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One. Salt was so valuable in ancient Rome that soldiers were sometimes paid with it.
在古羅馬，鹽非常珍貴，士兵有時候靠它來賺錢。
In fact, the word salary comes from the Latin word sal, for salt.
實際上，salary這個詞來自拉丁語sal，意思是鹽。
When a soldier was doing a lousy job, his paycheck might be cut, which is how we got the expression "not worth his salt."
當一個士兵的工作做的很糟糕的時候，他的工資可能會減少，這就是“不稱職”這個表達的來源。
Two. Salt can still be valuable today. Amethyst Bamboo 9x salt, which rings up at $398 a pound, may be the most expensive in the world.
今天鹽仍然很有價值。紫水晶竹9x鹽，每磅398美元，它可能是世界上最貴的。
This pricey stuff takes a lot of time to produce—it's roasted nine times inside a bamboo pole at temperatures exceeding 1,400 degrees F.
這種昂貴的東西需要很長時間生產-它要在超過1400華氏度的高溫下，在竹枝里烤九次。
One store says the resulting delicacy "smells like something dragons use to season their victims before eating them."
一家商店稱，美味的紫水晶竹9x鹽“就像是龍在食用獵物之前的調味料”。
Three. Historically, salt's value came from its ability to preserve food.
在歷史上，鹽的價值來自于它儲存食物的能力。
Venice, Italy, may be famous for its canals now, but salt imports fueled its rise as an influential trade power by the end of the 13th century.
今日的意大利威尼斯可能以它的運河著稱，但是在13世紀末，是鹽進口促使意大利發展成為一個重要的貿易大國。
Four. Salt also took on a great deal of symbolic value. There's a reason it is mentioned so many times in the Bible ("salt of the earth," "a pillar of salt," "a covenant of salt").
鹽也有很大的象征價值。鹽在圣經中多次被提到是有原因的（“地球之鹽”，“一根鹽柱”，“不可背棄的鹽約”）。
Its preservative properties made it an apt metaphor for permanence and conviction.
它的防腐特性使它成為永久和信念的恰當隱喻。
Five. Most people know about the health risks associated with sodium, but reducing your intake isn't always easy.
很多人都知道跟鈉有關的健康風險，但是減少攝入并不總是容易的事情。
More than 75 percent of the sodium Americans eat comes from processed foods; bread, cured meats, and canned soup top the list.
美國人攝入的超過75%的鈉來自加工食品；面包、腌肉和湯品罐頭位居榜首。
Even foods that don't taste salty may contain it. Instant oatmeal with maple and brown sugar, for instance, contains 170 milligrams of sodium per ounce—a little more than a small bag of potato chips.
甚至，吃起來不咸的食物也可能含有它。例如，含楓糖和紅糖的速溶燕麥片每磅含有170毫克的鈉——比一小袋薯片多一點。
Six. Even French fries aren't necessarily the biggest culprit.
甚至，炸薯條也不一定是罪魁禍首。
A 2012 study that examined sodium levels of fast-food menu items from different countries found that pizza and burgers contained more sodium than french fries, because they come in larger serving sizes.
2012年的一項研究檢測了不同國家的快餐菜單食品的鈉的水平，研究發現，比薩和漢堡比薯條含有更多的鈉，因為它們的分量更大。
