(单词翻译:单击)
How is the grain made into flour? Instead of the little stone hand mortar used in early days, there are now great flour mills, like those that line the river front in Minneapolis. The grain comes from the prairies to these mills in hundreds of freight cars. There, in a world of humming machinery, it is cleaned, ground between rollers, and separated from all the husk. Then it is sifted through fine cloth until it is the soft, white substance that reaches our kitchens. And in order that it may always be the same, always fine and pure and nourishing, it is examined and tested at every stage.
这种谷物是怎样制成面粉的？现在的面粉厂已经取代了早期使用的小石灰浆，比如明尼阿波利斯市沿河的面粉厂。谷物从大草原运来，装在几百辆货车里运到这些工厂。在那里，在一个嗡嗡作响的机器的世界里，它被清理干净，在滚筒之间研磨，并与所有的外壳分离。然后通过细布过滤，直到它成为柔软的白色物质，到达我们的厨房。为了使它永远是一样的，永远是美好的、纯净的、有营养的，它在每一个阶段都要接受检验和考验。
The Indian squaw did one thing that these great mills cannot do. She mixed and baked the bread. How is that done today? In many homes bread is still baked in the home kitchen, but more and more it is being taken out of the kitchen into the factory. However much we like the odor of freshly baked bread at home, we must admit that it saves our mothers a great deal of time and work if the bread can be bought all wrapped up in waxed paper to keep it fresh and clean. Not so many years ago it was a sad thing to have to eat “baker’s bread,” but this is no longer true. In fact, there are very few cooks who can make bread as fine and light as the baker’s bread of today, and this is not because they are poor cooks, but because the modern baker has machinery and ways of testing and measuring that no home cook can have.
印第安妇女做了一件这些大磨坊做不到的事。她把面包混合起来烤。今天怎么做呢？在许多家庭里，面包仍然是在家庭厨房里烘烤的，但是越来越多的面包被从厨房带到工厂里。不管我们多么喜欢家里新烤的面包的味道，我们必须承认，如果能买到包在蜡纸里保持新鲜和干净的面包，会为我们的母亲节省大量的时间和工作。就在几年前，不得不吃“面包师的面包”还是一件令人难过的事情，但现在这种情况已经不复存在了。事实上，当时很少有厨师能做出像今天的面包那样又细又轻的面包，这并不是因为他们是糟糕的厨师，而是因为现代的面包师拥有没有家庭厨师可以拥有的机器和测试方法。
