主题：中国千年木乃伊与世界最古老奶酪

    摘要：科学家在中国新疆沙漠干尸中发现最古老的奶酪，其历史可追溯至3600年前，并分析确定远古奶酪的制作方法。

　　Now that's vintage! World's oldest cheesediscovered on the chests of 3,500-year-old Chinese MUMMIES.
　　这才叫古老!3500年之久的中国木乃伊身上发现世界上最古老的奶酪。
木乃伊
　　Plenty of cheeses get better with age, butcrumbs discovered on the necks and chests of Chinese mummies are now thought tobe the world’s oldest vintage - although their taste may be questionable.
　　时间越久，奶酪的品质越好，但是中国木乃伊脖子和胸部上发现的奶酪屑被认为是世界上最古老的奶酪——尽管其味道令人怀疑。
　　The cheese dates back to 1,615BC and wasessentially vacuum-packed with the bodies of the mysterious Bronze Age peoplewho were buried in the Taklamakan Desert, making it the oldest ever recovered.
　　该奶酪可追溯至公元前1615年，真空包装在神秘的青铜时代的人物身上，被埋葬在塔克拉玛干沙漠中，这是目前为止发现的最古老的奶酪。

　　While the strange discovery was made in the1930s, scientists have only just analysed the proteins and fats in the clumpsof 3,600-year-old food to reveal its age and ascertain that it is not butter ormilk.
　　虽然发现于1930年代，科学家才只分析了这个块状物中的蛋白质和脂肪成分，才查明已有3600年之久，而且不是黄油或者牛奶。
　　Chemists at Germany's Max Planck Institute of Molecular Cell Biology andGenetics found that the cheese is a lactose-free variety that was quick tomake.
　　德国普朗克分子细胞生物学与遗传学学院的化学家发现这块奶酪不含乳糖，而这种不含乳糖的奶酪可快速制成。
　　It might have been responsible forspreading dairy farming across Asia in the Bronze Age, the said.
　　所以他们认为，青铜器时代的亚洲就是靠这种奶酪而大力发展了乳品业。
　　‘We not only identified the product as theearliest known cheese, but we also have direct evidence of ancient technology,’analytical chemist and study
　　author Andrej Shevchenkotold USA Today.
　　“我们不仅确定了这个奶酪是已知的历史最悠久的奶酪，我们还获得了古老技艺的直接证据，”分析化学家和研究作者Andrej Shevchenko对《今日美国》如是说。
　　The method of making the cheese was cheapand would have been used by common people, he said.
　　制作这种奶酪的方法很廉价，普通人可能都会做，他说。
　　The cheese survived because of the unusual conditions of River Cemetery NumberFive in the Takalamn Desert in north western China – the final resting place ofthe mummies.
　　这块奶酪之所以可以保存下来，是由于塔克拉玛干沙漠中五号河墓的特殊条件导致的——也就是这些木乃伊的安息之地。
　　They and the cheese were laid to rest onsand dunes near a river under large wooden boats wrapped so tightly in cow-hidethat the bodies were essentially vacuum-packed.
　　这些木乃伊和奶酪被放置在靠近一处河流的沙区上，被安放在大型的木船下，用牛皮紧紧包裹着，所以基本上尸体是真空包装的。

　　The mixture of dry desert air and saltysoil preserved the mummies complete with their light brown hair, felt hats andwoollen capes as well as delicate leather boots.
　　干燥的沙漠空气再加上咸性的土壤使得木乃伊得以保存，还有光亮的棕色头发，毡帽，毛织的披风，以及精美的皮靴。
　　Some of the mummies were found to haveunusual crumbs on their necks and chest, which are now known to be cheese andnot butter or milk.
　　一些木乃伊的脖子和胸部上有不寻常的块状物，现在已经确认是奶酪，而非黄油或者牛奶。
　　It is not known why the people were buried with morsels of cheese on them, butmuch as other civilisations buried their dead with wine and bread, the mummy’sancestors might have provided them with cheese for the afterlife.
　　还不知道为什么这些被埋的人身上会有奶酪，正如其他文明中将酒和面包同死人一起埋葬一样，这些木乃伊的祖先可能用奶酪来祭奠自己的来世吧。
　　Analysis of the cheese shows that it wasmade by combining milk with a mixture of bacteria and yeast, similar to thatused to make kefir, which is quite similar to cottage cheese, today.
　　对这些奶酪进行分析后发现其制作原料包括牛奶、细菌和酵母，，类似于(由牛奶发酵而成的)克非尔的做法，有点类似于如今的白软干酪。
　　This is unusual as it is thought thatpeople first stumbled across making cheese by carrying milk in bags made ofanimal guts, which contained rennet that curdled the milk.
　　这非同寻常，因为据认为人们是在偶然的情况下才发明了奶酪：用动物内脏制成的袋子来装运牛奶，而动物内脏含有可凝固牛奶的凝乳酶。
　　As the rennet method of making cheeserequires the killing of an animal, Dr Shevchenko thinks the vegetarian kefirmethod proved easier and cheaper for people at the time.
　　如果要用凝乳酶的办法来制作奶酪的话就需要宰杀动物，Shevchenko博士认为这种类似素食主义克非尔的制作方法对当时的人们来说既简单又廉价。
　　The fact it was so easy and quick meant that it spread the practice of dairyfarming across Asia from its origins in the Middle East, according to thestudy, which will be published in the Journal of Archaeological Science.
　　根据这份研究的说法，由于制作过程简单迅速，酪农业的实践活动从起源地中东地区传播向亚洲其他地区。该研究报告将发布在《考古科学期刊》杂志上。
　　Fragments of cheese-making strainers inPoland, dating back more than 7,000 years, and 5,000-year-old cheese makingtools have previously been discovered in Denmark, proving that our ancestorswere partial to a morsel of cheese or two, bioarchaeologist OliverCraig of the University of York told the publication.
　　先前在波兰发现了制作奶酪的过滤器碎片，可追溯到7000多年前，在丹麦也找到了5000年历史的奶酪制作器具，这些都证明了我们祖先对奶酪的喜好，纽约大学生物考古学家Oliver Craig如是说。
　　But no crumbs of ancient cheese as old asthat found with the mummies have been recovered.
　　但是之前还从来没有在木乃伊身上找到历史如此悠久的奶酪块。
　　Dr Craig is however not convinced as towhether it is possible to confirm that the cheese was made like kefir as theproteins could have decayed too much to be absolutely sure.
　　但是Oliver Craig博士并不确信这种奶酪的制作方法类似于克非尔，因为蛋白质非常有可能腐烂掉。