时差N小时 我们为什么冷藏水果和蔬菜?

Why We Refrigerate Fruits and Vegetable

我们为什么冷藏水果和蔬菜

Everyone knows you should put spinach¹ and berries in the refrigerator, but exactly how do cooler temperatures keep most fruits and vegetables from spoiling rapidly?

每个人都知道应该把菠萝和浆果放进冰箱，但冰箱到底是如何防止这些水果和蔬菜快速腐烂呢？

Spoilage² is inevitable³, but refrigeration slows it down in two ways. First, cold temperatures interfere⁴ with the growth of microorganisms that harm food, such as bacteria, mold, and yeast⁵. In order to grow, any microorganism that could damage fruits or vegetables needs food, a favorable moisture content, and a favorable temperature.

腐烂是不可避免的，但制冷器有两种方式来减缓这一过程。首先，低温能够阻碍微生物的生长，例如细菌，霉菌以及酵母菌。这些微生物能够破坏水果和蔬菜，但为了生长，任何微生物都需要食物，充足的水分和适宜的温度。

Obviously, it is impossible to eliminate a food source for these microorganisms, so other factors that facilitate their growth must be eliminated. We refrigerate food to keep bacteria, yeasts⁶, and molds from the favorable temperature they need to grow. The moisture-control available in many refrigerators also helps slow the deterioration⁷ of foods, so that two of the three favorable situations for microorganism growth are eliminated.

很明显，不可能为了对抗这些微生物而消灭食物源，因此必须消灭使细菌耐以生存的其他因素。我们将食物储存在低温下，使细菌、霉菌和酵母菌远离他们生长所需的适宜温度。许多冰箱有湿度控制功能，这也能帮助减缓食物的腐烂，因此阻断了微生物生长所需的两个有利因素。

Though the microorganism growth is slowed down at low temperatures, it still can occur at the 38 degrees of an ordinary refrigerator. Hence, the mold that grows on forgotten leftovers⁸ in the back of a refrigerator. The second benefit of refrigeration is that it slows down the food's own natural processes that lead to ripening¹⁰ and eventual¹¹ decay.

尽管微生物在低温条件下生长缓慢，但即使将普通冰箱设置成38度的高温，微生物仍会存在。因此，冰箱内被遗忘的剩菜里会有霉菌出现。冰箱的第二个好处是减缓食物本身的自成熟至最后腐烂的自然过程。

For fruits and vegetables, the very chemical processes that cause plants to grow and ripen⁹ also cause them to rot. In effect, refrigeration helps save the plant tissue from itself. Keeping these foods at low temperatures dramatically slows this aging process.

对于水果和蔬菜而言，诱使植物生长和成熟的化学过程同样也会导致食物腐烂。实际上，冰箱有助于保留植物本身的组织。将这些食物在低温下保存会极大地减缓老化过程。

1 spinach   

n.菠菜

参考例句：

• Eating spinach is supposed to make you strong.据说吃菠菜能使人强壮。
• You should eat such vegetables as carrot,celery and spinach.你应该吃胡萝卜、芹菜和菠菜这类的蔬菜。

2 spoilage   

n.（食物等）变质，损坏

参考例句：

• He was determined to track down the cause of food spoilage.他决心查出食品腐烂的原因。
• The principal methods of avoiding spoilage are the use of pure yeast strains as starters.防止啤酒变坏的主要方法是用纯酵母菌株发酵。

3 inevitable   

adj.不可避免的，必然发生的

参考例句：

• Mary was wearing her inevitable large hat.玛丽戴着她总是戴的那顶大帽子。
• The defeat had inevitable consequences for British policy.战败对英国政策不可避免地产生了影响。

4 interfere   

v.(in)干涉，干预；(with)妨碍，打扰

参考例句：

• If we interfere, it may do more harm than good.如果我们干预的话，可能弊多利少。
• When others interfere in the affair,it always makes troubles. 别人一卷入这一事件，棘手的事情就来了。

5 yeast   

n.酵母；酵母片；泡沫；v.发酵；起泡沫

参考例句：

• Yeast can be used in making beer and bread.酵母可用于酿啤酒和发面包。
• The yeast began to work.酵母开始发酵。

6 yeasts   

酵母( yeast的名词复数 )； 酵母菌； 发面饼； 发酵粉

参考例句：

• The basidiospores proliperate in a manner comparable to the multiplication of yeasts. 担孢子以一种可与酵母繁殖相比拟的方式进行增殖。
• Wine yeasts can grow in sweet wines even after bottling. 装瓶以后葡萄酒酵母也能在甜葡萄酒中生长。

7 deterioration   

n.退化；恶化；变坏

参考例句：

• Mental and physical deterioration both occur naturally with age. 随着年龄的增长，心智和体力自然衰退。
• The car's bodywork was already showing signs of deterioration. 这辆车的车身已经显示出了劣化迹象。

8 leftovers   

n.剩余物，残留物，剩菜

参考例句：

• He can do miracles with a few kitchen leftovers.他能用厨房里几样剩饭做出一顿美餐。
• She made supper from leftovers she had thrown together.她用吃剩的食物拼凑成一顿晚饭。

9 ripen   

vt.使成熟；vi.成熟

参考例句：

• I'm waiting for the apples to ripen.我正在等待苹果成熟。
• You can ripen the tomatoes on a sunny windowsill.把西红柿放在有阳光的窗台上可以让它们成熟。

10 ripening   

v.成熟，使熟( ripen的现在分词 )；熟化；熟成

参考例句：

• The corn is blossoming [ripening]. 玉米正在开花[成熟]。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
• When the summer crop is ripening, the autumn crop has to be sowed. 夏季作物成熟时，就得播种秋季作物。 来自《简明英汉词典》

11 eventual   

adj.最后的，结局的，最终的

参考例句：

• Several schools face eventual closure.几所学校面临最终关闭。
• Both parties expressed optimism about an eventual solution.双方对问题的最终解决都表示乐观。