, for example, is planning
a stock market flotation
