四六级必读美文系列:世界最大的纸杯蛋糕

 　　【中英双语文本】

　　A 4 feet cupcake weighing a hefty 1,224 pounds has been officially recognized as the world's largest by the Guinness Book of Records.

　　一个“身高”4英尺、“体重”达1224磅的杯蛋糕日前被《吉尼斯世界记录》正式认证为世界上最大的杯形蛋糕。

　　Unveiled on Monday, in Detroit, Michigan, US, the enormous cake -with a whopping circumference¹ of 11 feet-was over eight times bigger than the previous record holder².

　　这块巨型蛋糕于本周一在美国密歇根州的底特律市公布于众，它的“腰围”惊人，达到11英尺，比之前的记录保持者大8倍之多。

　　Baked over the course of 12 hours, the gigantic cup cake was made from 200 pounds of flour, 200 pounds of sugar, 200 pounds of butter and 800 eggs.

　　这一庞大的杯形蛋糕经过12小时烘制而成，共用掉200磅面粉、200磅糖、200磅黄油和800个鸡蛋。

　　When covered with frosting and custard, the one-of-a-kind dessert boasted 2,000,000 calories. The brainchild of American firm Gourmet³ Gift Baskets, the cupcake smashed the previous record of 151 pounds set on July 20.

　　再加上糖霜和蛋奶沙司，这块独一无二的大蛋糕所含的热量高达200万卡路里。这块蛋糕的创意来自美国“美食礼品篮公司”，它打破了之前于7月20日创下的151磅的记录。

　　Appearing at the Woodward Avenue Dream Cruise Classic Car Show in Detroit, proceeds from the sale of the cupcake went to cancer charity Passionately⁴ Pink for the Cure.

　　这块蛋糕在底特律的伍德沃得大街梦想之航经典车展上亮相，它的销售收益将捐献给“粉色激情治疗”癌症慈善组织。

　　(1)Ryan Abood, CEO of GourmetGiftBaskets.com, assembled a cupcake "dream team" including master-baker George Algarin to begin making the cake on August 12, five days before the scheduled unveiling.

　　“美食礼品篮”网站的首席执行官莱恩·阿布德组建了一支制作杯蛋糕的“梦之队”，其中还包括特级面包师乔治·阿尔加林。这块蛋糕于8月12日开始制作，当时据计划展出还有5天的时间。

　　"We started off with a goal of a 7,000 pounds cupcake but fate intervened on Friday morning when the baking was supposed to be complete," said Mr Abood.

　　阿布德说：“我们一开始的目标是一个7000磅的蛋糕，但就在周五早上快完工时，命运跟我们开了个玩笑。”

　　(2)"The huge 8x8 feet oven was opened and we found that the weight of the expanding batter⁵ crushed one of the main convection mbes blowing hot air into the heart of the cupcake causing cup-cake to collapse⁶."

　　“当我们打开8乘8英尺的巨型烤箱时，发现面糊膨胀的重量把其中一根主对流管压坏了，结果热空气吹到杯形蛋糕的中心部位，导致蛋糕坍塌。”

　　Luckily, the team managed to avert⁷ disaster by rustling⁸ up a cake with only half a day to go, still managing to beat all other cupcake records in the process.

　　幸运的是，“梦之队”在离最后期限还剩半天的时间里又重新赶制了一个，避免了一场大麻烦，而且还是打破了所有其他杯形蛋糕的记录。

　　An adjudicator from Guinness had flown in from London, especially to measure the cupcake and announced the record to a crowd of hundreds at the motor show.

　　来自吉尼斯世界纪录的一名评审员特地从伦敦飞往底特律为这块杯蛋糕进行测量，并向前来参加车展的数百民众公布了这一记录。

　　重点解析 Key Phrases/Words

　　1. hefty adj. 重的，健壮的，异常大的

　　2. circumference n. 周围，圆周

　　3. gigantic adj. 巨大的，庞大的

　　4. one-of-a-kind adj. 每种只有一个的，独一无二的

　　5. collapse v. 折叠，倒塌

　　6. avert v. 防止，避免，转移

　　7. rustle⁹ up 凑集到，搞到，弄到

　　8. adjudicator n. 裁判员，判决者，裁定者

　　【句子解析】

　　1. Ryan Abood, CEO of GourmetGiftBaskets.com, assembled a cupcake "dream team" including master-baker George Algarin to begin making the cake on August 12, five days before the scheduled unveiling.

　　本句是一个简单句，句子的主干是Ryan Abood assembled a cupcake "dream team"。CEO of GourmetGiftBaskets.com是Ryan Abood的同位语，起补充说明的作用。including master-baker George Algarin现在分词短语作后置定语，to begin...on August 12不定式短语作目的状语。five days before the scheduled unveiling是August 12的同位语，起补充说明的作用。

　　语法重点：分词短语作定语，不定式短语作状语，同位语

　　2. "The huge 8x8 feet oven was opened and we found that the weight of the expanding batter crushed one of the main convection tubes blowing hot air into the heart of the cupcake causing cup-cake to collapse."

　　本句是一个复合句，主句是由and连接的两个并列的句子。第二个句子中，that引导宾语从句，作found的宾语。其中blowing hot... cupcake 现在分词短语作结果状语，修饰tubes o causing...collapse现在分词短语作结果状语。

　　语法重点：并列结构，分词短语作状语，分词短语作状语

1 circumference   

n.圆周，周长，圆周线

参考例句：

• It's a mile round the circumference of the field.运动场周长一英里。
• The diameter and the circumference of a circle correlate.圆的直径与圆周有相互关系。

2 holder   

n.持有者，占有者；(台，架等)支持物

参考例句：

• The holder of the office of chairman is reponsible for arranging meetings.担任主席职位的人负责安排会议。
• That runner is the holder of the world record for the hundred-yard dash.那位运动员是一百码赛跑世界纪录的保持者。

3 gourmet   

n.食物品尝家；adj.出于美食家之手的

参考例句：

• What does a gourmet writer do? 美食评论家做什么？
• A gourmet like him always eats in expensive restaurants.像他这样的美食家总是到豪华的餐馆用餐。

4 passionately   

ad.热烈地，激烈地

参考例句：

• She could hate as passionately as she could love. 她能恨得咬牙切齿，也能爱得一往情深。
• He was passionately addicted to pop music. 他酷爱流行音乐。

5 batter   

v.接连重击；磨损；n.牛奶面糊；击球员

参考例句：

• The batter skied to the center fielder.击球手打出一个高飞球到中外野手。
• Put a small quantity of sugar into the batter.在面糊里放少量的糖。

6 collapse   

vi.累倒；昏倒；倒塌；塌陷

参考例句：

• The country's economy is on the verge of collapse.国家的经济已到了崩溃的边缘。
• The engineer made a complete diagnosis of the bridge's collapse.工程师对桥的倒塌做了一次彻底的调查分析。

7 avert   

v.防止，避免；转移(目光、注意力等)

参考例句：

• He managed to avert suspicion.他设法避嫌。
• I would do what I could to avert it.我会尽力去避免发生这种情况。

8 rustling   

n. 瑟瑟声，沙沙声 adj. 发沙沙声的

参考例句：

• the sound of the trees rustling in the breeze 树木在微风中发出的沙沙声
• the soft rustling of leaves 树叶柔和的沙沙声

9 rustle   

v.沙沙作响；偷盗(牛、马等)；n.沙沙声声

参考例句：

• She heard a rustle in the bushes.她听到灌木丛中一阵沙沙声。
• He heard a rustle of leaves in the breeze.他听到树叶在微风中发出的沙沙声。