又中又英｜Shuttered shops

A few weeks ago, I joined some friends for dinner in Tsim Sha Tsui. As I walked to the restaurant, I saw many shuttered shops. Most were next to one another. It surprised me because I hadn’t noticed this when I was in Hong Kong last year. My friends told me what I saw was nothing new. They said shuttered shops became common during and after Covid, but I just hadn’t paid attention. Shuttered shops are shops with closed doors because they have gone out of business.

Last week, I saw at least ten shuttered shops next to each other with their outer metal gates pulled down on King’s Road near Quarry Bay. They too had gone bust. If a business goes bust, it means it is forced to close because it has lost too much money. I now see shuttered shops everywhere because I have started to take notice. When I was last in Hong Kong, I also hadn’t paid attention to the large number of Hong Kong people going to Shenzhen every weekend for shopping and dining. I began noticing when media reports said over 1.7 million residents left Hong Kong during Easter, mostly for the mainland.

It is now clear as a bell to me why so many shops have gone bust. If something is clear as a bell, it means it is easily understood or easily heard. Businesses have gone bust due to a combination of Covid, landlords refusing to reduce rents, and residents preferring to spend money elsewhere because Hong Kong is too expensive. What is not clear as a bell to me is why the government has done so little to reverse this.

几个星期前，我去了尖沙咀和几个朋友吃晚饭。当我步行前往餐厅之时，见到许多倒闭了的店铺（shuttered shops），大部分都是彼此紧邻的。这令我颇感意外，因为我上年在香港的时候，并未留意到这个情况。朋友们告诉我，我所见的并不是甚么新鲜事儿。他们说，店铺在新冠疫情期间和之后关门大吉（shuttered shops）已成常态，只是我没有留心注意到。Shuttered shops是关了门的店铺，因为它们已经结业。

上星期，我在英皇道近鰂鱼涌那边，亦看到至少10间紧邻的关门结业店（shuttered shops）。它们也已经gone bust——若一门生意goes bust，意即它们蚀太多钱、破产了，被迫结业。一经开始注意，我现在见到的倒闭店铺（shuttered shops）可真比比皆是。我上次在香港的时候，也没有留意到每个周末有大批香港人去深圳购物和吃饭；直至有传媒报道，复活节期间有超过170万名居民离港，主要是往内地之后，我才开始留意得到。

为何有这么多的商铺破产倒闭（gone bust），事情现在已经再清楚不过，就如钟声般洪亮（clear as a bell）——若某事物是clear as a bell，意即它很清晰或很容易听得到。商店破产结业（gone bust），结合了新冠疫情、业主拒绝减租，以及居民因为香港物价太贵，情愿到别处消费等的一篮子因素。但我弄不清楚（clear as a bell）的是，政府为何做得那么少，去扭转这个状况。

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Michael Chugani褚简宁
中译：七刻