New York Food Vendors Learn to Twitter

紐約餐車攤販學會用推特

By Daniel Chen, David Lee

【新聞關鍵字】

1. vendor n. 攤販

2. twitter n. 推特 (微網誌; 一種免費的網路社群工具)

3. open for business ph. 開張

4. licensed adj. 得到正式許可的

5. tend to ph. 傾向

6. adjustment n. 調整

7. immediacy n. 即時性

As soon as Kim Ima, finds a parking spot for her Treats Truck in New York City, she tweets her approximately 3,000 Twitter followers to let them know she’s open for business.

金伊瑪在紐約市一找到了停放它黃柏餐車的地方，便開始利用推特，讓約3,000名推特訂戶知道她開始營業了。

[Kim Ima, Treats Truck Owner]:

“Twitter is amazing because you can tell people right away, ‘Got here 15 minutes early,’ then they know, hey the Treats Truck is there, or, you can communicate with people and you know that they’ve signed up to follow you."

[金伊瑪，黃柏餐車主]：

「推特真是棒極了，因為你可以立刻用它告訴大家，妳提早十五分鐘到了，所以大家就會知道黃柏餐車已經來了。或者，你也可以用它和顧客溝通，然後你會知道他們訂閱了妳的推特。」

There are about 3,000 licensed food vending trucks in New York City, according to the Street Vendor Project.

根據街頭攤販計畫的報告，紐約市大約有3000輛有執照的餐車攤販。

Most food trucks tend to stay at one location, but Ima’s Treats Truck is in a different spot every day.

大部份的餐車都傾向待在相同的一個地點，但是伊瑪的黃柏餐車每天都在不同地點出現。

One of the advantages of using Twitter is that Ima can let customers know about any last-minute adjustments.

使用推特的其中一個好處，是讓伊瑪可以在任何時刻，讓她的顧客知道她最新調整的狀況。

[Kim Ima, Treats Truck Owner]:

“It’s New York City, so, so, it’s always an adventure so it’s good to have a way to communicate with people."

[金伊瑪，黃柏餐車主]：

「這裡是紐約市，在這裡就像是在探險一樣。所以，有個方法可以和人們溝通，是很棒的一件事。」

Customers also appreciate the immediacy of the twittering vendors.

顧客對於攤販使用推特帶來的即時性，也感到很高興。

[Jason Haft, Food Truck Customer and Twitter User]:

“It’s good, so, I want to know where they’re at and if it’s going to be a long time."

[傑森海夫特，餐車顧客以及推特使用者]：

「這樣很棒，它可以讓我知道餐車現在在哪，以及估算我走過去要花多少時間。」

【新聞關鍵字】

1. rickshaw n. 人力車; 黃包車

2. dumpling n. 餃子

3. keep in touch with ph. 與…保持聯繫

4. super-duper adj. 超級; 極度

5. estimate v. 評價

[EJ Cory, Food Truck Customer and Twitter User]:

“Especially for someone like Kim with St. Patrick’s day Parade on Wednesday, she wasn’t sure if she was going to park here. So with Twitter she was able to provide location updates and we knew where to find her."

[EJ柯瑞，餐車顧客以及推特使用者]：

「特別是像金伊瑪這樣的，如果遇到禮拜三聖派翠克遊行，她不曉得她是否能夠在這裡設攤。所以，使用推特她就可以向大家更新她的位置訊息，我們也可以知道要去哪裡才找的到她。」

[Madeline Caulfield, Food Truck Customer and Twitter User]:

“It’s instant you know, they can tweet exactly where they are exactly when they’re there and then I can go on my phone or whatever and I can check and make sure that they’re where I expect them to be."

[瑪德琳，餐車顧客以及推特使用者]：

「你知道的，它很即時，當他們到了那裡，他們可以很精確地推特他們的具體位置，然後我可以繼續講我的電話或做其它事情，然後再回頭來確認他們是不是在我預期中他們會出現的地方。」

Kenny Lao parks his Rickshaw Dumpling truck next to the Treats Truck most Friday’s. He has been tweeting since his truck first hit the streets for business and says Twitter is an ideal tool to keep in touch with his 5,000 followers.

廖肯尼在大部份禮拜五時，會把它的人力餃子餐車停在黃柏餐車旁邊。他從上街推餐車做生意開始，就開始用推特了。推特是一個讓他和他的五千名推特訂閱者保持聯絡的理想工具。

[Kenny Lao, Co-owner, Rickshaw Dumpling Truck]:

“People really depend on us to be at certain locations on every day of the week and they get super-duper excited for dumpling day and this is the best way for us to tell them, ‘Hey, we’re caught in traffic, we’re on our way up,’ or ‘Hey we’re parked, get ready,’ or ‘Here’s the special for the day.'"

[廖肯尼，合夥人，人力餃子餐車]：

「人們真的很需要我們每一週的每一天，出現在特定的位置。而且他們每到我賣餃子的日子就會變的超級興奮。所以推特成為了我們與他們對話的最佳管道：『嘿，我們在路上了，但被交通卡住了』，『我們停好車了，準備開始賣嘍！』，或是『這是今天的特別餐點！』。」

It is estimated that food vendors have been a feature of New York City’s streets since the end of the 17th century.

據推估，自17世紀末以來，小吃攤就一直是紐約市街頭的一項特色。

本新聞影音出處：新唐人電視台英語新聞：http://english.ntdtv.com/ntdtv_en/ns_na/2010-03-20/414980947332.html