韋恩食記

Narrtor:
Listen to part of a lecture in a European History Class. 聽一段歐洲歷史課堂的演講。

Professor:
So would it surprise you to learn that many of the food that we eat today consider traditional European dishes that their key ingredients were not even known in Europe until quite recently, until the European started trading with the native people in North and South America? 如果你得知許多我們現在認為的歐洲傳統美食的主要食材並來自歐洲，而且是在歐洲人開始與北美及南美原住民做交易的時候才廣為人知的，會不會感到很驚訝呢？(語調轉折處注意聽)
I mean, you probably aware that the Americas provide Europe and Asia with foods like squash, beans, turkey, peanuts. 我要說的是，你們可能知道美國人為歐洲和亞洲提供了南瓜、豆類、火雞或花生等食物。
But what about all those Italian tomato sauces, Hungarian goulash or my favorite, French fries? Those yummy fried potatoes. 但是，所有那些意大利番茄醬，匈牙利燉牛肉或我最喜歡的炸薯條呢？ 那些美味的炸土豆。 (my favorite加上yummy frird potatoes可以推測出下面會繼續講potato，而且這幾道菜都提到歐洲國家)

Male Student:
Wait! I mean I knew potatoes were from where, South America? 等等！我知道土豆來自哪裡，南美洲是嗎？ (語氣停頓點，重複potato)

Professor:
South America. Right, the Andes Mountains. 南美洲，沒錯。安第斯山脈。 (上一句尾跟這一句頭重複，教授回答Right)

Male Student:
But you are saying tomatoes too? 但是你還提到了番茄？(tomato重複)
I just assume since they're used in so many Italian dishes. 我只是假設，因為它們被用於大多意大利菜餚中。

Professor:
No, like potatoes, tomatoes grew wild in the Andes. 不，就像馬鈴薯一樣，番茄也是廣泛生長在安第斯。 (番茄跟馬鈴薯來自同一個地方)
Although unlike potatoes, they weren't originally cultivated there. 雖然不像馬鈴薯，番茄最初不是種植在那裡。(Although要注意後半段)
That seems to have occurred first in Central America. 似乎首先在中美洲發現。
And even then the tomato doesn't appear to have been very important as a food plant until the Europeans came on the scene. 即使如此，直到歐洲人出現前，番茄作為一種食用植物似乎並不十分重要。
They took it back to Europe with them around 1550. 大約在1550 年，歐洲人將番茄帶回了歐洲。(歐洲重複)
And Italy was indeed the first place where it was widely grown as food crop. 意大利就是第一個開始大面積種植番茄的地方。 (有出現最高級、第一次或最後一次通常都是重點)
So in a sense, it really is more Italian than American. 所以某種意義來說，其實它更像是來自於意大利，而不是美國。
And another thing and this is true of both potato and tomato. 關於番茄和馬鈴薯，它們還有一個共同的特點。
Both of these plants are members of Nightshade family. 它們都屬於茄科植物。
The Nightshade family is a category of plants which also includes many that you wouldn't want to eat, like mandrake, belladonna, and even tobacco. 茄科是一種植物類別，包括許多無法食用的植物，如曼德拉草、顛茄甚至煙草。
So it's no wonder that people once considered tomatoes and potatoes to be inedible too, even poisonous. 因此，難怪人們一度認為番茄和馬鈴薯也是不可食用的，甚至是有毒的。
And in fact, the leaves of the potato plant are quite toxic. 而事實上，馬鈴薯的葉子是含有很大毒性的。 (語調變化處要注意)
So it took both plants quite a while to catch on in Europe. 因此，過了很長時間這兩種作物才被歐洲所接受。
And even longer before it made a return trip to North America and became popular food items here. 甚至比它們重返北美洲，並在那裡成為受歡迎食物的時間還要久。

Female Student:
Yeah, you know, I remember... I remember my grandmother telling me that when her mother was a little girl, a lot of people still thought tomatoes are poisonous. 我還記得我祖母告訴我她的母親還小的時候，仍然有許多人認為番茄是有毒的。(停頓後面是重點)

