評論
打印
Lesson 41 How Sugar Is Made
第41課 糖是怎么生產的
After the negroes have cut up the stems of the sugar-cane into short lengths, they carry these to a building where there are a number of heavy iron rollers, which are turned by a steam-engine. The cane-stems are crushed between these rollers, and all the sweet juice is squeezed out of them, and runs into large pans placed under the rollers.
黑人工人把甘蔗莖切成小段之后, 就把這些小段運到一個車間里。這個車間里有很多沉重的鐵滾筒, 是讓蒸汽機轉動的。滾筒把甘蔗段碾碎, 所有的甜汁都從里面擠了出來, 流到滾筒下面的大型平底鍋里。
This juice is next boiled in large copper kettles, and some lime is mixed with it. The lime joins with the sour acidsthat are in the juice, and forms a green scum, which is taken off.
然后, 用大型的銅壺把甘蔗汁煮一遍, 往甘蔗汁里加上一些石灰。石灰跟甘蔗汁里的酸性成分化合, 變成一種綠色的浮渣。這層浮渣要去掉。
A clear yellow syrup then remains, and this is boiled until most of the water in it is driven off as steam. A thick brown liquid is now left, which is a mixture of sugar and molasses or treacle.
剩下的就是一種清澈的黃色糖漿, 再把這些糖漿煮一遍, 最后大多數水分都變成蒸汽飛走了, 留下一種粘稠的棕色液體, 是糖和“糖蜜”的混合物。
This liquid is put into barrels, the bottoms of which are full of holes. The treacle drains away through these holes, and a dark brown sticky powder is left, which is called raw sugar. This raw sugar is put into big barrels called hogsheads, and is sent to Great Britain in ships.
再把這種液體放在大桶里。大桶底部滿是小洞, 糖蜜就從這些小洞流走, 余下的是一種暗灰色的、有粘性的粉末, 叫做“粗糖”, 這種粗糖盛進糖桶里, 然后就用船運往大不列顛了。
You would not like to eat the dirty-looking raw sugar as it comes to this country. To make this raw sugar pure and clean, it must be refined; and this refining is chiefly done in the large towns called Bristol, Liverpool, London, and Glasgow.
這種粗糖剛運來的時候, 看上去臟兮兮的, 你肯定不喜歡吃。要把這種粗糖變得又純又干凈, 非要精加工不可。這種精加工大部分是在大城市進行的, 比如布里斯托爾、利物浦、倫敦、格拉斯哥。
