Popcorn Through the Ages

Popcorn Through the Ages. Written by Keith and Sarah Kordermarten. Focus Question. What do readers learn about the history of popcorn?

爆米花的千年历史 基思·科德马滕、莎拉·科德马滕 著 思考问题 读完本文，你能了解到爆米花的哪些历史呢？

A snack that goes way back. Do you eat popcorn at the movies? People have been eating popcorn in movie theaters since the early 1900s. However, popcorn is much older than the movies. In fact, it's one of the oldest snack foods in the world. The story of popcorn stretches back thousands of years.

一款历史悠久的小零食 你看电影的时候会吃爆米花吗？ 早在20世纪初，人们就开始在电影院吃爆米花了 不过，爆米花的历史可比电影久远多啦 实际上，它是世界上最古老的零食之一 爆米花的故事可以追溯到几千年前

Prehistoric Popcorn People first started growing corn for food in Mexico 8 ,000 to 9 ,000 years ago. Corn spread all over the Americas from there. Ancient Americans ground corn into flour. They also popped corn as a snack.

史前爆米花：八千到九千年前，人类最早在墨西哥种植玉米作为食物 之后玉米从墨西哥传遍了整个美洲 古代美洲人把玉米磨成面粉 他们也会把玉米爆成爆米花当零食吃

Ancient corn cobs and popcorn kernels have survived in caves all over the Americas. A cave in New Mexico called Bat Cave contained corn cobs that may be as much as 4 ,000 years old. Meanwhile, scientists have found 1 ,000 -year -old popped corn in a cave in Utah. Some of this ancient popcorn looks almost fresh. Would you eat popcorn that's been sitting in a cave for a thousand years?

整个美洲的洞穴里都留存着古老的玉米穗和爆米花谷粒 新墨西哥州有一个叫蝙蝠洞的洞穴，里面发现的玉米穗可能已经有四千年历史了 同时，科学家在犹他州的一个洞穴里发现了距今一千年的爆好的爆米花 有些古老的爆米花看起来居然还很新鲜 你敢吃在洞穴里放了一千年的爆米花吗？

Popcorn in the New World European explorers got a surprise in the Americas in the 1600s. Popcorn was a snack they'd never seen before. They found people eating it everywhere, though. Native Americans near the Great Lakes ate popcorn in a soup. People in Peru toasted popcorn and ate it as a snack. The European colonists loved popcorn too. They popped corn over a fire as a snack. Some also ate popcorn for breakfast with cream and sugar. It must have tasted a little bit like our cereal today.

新大陆的爆米花：17世纪，欧洲探险家在美洲有了一个新奇的发现 爆米花是他们从来没见过的零食 但他们发现，美洲到处都有人吃爆米花 五大湖附近的原住民会把爆米花放进汤里吃 秘鲁人会烤爆米花，把它当零食吃 欧洲殖民者也很喜欢爆米花 他们会在火上爆玉米当零食 有些人还会加奶油和糖，把爆米花当早餐吃 它吃起来肯定有点像我们现在吃的谷物麦片

popcorn explodes. Over time, popcorn grew more and more popular. However, it was a snack people usually made for themselves at home, in small amounts. It took time to pop corn in a kettle over a fire. That all changed in 1885, when Charles Kreeters, a Chicago businessman, invented the first popcorn popping machine. His machine popped corn quickly and easily. It also had wheels. As a result, popcorn could be sold on the street at fairs, circuses, and sporting events.

爆米花爆火了 久而久之，爆米花越来越受欢迎 不过那时候，人们通常都是自己在家少量制作爆米花 在火上用锅爆玉米很费时间 1885年，一切都变了：芝加哥商人查尔斯·克里特斯发明了第一台爆米花机 他的机器爆玉米又快又简单 而且机器还带轮子 这样一来，爆米花就可以在集市、马戏团和体育赛事的街边售卖了