静默的咖啡师
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A barista and her silent café world
咖啡师钟旭明正在专注地工作。咖啡馆里小小的提示卡贴，可以让顾客更好地谅解听障人士。[中国网 张培坚 摄]
磨粉、焖蒸、萃取、拉花……一道道繁琐的工序后，飘着醇厚香味的咖啡被端到顾客面前。
The daily scene in the café, fresh and lovely, is a perfect delight to the eye. With a dazzling process of bean-grinding, powder-stewing, percolating and ripple-making, a beautiful, warm cup of coffee is presented to a customer with a pure and strong fragrance permeating the air.
这里是浙江纺织服装职业技术学院一处角落的公益咖啡馆，在这里工作的都是听障人士。除了偶尔杯盏碰撞的声响，这里平时很安静，大家习惯叫它“静默咖啡馆”。
There is a small charity-run café located at a corner of Zhejiang Fashion Institute of Technology in Ningbo, Zhejiang Province. Frequent visitors call it the "Mute Café" as all the baristas here are hearing-impaired people and the café is incredibly quiet and peaceful except for clinking cups.
一年前钟旭明来到这家咖啡馆工作，在这里资历不浅。又因为工作中呈现出“女汉子”的一面，大家都称钟旭明为“钟哥”，而她也颇为乐意接受这个江湖称号。
Zhong Xuming is one of the baristas. She has been working for a year and can make all kinds of fine coffees that enjoy high prestige among customers.
钟旭明5岁时因药物致聋，从此陷入无声世界。
She is a native of Ningbo. Born in 1978, she suffered drug-induced deafness at the age of five and has been living in a completely mute world ever since.
在家人的陪伴鼓励下，加上自己的顽强好学，2004年钟旭明以优异成绩从长春大学艺术设计专业毕业，并回到宁波开始平面设计师的生涯。长期的加班、熬夜，让她感觉身体被掏空。得知这家咖啡馆刚好需要人手，她决定换一种生活方式。在一位女师傅的指导下，再经过自己不停学习、琢磨，钟旭明逐渐掌握了其中的门道。
Zhong graduated in 2004 from the Changchun University in northeast China, majoring in art design. She returned to her hometown and worked as a graphic designer until 2016 when she enrolled in the campus café.
"I was eager to try a new way of life," she said. Under the guidance of a coffee master, and through perseverance and assiduous study, Zhong quickly grasped every step of coffee-making. Now, she is a professional barista as well as a staff trainer.
咖啡调制是一门学问，需要很多技巧，而钟旭明由于听不到声音，付出的努力和艰辛也是双份的。学做咖啡的过程中，打泡最为困难。常人通过倾听机器的声响，就能准确把握时间来调控奶泡的状态。钟旭明只能通过用双手触摸奶缸，通过感受奶泡振动的变化来掌握“火候”。
"Milk foam-making is the most difficult step in coffee-making," Zhong said. A normal barista can judge the right duration and degree of foam by listening to the sound of the machine; however, a deaf barista like her can only do it by feeling the vibration of the milk jar. This sets higher requirements for Zhong and her co-workers.
As the old Chinese saying goes, those who work hard will be rewarded. Zhong is now extraordinarily experienced and professional in making various kinds of fancy and snazzy latte foam patterns.
之后钟旭明又自学各种蛋糕的烘焙技艺，这让她非常有成就感。如今，店里另外两位同事，都是在她一手指导下成长起来的。
In addition, Zhang has learned skills in baking a variety of cakes, which gives her a strong sense of pride. And she likes to impart the skill to her colleagues and share the joy of success with them.
来这里消费的顾客，习惯了用纸和笔以及手势和咖啡师交流所需。来咖啡馆消费的学生，他们的服饰与妆容、青春与活力，让钟旭明寻找到更多的艺术创作灵感，同时将这种灵感融入到手工咖啡的调制中。
Most of the visitors to the café are young students. They have got used to communicating with the deaf baristas in sign language or through writing notes.
At the same time, the young students' tasteful dresses, make-up and temperament bring creative inspiration to Zhong, a major in art design who can quickly and skillfully put the fashionable elements into her coffee and cake-making.
不忙时，钟旭明就会拿起画笔，或在咖啡馆里绘制墙画，或在小石头上创作，这些都成了咖啡馆里独特的风景。
In her spare time, Zhong likes to paint on the walls of the café, or draw on small stones, which have become a uniquely remarkable landscape of the café.
钟旭明希望能早日开一家属于自己的咖啡馆，给更多的听障人士提供工作机会，用双手创造芬芳的生活。
Zhong said her dream is to have her own café in the near future. She hopes to create jobs for more hearing-impaired people so they can live an interesting and colorful life with her help.
（文/张培坚 英译/李京荣）
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