中国火锅店的大多数食材都相对便宜。顾客们把生肉片和蔬菜放到一大盆沸腾的肉汤中，直到食材煮熟了浮起来。
At hotpot restaurants in China, most of the ingredients are relatively inexpensive. Customers dip pieces of raw meat and vegetables into a big vat of simmering broth until everything cooks and bubbles to the surface.
然而，对中国一家连锁餐馆来说，顾客在其门店之一发现的一种材料--老鼠--已被证明代价极高。
For one Chinese restaurant chain, however, an item found by a customer at one of its outlets has proved to be particularly costly: a rat.
一段从火锅汤中夹出老鼠的视频令国人震惊，也让一家受欢迎的连锁店的股票价格大跌。在视频中，一只已经煮熟呈胶状的老鼠四肢狰狞地伸展着。
A video of a small, dead rat -- boiled, gelatinous and with its stunned arms outstretched -- fished out of a vat of bubbling broth has shocked China, and sent shares of a popular restaurant chain plummeting.
这只老鼠是一名顾客在山东潍坊一家呷哺呷哺连锁店里发现的。当地一家报纸对此事进行了报道，那名顾客用筷子夹出老鼠的视频，整个周末都在中国社交媒体上疯传。
The rat was found at a branch of the chain, Xiabu Xiabu, in Weifang, a city in the eastern province of Shandong. A local newspaper reported the incident and video footage of the customer picking the rat out with chopsticks circulated on Chinese social media all weekend.
截至上周二收盘，该连锁店的母公司呷哺呷哺餐饮管理的股价下跌了近12.5%，并一度跌至近一年来的最低点。
By the close of trading last Tuesday, shares in the chain's parent company, Xiabuxiabu Catering Management, had fallen almost 12.5 percent, at one point dropping to their lowest in nearly a year.
这只老鼠的发现，让这家在香港上市公司的市值总共蒸发了约1.9亿美元。
In all, the discovery of the rat had knocked about $190 million off the market value of the business, which is publicly traded in Hong Kong.
发现老鼠之时，火锅在中国正在经历一个风光的时期。传统上，火锅只是冬天时家人一起吃的东西，如今却受到全国人民的喜爱，销售火锅的连锁店越来越受欢迎。
The rat appeared when hotpot has been enjoying something of a moment in China. Traditionally eaten as a family meal in winter, hotpot is a national favorite, and chains selling it are growing in popularity.
呷哺呷哺及其竞争对手海底捞都报出了大幅增长的销售额和不断扩大的门店网。
Xiabu Xiabu and one of its rivals, Haidilao, have reported surging sales and an expanding network of restaurants.
火锅的吃法类似于瑞士奶酪锅，顾客们围坐在桌子旁，桌子中间摆着一大盆沸腾的肉汤，肉汤给放进去的食材增添味道，有时，汤可以浓到不透明的程度。
The cuisine's setup is similar to fondue, with customers sitting round a table centered on a large vat of simmering broth, which adds flavor to the toppings, and can be concentrated to the point of being opaque.
老鼠就是在这种情况下，从滚烫的肉汤里捞出来的。
It was under such circumstances that the rat was dredged from swirling, red-hot broth.
呷哺呷哺最初在上周六晚发布的一份声明中表示：“初步排除因菜品出餐操作不规范或餐厅污染造成老鼠进入的可能”，但这份声明后来被删除了。
Xiabu Xiabu initially released a statement last Saturday night saying that it had "ruled out the possibility that an unhygienic environment has caused the rat to appear," but that statement was later deleted.
公司代表凯瑟琳·高后来说，该连锁店正在配合当局进行调查。
A company representative, Catherine Gao, later said that the chain was cooperating with the authorities.
她在一封电子邮件中写道：“我们成立了专项调查组，对此次事件进行深入了解，也会藉由第三方权威机构，协助我们厘清真相。”
"We have set up a task force to carry out an in-depth investigation into this incident, and will also invite third-party authorities to help us clarify the truth," she wrote in an email.