The trader’s Tale
商贩的故事
It’s hard to keep up with Nigel Cropp as he races past suitcases,
pet supplies and piggy banks. He found a wife
in Yiwu market and now he’s looking for something else. Fidget spinners.
Nigel Cropp在拉杆箱，宠物和存钱罐等小商品中穿行，我实在是难以赶上。他娶了个义务当地老婆，现在又在寻找新的东西---指尖陀螺（fidget spinners）
“I buy them for 60 or 70 cents and sell them on for a fiver (£5).
At one point I heard they were retailing at $15 (£12).
The customers are really fighting for them. Ican sell 100,000 a day,
maybe 10 million by the end of the year.”
“我花60到70每分买进，出手可以卖到5美元。我听说零售价格曾一度涨到15美元。客户真得很拼啊。一天我能卖出100000个，年底或许可以达到一千万个。”
Thefidget spinner is this year’s must-have item for schoolchildren
in Europe andNorth America. And Nigel’s current obsession.
指尖陀螺是今年北美、欧洲学校儿童的必选装备，是Nigel的宠儿。
Nigeldoesn’t usually like shopping but he loves it here.
The biggest small goods market in the world is an assault on the senses
with the clattering of trolleys, the chattering of traders from every continent
and the sweet smell of pineapple from the hawker’s cart.
Nigel并不热衷于购物但喜欢这里的购物。这个全球最大的小商品市场对人感官是一场巨大的冲击：购物手推车来回碰撞，五湖四海的商贾不断商谈；贩子卡车里堆放的水果香气弥漫。
Heclaims he could navigate this market blindfold.
他说自己在这里闭着眼都知道往哪走。
“Thebuzz, the energy! You never know who you're going to meet
and what you're going to see. It's all about catching a wave,
and riding that wave as long aspossible.”
“”“这动静儿，这声势！你永远不知道下一秒会遇见谁，会看到什么。就是跟着人浪走，能走多久就是多久。”
Thewave was once slower. For hundreds of years, tea, silk
and ceramics were thestaples on the old Silk Road
– an ancient network of trade routes from China
to the Middle East and Europe. But in 2017,
there’s not much China doesn’t sell tothe world
and this market is on fast-forward.
“这波浪也曾慢过。”千百年来，茶叶，丝绸，瓷器是古丝绸之路的主要货物。这条路是古代中国通往中东和欧洲的商路之网。但2017年的中国向世界拿不出什么可以出售的东西，这个市场只是在快进。”
Nigel arrived here from the UK 12 years ago,
to teach English to factory managers.
Soon he realised his students had something to teach him,
and he started picking up some business skills.
Nigel十二年前从英国来到这里，给工厂老板培训英语。不久他发现学生有东西要教他，这样Nigel轻而易举地就学到了一些做生意的技巧。
When he met his wife in a market booth, where she was selling bags,
Yiwu became home.
他与妻子在商场卖包摊位上相识，后来就留在了义乌。
Nigelis speed-walking and talking but his eyes are
feverishly scanning side to side…catapults, sewing machines,
bicycle pumps and paint rollers. He can’t afford to miss
the next new trend or latest colour. It’s a binary world: grab or ignore.
Nigel走起路来健步如飞，讲起话来打机关枪一样，他的双眼疯狂地扫描着周围的一切：小弹弓，缝纫机，自行车气筒，油漆滚筒…他不能错过下一个新商品走向或是最新款颜色。这是一个二进制的世界：要么抢夺要么放过。
“Onlyseven days from design to delivery.
That’s the fastest product turnaround inthe world.
But there’s no loyalty. Contracts don’t work here!
You can turn up with a truck and find your shipment has gone.
Someone else came in with two cents more.”
“”从设计到交付，只有七天。世界上最快的商品运作。但这里并没有诚信可言，合约在这没用。你很可能带着货车过来，却发现货已发走。有人插进来，加价两分。”
An entire section of the market is filled with toy shops.
Nigel says no to the remote-controlled plastic bear careening
between our legs on a skateboard.
这个商场有一整块是玩具卖家专区。Nigel对在我们周围在滑板上跳动的遥控塑料玩具熊并不感冒。
“Avoid electricals. They won’t pass EU regulations.”
“电子产品不要考虑。通不过欧盟规定。”
And it’s another no to a soft bear with button eyes.
针织熊，眼睛塑料扣，这类也不考虑。
“Smallparts…might choke small children.”
“小物件，孩子会吞食。”
From toys to gift bags. Nigel is now haggling over fractions
of a cent on 7,000 matching sets of gift bags in different sizes.
从玩具看到礼物包裹。现在Nigel对7000套不同尺寸的礼物包裹
价格上的一点小零头还在讨价还价。
He stabs numbers into a calculator and passes it to the saleswoman.
他拿起计算器，按了数字，拿给老板娘看。
“No-one here gets more than a crumb of the cake. But it’s a very big cake.”
“没人能在这块市场蛋糕上分到哪怕很小一杯羹。但蛋糕却很大。”
The growth of this cake has made China a trading superpower.
蛋糕越做越大，中国也因此成为贸易超级大国。
Nigelsays the roads and rail lines planned for the new Silk Road
will mean even moreYiwu goods heading west.
But despite China’s promise that it will be a win-win scenario
for China its trading partners, he’s less optimistic about
goods travelling back into China.
Customs red tape still makes importing a nightmare,he says.
Nigel说新丝绸之路会有修建更多的公路和铁路线，这样意味着更多的义务商品会流向西方。但即便是中国对其商贸伙伴承诺这将会是一个双赢的局面，他也不看好商品会同样送往中国。海关作派仍是进口噩梦。
“The government can change the law any time,
so there's no real concrete law,” he adds
“”中国政府法律可以朝令夕改，所以何来真正具体法律之说呢。”
But Nigel is pragmatic. He’s a trader after all,
and it’s not his problem whether all win equally
on China’s new Silk Road.
Soon he’s back to hunting for the best fidget spinner.
但Nigel很务实。毕竟他是个商人。中国新丝绸之路倡导的平等共赢并不是他关心的问题。很快他就又投身去找寻品质最好的指尖陀螺了。
“When I sleep I dream of spinners. And then a customer phones
from the other side ofthe world, waking me up and begging for more.”
“我连睡觉都想着陀螺呢，梦见有人从世界的那边打电话给我，把我叫醒，求我再发货呢。”