(本文选自《经济学人》20210213期)
背景介绍：
去年爆发的新冠肺炎疫情给全球经济造成了巨大的冲击，可以说，几乎各行各业都受到了不同程度的打击，但宠物行业似乎成为了一个例外。尤其是在疫情最为严重的欧洲，宠物成为了人们生活中唯一的慰藉。但在未来的某一天，当我们最终战胜疫情时，那些曾经给予人们陪伴的动物会被它们的主人抛弃吗？
Shelters fear an influx of no-longer-wanted lockdown pets
动物收容所担心会迎来大批在封锁期间陪伴人们但如今被抛弃的宠物
Dogs have made the pandemic more bearable. But what happens when it ends?
狗狗们在疫情期间给人们带来了陪伴，但疫情结束后，它们将何去何从？
Arthur Schopenhauer owned a succession of pet poodles. Franz Kafka maintained that “all knowledge, the totality of all questions and all answers is contained in the dog.” Frederick the Great exclaimed: “The more I see of men, the better I like my dog.”
亚瑟·叔本华曾养过好几只贵宾犬。弗朗兹·卡夫卡则坚信，“所有知识、所有问题和所有答案都能从狗身上得到解答。” 腓特烈大帝感叹：“见过的人越多，我就越喜欢我的狗。”
Pets have been deeply embedded in Germanic culture for centuries, but never more so than now. As people seek a cure for covid-induced solitude and angst, demand has surged for dogs, budgies, snakes and even cats.
几个世纪以来，宠物早已深深地融入日耳曼文化中，但从未达到如今的程度。由于渴望治愈因新冠肺炎疫情引起的孤独和焦虑，人们对狗、虎皮鹦鹉、蛇甚至猫的需求日益增长。
The German Kennel Club says dog sales increased by 20% in 2020. Prices for puppies sold on pets4homes, Britain’s largest online ad site for pets, more than doubled.
德国育犬协会表示，2020年，宠物狗的销量增长了20%。在英国最大的宠物广告网站 pets4homes 上，幼犬的价格上涨了一倍多。
A Yorkshire terrier pup can set you back £1,500 ($2,050), and some breeds cost twice that. Some dogs are no doubt enjoying the pandemic, since their owners are always home. Many are being
pampered
.
一只约克夏的价格高达1500英镑（约合2050美元），某些品种的价格还要翻一倍。毫无疑问，这场疫情让狗子们高兴坏了，因为它们的主人总是呆在家中。许多狗子得到了万般宠爱。
The share price of Chewy, an online pet-supplies store, rose by more than 260% in 2020 as owners
splurged
on posh toys and organic food. Zoo Zajac, a huge pet shop based in Duisburg, says January was probably the best month in its 45-year existence.
随着主人们为宠物疯狂购买高档玩具和有机食品，在线宠物用品商店 Chewy 的股价在2020年上涨超过260%。杜伊斯堡一家大型宠物店 Zoo Zajac 表示，今年1月创下其开业45年以来的单月最好业绩。
Soaring profits, alas, attract crooks. The unspeakable crime of “dognapping” is on the rise.
Pedigree
pooches are preferred. The German Animal Welfare Federation (DTB) registered 75 illegal trades between January and October last year, more than in all of 2019, involving more than 800 animals (mainly dogs). The true number is surely much higher.
不过，暴利之下也引来了坏人。难以用言语形容的“偷狗”案件的数量正在激增，尤其是纯种狗更容易被偷。在去年1月至10月期间，德国动物福利联合会（DTB）登记了75宗非法动物交易，比2019年全年的数量还要多，其中涉及动物800余只（其中主要是狗）。而实际数量肯定要多得多。
Many take place online and are hard to spot. Puppy farms are mass-producing dogs, often in poor conditions. Thomas Schröder of the DTB demands a ban on the online sale of animals. Other activists argue that the internet helps find good homes for many pets, though they advocate stricter regulation of online sales.
许多非法交易都是在网上进行的，因此很难被发现。大批量育狗的幼犬养殖场条件往往很差。德国动物福利联合会的托马斯·施罗德认为，应该禁止线上销售动物。一些活动人士则主张对宠物线上销售进行更严格的监管，他们认为线上途径有助于为宠物们找到一个好归宿。
When covid-19 eventually recedes, animal shelters expect another problem. Some new owners will tire of their lockdown pets and want to return them. Others will go back to work and find they have no time to look after them.
当我们最终战胜疫情时，动物收容所或将面临一个新的问题。一些新主人可能会对关在家中的宠物感到厌倦，并想将其送回去。还有些人在复工后发现自己没有时间继续照顾它们。
Europe’s biggest animal shelter, in Berlin, which is the size of 22 football pitches and houses some 1,300 animals, including apes and a pig called Tinkerbell, is bracing for a post-pandemic crush.
位于柏林的欧洲最大的动物收容所面积有22个足球场那么大，如今收养了近1300只动物（其中包括一些猴子和一只名叫小叮当的猪），如今，该收容所正在为后疫情时代流浪动物的激增做好准备。
(红色标注词为重难点词汇)
本文翻译：Vinnie
校核：Vinnie
编辑：Vinnie
随着疫情的日趋严重，各国纷纷采取了封锁措施以遏制疫情的蔓延，在这种情况下，宠物的陪伴给那些被迫呆在家中感到孤独和焦虑的人们带来了希望。但令动物保护主义者和动物收容机构担心的是，随着疫情的远去，是否会有大批宠物被人们所抛弃？
重难点词汇：
pamper
[ˈpæmpər] vt. 纵容；娇惯
splurge
[splɜːrdʒ] v. 挥霍；卖弄 n. 炫耀
