SSS 2010-10-19
时间：2019-01-08 作者：英语课 分类：Scientific American(十)月
We tend to think of cavemen as pretty serious carnivores, hunting game and then roasting the yummy bits over a roaring campfire. But scientists just reported discovering traces of starch 1 on some ancient stone tools. Which suggests that there were probably more than a few bakers 2 in the bunch way back when. The findings appear in the Proceedings 3 of the National Academy of Sciences.
Researchers collected stone tools from three archaeological sites in Italy, Russia and the Czech Republic. Our Paleolithic ancestors called these digs home some 30,000 years ago. The markings on the recovered tools suggest that they were used like grindstones and pestles 4 for processing grains. And they still contained traces of flour.
The flour grains came mostly from cattails and ferns, plants whose roots are rich in starch, kind of like a potato. Processing these plants probably involved peeling, drying and grinding their roots. The resulting flour could then be whisked into a dough 5 and cooked.
The finding pushes back the first known use of flour by some 10,000 years. Which means that 300 centuries ago, Fred and Wilma might have had a kind of prehistoric 6 pita bread on the menu.
Thanks for the minute. For Scientific American's 60-second Science, I’m Karen Hopkin.
- Corn starch is used as a thickener in stews.玉米淀粉在炖煮菜肴中被用作增稠剂。
- I think there's too much starch in their diet.我看是他们的饮食里淀粉太多了。
- The Bakers have invited us out for a meal tonight. 贝克一家今晚请我们到外面去吃饭。 来自《简明英汉词典》
- The bakers specialize in catering for large parties. 那些面包师专门负责为大型宴会提供食品。 来自《简明英汉词典》
- He was released on bail pending committal proceedings. 他交保获释正在候审。
- to initiate legal proceedings against sb 对某人提起诉讼
- The stone was pecked and ground into cylindrical pestles. 石头被凿开并被磨成一根根圆形的杵。 来自辞典例句
- She formed the dough into squares.她把生面团捏成四方块。
- The baker is kneading dough.那位面包师在揉面。
- They have found prehistoric remains.他们发现了史前遗迹。
- It was rather like an exhibition of prehistoric electronic equipment.这儿倒像是在展览古老的电子设备。