A grocery store owner in Japan recently paid 1.1 million yen¹ ($11,000) for a bunch of grapes of the Ruby² Roman variety. He now plans to put them on display in his store and then give them to customers as taste samples.

一杂货店老板在日本最近斥资110万日圆（合11000美元）购买了品种叫做罗马红宝石的一串葡萄。他现在计划把它们陈列在他的店里，然后给客户作为样品来品尝。

Special fruits are a status symbol in Japan, sort of like rare wines in the Western world. It’s also customary to give high-quality fruits for formal occasions like weddings, business meetings or hospital visits and there are specialized³ fruit shops that sell only the rarest, most perfect products, grown in special conditions to ensure they look and taste as good as possible.

特殊的水果在日本是一种身份的象征，就像西方世界里稀有的葡萄酒一样。按照惯例，在正式场合如婚礼、商务会议或医院探访的时候也会赠送高质量的水果，也有专门的水果商店只出售最稀有，最完美的产品，这些产品生长在特殊条件下以确保他们的外观和味道都是最好的。

The 30 grapes bought by Takamaru Konishi were the first of the Ruby Roman variety harvested this season. They were the size of ping pong balls, and the buyer himself called them “truly Ruby Roman gems⁴”.

小西幸丸购买的这30颗葡萄是罗马红宝石品种当季收货的第一批。有乒乓球大小，买者自称其为“真正的罗马红宝石”。

To be worthy⁵ of the Ruby Roman label, grapes must weight at least 20 grams and have a sugar content of at least 18%. They were introduced to the Japanese fruit auction⁶ market in 2008 and their price has been soaring ever since.

为了称得上是罗马红宝石这个名字，每颗葡萄的重量至少为20克，含糖量最低18%。2008年的时候被引入日本水果拍卖行，而且价格也是一路飙升。