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科学美国人60秒 SSS Part of Real Paleo Diet: It's a Tuber

时间：2020-03-03 01:53:47

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（单词翻译）

 

In South Africa archaeologists found the charred1 remains2 of a roasted root vegetable. Christopher Intagliata reports.

Full Transcript3 

The paleo diet is a popular high-protein diet that aims to mimic4 what our hunter-gatherer ancestors ate. But what we buy at the supermarket doesn’t quite approximate those ancient foods. Take for example, star lily roots. Heard of those? 

“They taste a bit like yams.”

Lyn Wadley is an archaeologist at the University of the Witwatersrand in South Africa. Her team recently discovered the charred remains of star lily roots in South Africa’s Border Cave—hunks of roasted root that date to 170,000 years ago.

“There’s greater glucose5 availability once the root vegetables were cooked. And they knew that nearly 200,000 years ago, which I think is extraordinary. Or maybe they didn’t know the chemistry of it, but they would have realized they felt far more satisfied after eating a meal that’s cooked rather than one that is raw.”

It’s not easy to identify a charred chunk6 of ancient food, though. So Wadley’s team gathered an array of raw ancient foodstuffs7 and roasted and charred them in ovens and campfires. They then did visual comparisons to the ancient sample and observed them both in a scanning electron microscope, too—which revealed that the charred leftovers8 from that meal, 170,000 years ago, were probably chunks9 of star lily root.

Details and photos of those roots are in the journal Science. [Lyn Wadley et al., Cooked starchy rhizomes in Africa 170 thousand years ago]

Wadley says the find provides a better view of what the ancients ate. “I think the people who assume the paleo diet was based on protein simply haven’t done their homework properly.”

—Christopher Intagliata 

[The above text is a transcript of this podcast.]


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1 charred 2d03ad55412d225c25ff6ea41516c90b     
v.把…烧成炭( char的过去式)；烧焦
参考例句：
  • the charred remains of a burnt-out car 被烧焦的轿车残骸
  • The intensity of the explosion is recorded on the charred tree trunks. 那些烧焦的树干表明爆炸的强烈。 来自《简明英汉词典》
2 remains 1kMzTy     
n.剩余物，残留物；遗体，遗迹
参考例句：
  • He ate the remains of food hungrily.他狼吞虎咽地吃剩余的食物。
  • The remains of the meal were fed to the dog.残羹剩饭喂狗了。
3 transcript JgpzUp     
n.抄本，誊本，副本，肄业证书
参考例句：
  • A transcript of the tapes was presented as evidence in court.一份录音带的文字本作为证据被呈交法庭。
  • They wouldn't let me have a transcript of the interview.他们拒绝给我一份采访的文字整理稿。
4 mimic PD2xc     
v.模仿，戏弄；n.模仿他人言行的人
参考例句：
  • A parrot can mimic a person's voice.鹦鹉能学人的声音。
  • He used to mimic speech peculiarities of another.他过去总是模仿别人讲话的特点。
5 glucose Fyiyz     
n.葡萄糖
参考例句：
  • I gave him an extra dose of glucose to pep him up.我给他多注射了一剂葡萄糖以增强他的活力。
  • The doctor injected glucose into his patient's veins.医生将葡萄糖注入病人的静脉。
6 chunk Kqwzz     
n.厚片，大块，相当大的部分（数量）
参考例句：
  • They had to be careful of floating chunks of ice.他们必须当心大块浮冰。
  • The company owns a chunk of farmland near Gatwick Airport.该公司拥有盖特威克机场周边的大片农田。
7 foodstuffs 574623767492eb55a85c5be0d7d719e7     
食物，食品( foodstuff的名词复数 )
参考例句：
  • Imports of foodstuffs accounted for a small proportion of total imports. 食物进口仅占总进口额的一小部份。
  • Many basic foodstuffs, such as bread and milk, are tax-free. 许多基本食物如牛奶和面包是免税的。
8 leftovers AprzGJ     
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 chunks a0e6aa3f5109dc15b489f628b2f01028     
厚厚的一块( chunk的名词复数 )； （某物）相当大的数量或部分
参考例句：
  • a tin of pineapple chunks 一罐菠萝块
  • Those chunks of meat are rather large—could you chop them up a bIt'smaller? 这些肉块相当大，还能再切小一点吗？

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