【英语时差8,16】我们为什么冷藏水果和蔬菜

Why We Refrigerate Fruits and Vegetable 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? 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. 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. 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. 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.

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。