離開
進入《中英對照讀新聞》Stone-age people were making porridge 32,000 years ago 3萬2000年前石器時代的人類就會煮粥
圖為燕麥粥情境照。（美聯社）
◎國際新聞中心
Going on the palaeo diet? Don’t put down your porridge just yet. Hunter-gatherers ate oats as far back as 32,000 years ago – way before farming took root.
正在進行原始人飲食法？先別放下你的粥，早在3萬2000年前，農耕尚未生根之前，漁獵採集者就會吃燕麥。
This is the earliest known human consumption of oats, say Marta Mariotti Lippi at the University of Florence in Italy and her colleagues, who made the discovery after analysing starch grains on an ancient stone grinding tool from southern Italy.
義大利佛羅倫斯大學的李皮與同僚，分析南義大利古老研磨石具裡的澱粉粒後發現這點，他們說，這是已知人類最早食用燕麥片的案例。
The Palaeolithic people ground up the wild oats to form flour, which they may have boiled or baked into a simple flatbread, says Mariotti Lippi.
李皮說，舊石器時代的人類磨碎野生燕麥來做麵粉，可以拿來煮或是烘焙成簡單的扁麵包。
They also seem to have heated the grains before grinding them, perhaps to dry them out in the colder climate of the time. Mariotti Lippi notes that this would also have made the grain easier to grind and longer-lasting.
他們似乎還會在磨之前加熱穀物，或許是要加以乾燥，以因應天氣變冷。李皮指出，這也可能讓穀物更容易磨碎，保存更長時間。
This multi-stage process would have been time consuming, but beneficial. The grain is nutritionally valuable, and turning it into flour would have been a good way to transport it, which was important for Palaeolithic nomads, she says.
她說，這種多階段的過程很耗時間，但有不少好處。穀類有營養價值，磨成麵粉也比較好搬運，這對石器時代的遊牧民族非常重要。
新聞辭典
take root：片語，生根。例句：Communism has never really taken root in England.（共產主義從未真正在英格蘭扎根。）
grind：動詞，磨碎。例句：Shall I grind a little black pepper over your pizza?（要不要我幫你磨點黑胡椒灑在披薩上？）
beneficial：形容詞，有益的。例句：A stay in the country will be beneficial to his health.（在鄉下生活對他的身體有幫助。）
