Salt Rocks!

Salt Rocks. Written by Joan Link. Illustrated by Len Epstein.

《盐岩》 撰文：琼·林克 绘图：莱恩·爱泼斯坦

Take it with a grain of salt. If your friends told you to eat rocks, would you? Perhaps you would take what they say with a grain of salt. This means that you should not trust that everything you hear is true. When you eat salt, you actually are eating a rock. Well, it's a mineral to be more exact. It comes in little crystals. Hey, my name is Crystal too. It may surprise you to learn just how important this little white mineral can be. Well, you're about to read a whole book on it.

打个折扣听一听。 要是朋友叫你吃石头，你会照做吗？ 大概你会对他们说的话打个折扣，不全信吧。 意思就是说，不能听到什么就全信是真的。 其实你吃盐的时候，就是在吃一种石头哦。 说得更准确一点，它是一种矿物质。 它是小小的晶体形态。 嘿，我的名字也叫克丽丝朵哦！ 这种小小的白色矿物的重要性，说出来可能会吓你一跳。 接下来，咱们整本都来讲讲它。

First of all, there is salt in your body right now. In fact, without salt, you would die. People and animals need salt to live. Your body uses salt to make your muscles move and to help your blood flow. Salt also helps you make good use of the food you eat and controls the water inside you. It even keeps your heart beating. If you have too little salt in you, you may feel tired or dizzy. But putting too much salt inside you can make you sick. Over many years, too much salt can make your heart and other parts of your body weak.

首先，你的身体里现在就含有盐哦。 事实上，没有盐，人就活不下去。 人和动物都需要盐才能生存。 你的身体靠盐让肌肉活动，还能帮助血液流动。 盐还能帮身体更好地吸收食物，调节体内的水分。 它甚至还能维持心脏跳动呢。 如果身体里盐太少，你会觉得疲惫或是头晕。 但盐吃太多也会让人生病哦。 长期吃太多盐，会让心脏和其他身体器官变得虚弱。

Many foods already have a lot of salt in them, but sometimes people add more salt for seasoning. Salt is not known as a spice because it does not come from a plant, but salt and spices both add flavor to food. Sodium is another word for salt. One little spoonful of salt has as much sodium as your body needs for a whole day. The label on a food or drink package tells you how much sodium it has. If there is a lot of salt, there will be a lot of sodium. A lot of people try to eat foods low in sodium. They know that too much of it can be harmful. You may have seen foods marked low in sodium.

很多食物本身就含有不少盐，不过人们有时还会再加盐调味。 盐不算香料，因为它不是来自植物，但盐和香料都能给食物提味。 钠，就是盐的另一个称呼哦。 一小勺盐含有的钠，就够你的身体用一整天了。 食品饮料包装上的标签，会标注它的钠含量。 盐多的话，钠含量自然就高。 很多人都会尽量吃低钠食物。 他们知道钠吃多了对身体有害。 你肯定也见过标注低钠的食品吧。

Don't rub salt in the wound. Salt can do much more than make food taste better. A common use is to keep food from spoiling. Long ago, there were no refrigerators or cans to keep food fresh. So people put salt on meat and soaked vegetables in salt water. It helped them preserve the food so they could eat it later. But be aware, salt is not a magic tool. Once a food spoils, salt will not make it safe to eat again.

别往伤口上撒盐。 盐除了让食物更好吃，还有好多别的用处呢。 最常见的用处就是防止食物变质。 很久很久以前，还没有冰箱和罐头来保鲜食物。 所以人们会给肉抹盐，把蔬菜泡在盐水里。 这样就能保存食物，留到之后再吃啦。 不过要记住，盐可不是什么魔法工具。 食物一旦坏掉，盐也没法让它变回能安全食用的样子。

Would you put salt in your milk? Probably not. People once tried to keep milk from going bad by adding salt to it. Yuck. This did not work very well. Fortunately, we have discovered many other uses for salt.

你会往牛奶里加盐吗？ 大概不会吧。 从前人们也试过往牛奶里加盐来保鲜哦。 太难喝啦！ 这个方法一点都不好用。 幸好，我们已经发现了盐的许许多多其他用途。