4. Henry Ford’s Weeds 亨利?福特的野草

Henry Ford was a picky eater who usually had nuts or raisins in his pocket. In his youth, he was largely uninterested in food and mostly moved it around on his plate to give the appearance of eating it. This changed when he started to perceive his body as a machine and his stomach as a boiler that he needed to give the right fuel.

The act of eating was more practical than sensual, and Ford experimented with wild weeds as a source of nutrition. His dietary experiments caused misery to his business associates, although they were better received by his friend George Washington Carver, who was of a like mind on that sort of thing.

Even though Ford received a salary of almost $1 million a year, he preferred a diet of “roadside greens,” which were essentially edible weeds that Ford gathered from his garden or outside. According to biographer Sidney Olson: “There is nothing quite like a dish of stewed burdock, followed by a sandwich of soybean bread filled with milkweeds, to set up a man for an afternoon’s work.”

The weeds that Ford collected were often lightly boiled or stewed and then used in salads or sandwiches. However, the diet seemed to pay off because Henry Ford was rarely sick and lived to the ripe old age of 83.

Vocabulary

1. eccentric: （人、行為等）古怪的，怪癖的。

2. notable: 顯著的，著名的；bizarre: 古怪的，怪誕的；notion: 想法，念頭。

3. prompt: 引起，激起。

4. Silicon Valley: 硅谷；instructor: 指導者；slaughter: 屠宰，宰殺。

5. lobster: 龍蝦。

6. initially: 開始，起初。

7. composer: 作曲家。

8. mushy: 爛糊的，糊狀的；consume: 吃，喝；stir: 攪拌。

9. inspect: 檢查，檢驗；crack: 打破，使破裂。

10. woe to sb.: 某人將要遭殃（用于警告某人如果做某事會有麻煩）。

11. scolding: 責罵。

12. pelt: 投擲，用力扔。

13. 與往常一樣，在“狂轟濫炸”即將來臨之前，貝多芬的傭人便開始準備快速撤離，然后這些砸向她腦袋的猛擊就全都打在她背上，黏稠的蛋黃和蛋清灑她一身，簡直像熔巖漿一樣。retreat: 撤退；cannonade: 連續(xù)而猛烈的炮轟；decapitated: 砍頭的；battery: 連續(xù)猛擊；intestine: 腸；veritable: 真正的，名副其實的；lava stream: 熔巖漿。

14. Gerald Ford: 杰拉爾德?魯?shù)婪?福特，美國第37任副總統(tǒng)和第38任總統(tǒng)。

15. trivia: 無關緊要的細節(jié)，瑣事；Richard Nixon: 理查德?尼克松（1913—1994），美國第37任總統(tǒng)；cottage cheese: （酸奶酪制成的）農家鮮乳酪；ketchup: 番茄醬。

16. quip: 俏皮地說，巧妙地說；elegant: 精美的，雅致的。

17. pineapple: 菠蘿；resignation: 辭職。

18. aficionado: 愛好者；appealing: 吸引人的，有感染力的。

19. Air Force One: 美國總統(tǒng)的專機，也常被人們稱為“空中白宮”；staffer: 職員，工作人員。

20. garnish: 裝飾菜；celery: 芹菜；radish: 小蘿卜。

21. martini: 馬丁尼酒；Soviet:（前）蘇聯(lián)；premier: 總理，首相。

22. slur: 含糊地說。

23. overindulged: 吃（喝）得太多的；tipsy: 微醉的。

24. Henry Ford: 亨利?福特（1863—1947），美國汽車工程師與企業(yè)家，福特汽車公司的建立者；weed: 野草，雜草。

25. picky: 吹毛求疵的，愛挑剔的；nut: 干果，堅果；raisin: 葡萄干。

26. 在他小的時候，他對食物一點也不感興趣，因此他經常把盤子里的食物攪亂，假裝自己已經吃過了。

27. perceive: 認為，意識到；boiler: （蒸汽機的）鍋爐。

28. sensual: 感覺的，感官的；nutrition: 營養(yǎng)。

29. 他的飲食實驗給他的生意伙伴帶來了痛苦，然而他的朋友喬治?華盛頓?卡弗可以接受，他對此與亨利有著相同的看法。

30. edible: 可食用的。

31. 生物學家西德尼?奧爾森說道：“用一盤水煮牛蒡，外加一個乳草大豆面包三明治來開始一下午的工作，沒有什么比這更好了?！眘tew: 燉，煮；burdock: 菊科牛蒡屬植物，尤指牛蒡；soybean: 大豆；milkweed: 乳草屬植物。

（來源：英語學習雜志 編輯：丹妮）