VOA慢速英語：斯坦福學(xué)生使用5000之久的中國古方釀造啤酒

Stanford Students Brew Beer Using 5,000-Year-Old Chinese Recipe

斯坦福學(xué)生使用5000之久的中國古方釀造啤酒

Most college students would love to get an assignment like the one Madeline Ota recently received at Stanford University.

大多數(shù)大學(xué)生都會喜歡像斯坦福的麥德琳·奧塔(Madeline Ota)這樣的作業(yè)。

She and her classmates were asked to make beer in their dorm rooms.

她和她的室友被要求在宿舍里釀造啤酒。

But before you get too excited, you need to know that it was for a class called The Archaeology of Food. And the assignment was to make beer according to a 5,000-year-old Chinese recipe.

但是在你過于興奮之前，你需要知道，這是一堂《食物考古學(xué)》課程的要求。這項任務(wù)是根據(jù)一種五千年前的中國配方釀造啤酒。

"I think it was a bit different than beers that you would buy in the store because it only had a week to ferment, and I think that is one of the biggest differences that you would notice in taste. Because after only a week, alcoholic content isn't very strong."

“我認為它和商店中買到的啤酒有點不同，因為它只經(jīng)過了1個星期的發(fā)酵。我認為這是你在味道上會注意到的最大的區(qū)別之一。因為只經(jīng)過一個星期，酒精含量不是很高。”

Ota and her classmates made two kinds of ancient beer, some of which are still being made by indigenous people today. One of the beers was made by grinding grains like wheat, millet or barley.

奧塔和她的同學(xué)們釀造了兩種古老的啤酒，有些啤酒現(xiàn)在土著人還在釀造。其中一種啤酒是通過小麥、小米或大麥之類的碾磨谷物釀造的。

The other was made using a root known as manioc, or cassava, in different parts of the world. The students chewed the root and then spit it into glass containers. Their saliva began the fermentation process.

另一種啤酒使用了木薯根。學(xué)生們把根嚼碎，然后吐到玻璃容器里。他們的唾液會開始發(fā)酵過程。

Water and heat were carefully added to each mixture.

每種混合物中都小心地加入了水和熱量。

Ota said she has a new appreciation for what goes into making the beer people buy at stores or at the local bar.

奧塔表示，她對人們在商店或酒吧中購買的啤酒的釀造成分有了新的認識。

"This is not something we should take for granted when we go and pick up something from the store. And you know, that doesn't just apply to beer, but kind of any sort of processed food. There is a whole story behind how this got to where it is, how people produced it, how they cooked it..."

“這不是當我們走進商店拿起一些商品時想當然的一些事情，而且這不僅僅適用于啤酒，而是適用于任何加工食品。它是怎么來的，人們?nèi)绾紊a(chǎn)它，如何烹煮它，這背后有一個完整的故事。”

Their professor, Li Liu, discovered the old Chinese recipe.

他們的教授劉莉發(fā)現(xiàn)了這種古老的中國配方。

Liu and a graduate student, Jiajing Wang, "reverse engineered" their beer recipe based on substances found in clay pots from northeast China. That means they studied the residue and made guesses as to what the original ingredients might have been.

劉教授和她的研究生王佳靜根據(jù)中國西北地區(qū)發(fā)現(xiàn)的瓦罐里的物質(zhì)“逆向工程”得到了這個的配方。也就是說，他們研究了殘留物質(zhì)，并且推測出原始成分可能是什么。(51VOA注：該配方是在西安東郊米家崖遺址發(fā)現(xiàn)的，屬于中國西北地區(qū)，老美搞錯了方向。)

The researchers found evidence of barley, an important grain in making beer today. Until Liu and Wang did their research, most historians thought barley arrived in China more recently.

研究人員發(fā)現(xiàn)了大麥的證據(jù)。大麥是如今釀造啤酒的重要作物。大多數(shù)歷史學(xué)家認為大麥是更晚傳到中國，直到劉教授和王佳靜做了這項研究。

"Again, that's where experimental archaeology comes in. Because when you have this small residue from an archaeological artifact, you know, you don't have the full story. You may have parts of a bigger story, but you don't know how those parts necessarily fit together. So experimental archaeology is really cool because it allows you to experiment with those processes and see which ones are the most successful."

“再說一次，這是實驗考古學(xué)的結(jié)論。因為當你從考古器件上獲得少數(shù)殘留物質(zhì)，你并不知道完整的故事。你可能知道了部分情節(jié)，但你并不知道這些情節(jié)如何匹配到一塊。所以實驗考古學(xué)真的很酷，因為它能讓你試驗這些過程，看看哪些最有效。”

Ota said we can learn a lot about ancient cultures by learning about their food and beer.

奧塔表示，我們能夠通過了解他們的食物和啤酒，學(xué)習到很多古代文化。

"You know, when the first people started actually having farms and agricultural societies, very soon after that they actually started making the first alcohols using various techniques. Having alcohol became a very culturally significant and religious experience for many communities and it went on to become an important part of their society."

“你知道，當?shù)谝慌碎_始真正擁有農(nóng)場和農(nóng)業(yè)社會時，他們很快就開始利用各種技術(shù)釀造最初的酒。對很多社區(qū)來說，酒已經(jīng)成為一種非常具有文化意義和宗教體驗的東西，而且它還成為了他們社會的一個重要部分。”

Because the class treated the beer making like a science project, they were able to add their information to the scientific record. Every ingredient was carefully measured. Every degree of heat was noted.

由于該課程把釀造啤酒視為一種科學(xué)項目，他們得以把他們的信息添加到科學(xué)記錄中。他們仔細測量了每種成分，記錄了每種熱度。

Thanks to the students, there is now a very specific record for how to make these ancient beers. In the past, the instructions might have been "fill the pot with water," Ota said. But no one ever knew how big the pot was or how much water was used.

感謝這些學(xué)生，如何釀造這些古老的啤酒如今有了一個非常具體的記錄。奧塔表示，以前的說明書可能是“把水倒進鍋里。”但是沒人知道鍋有多大，要用多少水。

But the most important question is: How did the beer taste?

但是最重要的問題是：這種啤酒味道如何?

The beer made from grain, Ota said, was fruity, like a cider. The one from manioc root smelled so bad – like cheese – she didn't want to try it.

奧塔表示，用谷物釀造的啤酒是水果味的，像蘋果酒一樣。木薯根釀造的啤酒很難聞，像是奶酪，她不想嘗它的味道。

I'm Dan Friedell.

我是丹·費里德爾。