Professor:
Oh, sure. People didn't really start eating them here until the mid-eighteen hundreds. 當然了。人們直到19 世紀中期才開始食用番茄的。

Female Student:
But seems like I heard didn't Thomas Jefferson grow them or something? 但是我聽說不是湯姆傑弗遜種植的嗎？(Thomas Jefferson是美國第三任總統)

Professor:
Well, that's true. 對，沒錯。
But then Jefferson is known not only as the third president of the United States, but also as a scholar who was way ahead of his time in many ways. 但是傑弗遜不僅因為是美國的第三任總統而出名，同樣也是一位在很多方面都傑出的學者。
He didn't let the conventional thinking of his day restrain his ideas. 他沒有讓當時的傳統思維拘束了他的想法。
Now, potatoes went through a similar sort of rejection process, especially when they were first introduced in Europe. 馬鈴薯也經歷了類似的拒絕過程，尤其是當它們首次引入歐洲時。
You know how potatoes can turn green if they are left in the light too long? 你們都知道馬鈴薯放在光下太久會變綠吧？(green有拉長音)
And that greenish skin can make the potatoes taste bitter; even make you ill. 這種發綠的馬鈴薯吃起來苦澀，甚至會使人生病。
So that was enough to put people off for over 200 years. 這就足夠使人們延遲200 多年的了。(years語氣上揚)
Yes, Bill? 比爾，什麼問題？

Male Student:
I'm sorry professor Jones. 不好意思，瓊斯教授。
But I mean yeah ok. 我的意思是。
American crops have probably contributed a lot to European cooking over the years. 美國的農作物可能對歐洲的烹飪作出了很大的貢獻。
But... 但是...... (後面被教授搶話，代表教授要說重點)

Professor:
But have they really played any kind of important role in European history? 但是他們真的有在歐洲歷史上扮演了重要的角色是嗎？(really語氣上揚)
Well, as a matter of fact, yes. 事實上，是的。
I was just coming to that. 我正要講到這點呢。(下一句重要)
Let's start with North American corn or maize, as it's often called. 讓我們先來講講北美的玉米，一般大家都這麼叫。
Now before the Europeans made contact with the Americas, they subsist mainly on grains, grains that often suffered from crop failures. 在歐洲人與美國人接觸之前，他們主要靠穀物維生，而這些穀物經常是顆粒無收。
And it's largely for this reason that the political power in Europe was centered for centuries in the South, around the Mediterranean Sea which was where they could grow these grains with more reliability. 這就是歐洲政治力量集中在南部，也就是地中海附近幾個世紀的原因，就是因為那裡可以更好的種植穀物。
But when corn came to Europe from Mexico, wow, now they had a much hardier crop that could be grown easily in more northerly climates and centers of power began to shift accordingly. 但是當玉米從墨西哥到達歐洲以後，這種耐寒的作物可以很容易在偏北部的氣候下生長，於是中央力量就開始轉移了。
And then, well, as I said potatoes weren't really popular at first. 然後，就像我說的那樣，馬鈴薯一開始並不是很受歡迎。
But when they finally did catch on which they did first in Ireland around 1780. 但是在1780年左右，馬鈴薯被愛爾蘭所接受。
Well, why do you suppose it happen? 為什麼會這樣呢？(通常教授問東西時，下一句通常是重點)
Because potatoes have the ability to provide an abundant and extremely nutritious food crop, no other crop grown in North Europe at the time had anything like the number of vitamins contained in potatoes. 因為馬鈴薯提供極其豐富的營養，北歐當時沒有任何農作物具有像馬鈴薯一樣多的維生素含量。
Plus, potatoes grow on the single acre of land could feed many more people than say, uh... wheat grow on the same land. 另外，在一英畝土地上種植的馬鈴薯可以養活更多人，呃……小麥也種植在同一塊土地上。
Potatoes soon spread to France and other Northern European countries. 馬鈴薯很快就傳播到法國及其它北歐國家。
And as a result, the nutrition of the general population improved tremendously and population soared in the early 1800 and so the shift of power from southern to northern Europe continued. 結果，人們的營養獲得大幅改善，且在19 世紀初人口激增，因此權力從南向北轉移的現象持續進行。