part 3

20 It is only in the last two centuries that great numbers of people have been able to live far from their food supply, with thousands of people in one place doing the same sort of work. High buildings like those pictured on the next page are being put up in more and more great cities today in greater and greater numbers. They are apartment houses, which sometimes have hundreds of different families living under one roof. There may be as many as twenty or thirty floors in one apartment house, with homes for fifteen or twenty families on a floor.

只是在过去的两个世纪里，大量的人才能够生活在远离食物供应的地方，成千上万的人在一个地方做着同样的工作。 今天，越来越多的大城市正在修建像下一页所示的那样的高层建筑。 它们是公寓楼，有时有数百个不同的家庭住在一个屋檐下。 一套公寓房可能有二十到三十层，每层有十五到二十户人家。

21 Hundreds of families may make their homes in one apartment house. In these stores people who live in the city can buy food, clothing and supplies of everything they need. Some stores sell food, some sell clothing and some sell furniture. In most cities there are great stores which sell almost everything. They supply these families with what they need.

数百个家庭可能住在一幢公寓里。 在这些商店里，住在城市里的人可以买到食物、衣服和他们需要的一切用品。 有些商店卖食品，有些卖衣服，有些卖家具。 在大多数城市都有大商店，几乎什么都卖。 他们为这些家庭提供他们需要的东西。

22 People in apartment houses have no place to keep a supply of food. They may have enough food in an icebox to take them through a day or two, but on most days they buy meat and milk and fruit and other things they need from a store near their home. Many families have supplies of milk and other foods sent to their houses every day. People with children in the family may buy four or five quarts of milk at a time. Here is a family with five persons in it: a husband, a wife and their three children. The man is the woman's husband and she is his wife. They have been married ten years.

住在公寓里的人没有地方储存食物。 他们的冰箱里可能有足够吃一两天的食物，但大多数时候，他们从家附近的商店买肉、牛奶、水果和其他他们需要的东西。 许多家庭每天都有牛奶和其他食物送到他们家里。 家里有孩子的人可能会一次买四到五夸脱的牛奶。 这是一个五口之家：丈夫、妻子和三个孩子。 男人是女人的丈夫，女人是他的妻子。 他们已经结婚十年了。

23 A milkman put the milk outside their door in the early morning. Milkmen started their work in a great city before it was light. In some parts of the world milk is measured in gallons. Milk is put up in pint and quart bottles or in cartons. In other parts of the world milk is measured in liters. A liter is a little more than a quart.

一个送牛奶的人一大早就把牛奶放在他们的门外。 天还没亮，送奶工就在一个大城市开始了他们的工作。 在世界上的一些地方，牛奶是以加仑为单位计量的。 牛奶装在品脱和夸脱的瓶子里或纸箱里。 在世界其他地方，牛奶用升来计量。 一升比一夸脱稍多一点。

24 In some factories food is put into cans. It is canned. These are machines in a canning factory. Most foods today can be bought in cans. Food stores sell canned soups, meats, fruit and vegetables. Food is canned to keep it from the air. When air can get at it, it quickly goes bad—if it is not kept very cold. Canned food that has gone bad is a poison. Bad food is very bad for people; it poisons them. If they take much of it they may die. After a person dies, he is dead.

在一些工厂里，食品被装入罐头。 它是罐装的。这些是罐头厂的机器。 现在大多数食品都可以买到罐头。 食品店出售罐头汤、肉类、水果和蔬菜。 食物装罐头是为了不接触空气。 当空气接触到它时，如果不保持低温，它很快就会变质。 变质的罐头食品是一种毒药。 变质的食物对人非常有害；它毒害了他们。 如果他们吃太多，他们可能会死。 一个人死后，他就死了。

25 People can have only a few cans of meat and fruit and other things "on hand," as we say, on their shelves. They may have a cupboard with two or three shelves of canned food, but most people have no room for more than that. If supplies do not come into the city day by day their supply of canned food is quickly used up. Many solid and liquid foods are kept in cans. Gas for cooking can be canned and piped to the gas cooker from the can for use.

人们可能只有几罐肉、水果和其他“手头上”的东西，正如我们所说的，在他们的货架上。 他们可能有一个有两到三个架子的罐头食品的橱柜，但大多数人没有更多的空间。 如果补给不能每天进入城市，他们的罐头食品供应很快就会用完。 许多固体和液体食物都保存在罐头里。 烹饪用的煤气可以装在罐头里，然后用管道从罐头里输送到煤气灶里使用。