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Back when most folks relied on an icebox to cool food, a block of ice was a precious commodity¹. If you put hot food in the icebox, the ice might melt.
以前，当大多数人们需要倚赖冰盒来冷却食物的时候，一块冰块就是一件珍贵的商品。如果你把热气腾腾的食物放入冰盒，冰 块会融化。

And by the time the ice truck came through the neighborhood again, all your food may have spoiled. To preserve the ice as long as possible, people made sure to cool hot foods before putting them in the icebox.
等到运送冰块的卡车再次穿过街区的时候，你所有需要冷藏的食物也许都已经腐坏了。为了让冰块保存得尽可能长久，人们在确保食物冷却之后再将其放 入冰盒。

All About Iceboxes
有关冰箱的一切

These days, before putting hot food in the fridge, many people cool it on the kitchen counter, just as generations before did in the icebox days.
如今，在把热气腾腾的食物放入冰箱之前，许多人会先把它放在厨房台面上冷却，跟上几代人在冰盒年代的做法一致。

But now there’s no precious block of ice to preserve, and refrigerators are designed to handle food hot off the stove or out of the oven.
但如今我们不再使用珍稀的冰块来冷藏食物，而冰箱的功能本身就能应付刚从烤炉或烤箱下架的烫手食物。

Hot food may make the refrigerator’s motor run a little longer to bring the temperature back down, but that doesn’t overwork the motor. And chilling³ food as soon as possible can help prevent food poisoning. Here’s why.
烫手的食物会让冰箱压缩机运转得稍久一点才能把食物温度降下来，但那样也不至于造成压缩机超负荷工作。而且尽快冷却食物有助于防止食物中毒。来听听以下解释。

Chilling
冷却食物

Warm food is the perfect environment for bacteria to multiply. Chill² the food, though, and the party’s over, because cooler temperatures slow or stop bacterial⁴ growth.
有 一定热度的食物是细菌繁殖的最佳圣地。让我们把食物冷却，那样，细菌分裂活动就会停止。因为较低的温度会减慢或阻止细菌的成长。

Our bodies normally handle small doses of bacteria in food, but what can give you food poisoning is large numbers of harmful bacteria.
我们的身体通常能应付食物 中的少量细菌，但是有害细菌的大量存在会让您食物中毒。

The sooner you chill food, the sooner any harmful bacteria that may be in it will stop multiplying.
越早冷却食物，其中可能包含的有害细菌就能越快停止繁殖。

With a refrigerator, you can chill hot foods right away. But the principle’s the same as in the icebox days-the longer food stays cold, the less chance it has to spoil.
有冰箱在身边，您可以迅速冷却烫手的食 物。不过在冰盒年代，这个道理同样适用。食物冷藏的时间越长，它发生腐坏的可能就越小。