时差N小时 能喝到牛奶,感谢古安那托利亚人吧

The average American consumes over twenty gallons of milk per year. Today cow's milk and products made from it, such as butter, cheese and yogurt, are a regular part of the diet in most parts of the world. But did you ever stop to wonder when and how humans started drinking cow's milk?

美国人平均每年消费20余加伦牛奶。如今牛奶以及牛奶制品，如黄油，奶酪和酸奶，在世界上大多数地区都很常见。然而你停下来想过人类是从何时开始饮用牛奶，又是如何饮用的？

We know that cows were used for milk as early as 2000 BC from artistic¹ or written descriptions of the milking process, or from discoveries of early milk carts. But these irrefutable clues only date back 2,000 to 4,000 years after the earliest known evidence of cattle herding². Because of this discrepancy³, the prevailing⁴ hypothesis was that for a few thousand years, domesticated⁵ cattle were used only for meat and hides.

从公元前2000年关于挤奶过程的绘画或者文字记载，以及考古发现的早期牛奶车，我们知道人类养牛用来产奶。但是这些不容否认的线索只能追朔到牛群出现的最早记载以后的2000到4000年。对于这种时间上的差异，普遍的假说是因为那几千年来人们只使用家养奶牛的皮肉。

But an international team of researchers may have put this hypothesis to rest. Scientists at the University of Bristol in England developed a technique to identify the residue⁶ of fats from cows' milk on ancient pieces of pottery⁷.

但是国际研究小组可能会推翻这种假说。位于英国格兰的布里斯托大学科学家们开发出一种技术，可用来识别古时陶瓷碎片上残留的牛奶油脂。

The team examined over 2,000 pottery shards⁸ from twenty-three different archaeological sites across the Near East and Southeastern Europe. They found milk residue on pots dating back to 7000 BC!

这个小组检查了超过2000块陶瓷碎片，这些碎片来自横跨近东和欧洲东南地区不同的考古遗址。他们在一块公元前7000年的瓦罐上发现了牛奶残留物。

The oldest milk residue was discovered around ancient Anatolia, which we know as modern-day Turkey. The region may have been ideal for cattle domestication⁹ because it had higher rainfall and greener grazing needed to support cattle, compared to drier neighboring regions better suited for sheep or goats.

这些最早的牛奶残留物在古安纳托利亚周围被发现，安纳托利亚就是现代的土耳其。这个地区是养殖奶牛的理想之地，因为这里降雨量大，草场更清脆葱绿，有利于奶牛的生长，而相邻地区较干燥，更适合养殖绵羊和山羊。

This is the first good proof that when humans first started herding cattle, they used the milk as well as the meat. So next time you're enjoying a cool drink of milk, thank the ancient Anatolians!

这是第一个有力的证据，它证明了古时人类养殖牛群时，不仅食用牛肉也饮用牛奶。所以下次再品尝美味的牛奶时，别忘了谢谢古安纳托利亚人！

1 artistic   

adj.艺术(家)的，美术(家)的；善于艺术创作的

参考例句：

• The picture on this screen is a good artistic work.这屏风上的画是件很好的艺术品。
• These artistic handicrafts are very popular with foreign friends.外国朋友很喜欢这些美术工艺品。

2 herding   

中畜群

参考例句：

• The little boy is herding the cattle. 这个小男孩在放牛。
• They have been herding cattle on the tableland for generations. 他们世世代代在这高原上放牧。

3 discrepancy   

n.不同；不符；差异；矛盾

参考例句：

• The discrepancy in their ages seemed not to matter.他们之间年龄的差异似乎没有多大关系。
• There was a discrepancy in the two reports of the accident.关于那次事故的两则报道有不一致之处。

4 prevailing   

adj.盛行的；占优势的；主要的

参考例句：

• She wears a fashionable hair style prevailing in the city.她的发型是这个城市流行的款式。
• This reflects attitudes and values prevailing in society.这反映了社会上盛行的态度和价值观。

5 domesticated   

adj.喜欢家庭生活的；（指动物）被驯养了的v.驯化( domesticate的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• He is thoroughly domesticated and cooks a delicious chicken casserole. 他精于家务，烹制的砂锅炖小鸡非常可口。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The donkey is a domesticated form of the African wild ass. 驴是非洲野驴的一种已驯化的品种。 来自《简明英汉词典》

6 residue   

n.残余，剩余，残渣

参考例句：

• Mary scraped the residue of food from the plates before putting them under water.玛丽在把盘子放入水之前先刮去上面的食物残渣。
• Pesticide persistence beyond the critical period for control leads to residue problems.农药一旦超过控制的临界期，就会导致残留问题。

7 pottery   

n.陶器，陶器场

参考例句：

• My sister likes to learn art pottery in her spare time.我妹妹喜欢在空余时间学习陶艺。
• The pottery was left to bake in the hot sun.陶器放在外面让炎热的太阳烘晒焙干。

8 shards   

n.（玻璃、金属或其他硬物的）尖利的碎片( shard的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Eyewitnesses spoke of rocks and shards of glass flying in the air. 目击者称空中石块和玻璃碎片四溅。 来自辞典例句
• Ward, Josh Billings, and a host of others have survived only in scattered shards of humour. 沃德、比林斯和许多别的作家能够留传下来的只是些幽默的残章断简。 来自辞典例句

9 domestication   

n.驯养，驯化

参考例句：

• The first was the domestication of animals. 第一个阶段是驯养动物。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• In northwestern China, there is no evidence for endemic domestication of any animals. 在中国西北，没有任何当地动物驯化的迹象。 来自辞典例句