考研英語時文賞讀（69）：美味的皮蛋“不適合人類食用”？

　　摘要：考研英語作為一門考研公共課，雖然大家都學了英語十幾年，卻仍經(jīng)常有總分過線掛在英語上的情況，因此英語復習不單單是單詞、做題。閱讀作為考研英語的大頭，僅僅做考研真題或許沒法滿足你的閱讀量，因此幫幫之后會不定時推出一篇英文美文，這些文章都與考研英語閱讀同源，多讀必有好處。

　　Many of you would have probably seen century eggs. Some of you may even eat them on a daily basis. But what if this Chinese delicacy is actually unfit for human consumption?

　　可能許多人都見過松花蛋，可能你們還會經(jīng)常食用這種食物。但這種充滿了中國式優(yōu)雅精致的食物真的不適合人類食用嗎？

　　The Carabinieri of the Catania NAS have seized, in two distinct ethnic trade activities in the Catania area – 800 eggs of cooked ducks – partly of illicit origin and others due to lack of traceability.

　　意大利卡塔尼亞警方在該地區(qū)兩起民族貿(mào)易活動中查獲了800顆經(jīng)食品加工后的鴨蛋，理由是原產(chǎn)地不合法以及缺乏可追蹤性。

　　Among the eggs seized are so-called (century eggs) “of the hundred years”, a specialty of Chinese cuisine. They have been prohibited in Italy because they are imported in violation of specific EU directives.

　　這些被查獲的鴨蛋中包括“百年老蛋”（松花蛋），這是一種中國的特產(chǎn)食品。這種食品因不符合歐盟規(guī)定而被禁止進口。

　　The two subjects, of Chinese nationality, were reported to the Health Authority which, promptly intervened, judged the goods unfit for human consumption.

　　這兩種中國食品被送交衛(wèi)生機構(gòu)審查并很快被判定不適合人類食用。

　　South China Morning Post attributed the comment specifically to Italian Health Ministry. What are century eggs? If you haven’t seen or tried a century egg, it is a preserved duck egg that looks like this. Century eggs are made by wrapping duck eggs with salt, lime, and ash in rice husks for 100 days. Yes, it wasn’t preserved for a hundred years as its name suggests.

　　《南華早報》對意大利衛(wèi)生部的相關(guān)舉措進行了評論。什么是世紀老蛋？如果你還沒見過或吃過的話，下圖就是這種松花蛋的模樣：松花蛋的做法：用鹽、石灰和米糠灰把鴨蛋裹起來腌制一百天。它的英文名字叫百年老蛋，但實際上并不需要腌制一百年。

　　Understandably, people that haven’t seen this in their lives may have an adverse reaction to its appearance. In fact, century eggs were voted one of the most ‘revolting’ foods by CNN in 2011.

　　可以理解的是，沒見過這種食品的人可能并不喜歡它的外觀。而且 CNN 在2011年曾評選松花蛋為“最惡心的食物”。

　　Weibo users outraged

　　來自微博的憤怒

　　After the post was shared on Weibo, many Chinese were offended. The article blew up garnering comments against the move made by Italian Health Authorities. One netizen commented that if they didn’t want the eggs, they should have given to him.

　　該文經(jīng)微博分享后，許多中國人感覺受到了侮辱。這個話題激起了許多對意大利衛(wèi)生部相應(yīng)舉措的不滿評論。一位網(wǎng)友表示如果意大利人不想要這些鴨蛋的話，可以送給他嘛。

　　Another netizen pokes fun at the Italian health regulations saying that if it is unfit for human consumption, then those that eat it should be considered gods. One other netizen asks how can it be defined as unfit for human consumption when everyone has their own tastes regarding food.

　　另一位網(wǎng)友則嘲弄了意大利衛(wèi)生法規(guī)，稱如果松花蛋不適合人類食用的話，那么那些吃松花蛋的人就可以算是神仙了。而另一位網(wǎng)友的疑問是，既然每個人都有著自己的飲食口味，松花蛋怎么能判定為不適合人類食用呢。

　　Century egg is highly nutritious

　　松花蛋營養(yǎng)豐富

　　Before you starting angrily typing, the Italian authorities are just erring on the side of caution. Maybe they weren’t saying that the eggs naturally taste bad, but that they had gone bad.

　　在你開始怒氣沖沖的敲打鍵盤寫字之前，我們可以確定意大利政府的這個決定并不正確。他們可能并不是說這些鴨蛋嘗起來味道不好，但事實上確實存在問題。

　　Some companies were using toxic chemicals to speed up the production process in 2013. Therefore, they may believe that it is better to be safe than sorry.

　　2013年，一些公司使用有毒化學品來加快松花蛋的生產(chǎn)進程。因此意大利政府可能想的是以防萬一吧。

　　However, if a century egg is prepared properly, it has many health benefits over the normal egg. Some benefits include lowering blood pressure and having a higher protein content.

　　如果制作工藝正確的話，松花蛋相比普通鴨蛋更有利于健康，例如可以降血壓以及蛋白質(zhì)含量更高。

　　Singapore has many checks and balances on what is safe to consume and what isn’t. Since century eggs are not part of the unsafe list, fret not and eat away!

　　新加坡有著許多的消費安全指南和規(guī)定。既然松花蛋并沒有列在不安全名單里，那就放下疑慮，盡情享受美食吧！

　　(全文共436個詞：環(huán)球時報)

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