Here's the scoop on China's coolest invention

感謝中國發(fā)明了冰淇淋！

A few weeks ago, under a cloudless sky and with the summer really starting to crank up the heat, some colleagues and I headed to a nearby supermarket for ice cream.

幾周前的一天，萬里無云，酷暑難耐，于是我和同事去附近超市買冰淇淋。

Back at the office, we wolfed into our rapidly melting treats, the perfect tonic to the temperature. I remember saying something along the lines of, "I'm so glad you guys invented this stuff."

回到辦公室，我們一頭扎進(jìn)快速融化的冰淇淋里狼吞虎咽，不禁感慨冰淇淋真是完美的降溫利器。我記得我好像說了這么一句話，“幸好你們發(fā)明了冰淇淋?！?/span>

It was news to my workmates, Chinese and expat alike.

對我的中國同事和外國同事來說，這都是個(gè)新聞。

In truth, I'd only made the discovery myself a couple of days previously while catching up with a news quiz from back home in the UK. Amid the topical humor and snarky jokes about Brexit came the following gem: Ice cream was invented in China.

事實(shí)上，我只是幾天前在英國做一個(gè)新聞小測試時(shí)發(fā)現(xiàn)了這個(gè)事實(shí)。在清一色的關(guān)于英國脫歐的時(shí)事幽默和諷刺笑話中，這樣一則奇聞脫穎而出：冰淇淋是中國人發(fā)明的。

Although other cultures had been partial to chilling out with flavored ice, historians reckon ice cream's ancient ancestor was born during the Tang Dynasty (618 — 907), when the emperors became the first to add milk to their concoctions. 

雖然其他國家很早就喜歡用經(jīng)過調(diào)味的冰來解暑，但歷史學(xué)家認(rèn)為冰淇淋起源于唐朝（618 - 907年），唐殤帝是第一個(gè)在冰混合物中添加牛奶的人。

Apparently, the Emperor Shang employed more than 90 "icemen" to mix buffalo and goat milk, camphor and flour and store it in snow, which sounds pretty disgusting and a long way from a tub of Ben&Jerry's but there you go.

據(jù)說，唐殤帝雇用了90多名“冰匠”將牛奶和羊奶、樟腦以及面粉混在一起存放在雪中，這聽起來很惡心，和Ben＆Jerry冰淇淋差遠(yuǎn)了，但這就是冰淇淋的原型。

camphor n. 樟腦

It seems it was pretty popular and murals of the time show ladies of the court with this stuff.

這種甜點(diǎn)（“酥山”）似乎非常受歡迎，當(dāng)時(shí)的壁畫也顯示出宮廷侍女捧著“酥山”的情形。

Anyway, I'm not sure why I was surprised by this, considering China has brought the world hundreds of inventions we use to this day (my personal favorites are alcohol, toilet paper and sunglasses. Soccer, or cuju, is also claimed but as a Scot I'm afraid I can't accept this).

總之，我不知道自己為什么會如此驚訝，中國明明已經(jīng)為世界帶來了數(shù)百項(xiàng)我們使用至今的發(fā)明，（我個(gè)人最喜歡的是酒、衛(wèi)生紙和太陽鏡。中國人聲稱足球或蹴鞠也是他們發(fā)明的，但作為蘇格蘭人，我恐怕無法接受）。

I suppose I'd always thought it came from Italy or the United States. Certainly the US likes to grab some of the credit and as you listen to this is celebrating National Ice Cream Month, which has been held every July since 1984 (what can I say, I've been reading way too much about ice cream lately).

我一直以為冰淇淋來自意大利或美國。當(dāng)然，美國總是喜歡霸占功勞，美國還有全國冰淇淋月，自1984年設(shè)立以來每年七月慶祝一次，（我能說什么呢，我最近可是一直在研究冰淇淋）。

As I said, this all happened a few weeks ago. However, it was back on my mind last week with the news that Mount Fanjingshan, in the southwestern province of Guizhou, had been given world heritage status.

正如我所說，這一切都發(fā)生在幾周前。然而真正讓我回想起冰淇淋起源史的是上周一條新聞，新聞里說位于西南地區(qū)貴州省的梵凈山被世界遺產(chǎn)大會認(rèn)定為世界自然遺產(chǎn)。

Qin Changwei, secretary-general of China's National Commission for UNESCO, told Xinhua News Agency that the award was an international acknowledgement of the achievement the country has made in protecting the ecological environment and biological diversity. Which is awesome, no question, and all credit is due.

中國聯(lián)合國教科文組織全國委員會秘書長秦昌偉告訴新華社，這是國際對中國在保護(hù)生態(tài)環(huán)境和生物多樣性方面取得成就的認(rèn)可。毫無疑問，這很棒，中國當(dāng)之無愧。

But all I could think was, so what about ice cream? Doesn't it deserve some kind of heritage status? Natural wonders and feats of human engineering hog most of the attention, but it's hard to think of an innovation that has given more joy and happiness than ice cream, beloved across age groups, cultures and continents. It's like an edible World Cup.

但我想到的卻是，冰淇淋呢？冰淇淋不應(yīng)當(dāng)成為一種世界遺產(chǎn)嗎？自然奇觀和文物古跡占據(jù)了大半世界遺產(chǎn)名單，但很難想象有哪種發(fā)現(xiàn)或發(fā)明比冰淇淋給予人類的快樂和幸福還多，人們對冰淇淋的喜愛超越了地域、年齡和文化。冰淇淋就像一個(gè)可食用的世界杯。

So the next time I'm in the freezer section, seeking sweet relief from the sticky summer, I'll be giving a silent thank you to the Emperor Shang and his icemen. And hoping those cool dudes one day get the recognition they deserve.

因此，下次在冷凍區(qū)找尋解暑的美味冰淇淋時(shí)，我會默默地向唐殤帝以及他的冰匠們表示感謝，并希望有一天冰淇淋得到應(yīng)有的認(rèn)可。

                                                                                                     譯者：董曉娜

About the author & broadcaster

Graeme Elder was born in Scotland and after studying journalism in Glasgow has worked in newspapers in various parts of the world for more years than he cares to think about. He spends most of his spare time trying to finish writing a series of novels for teenagers and worrying about the Juventus midfield. He apologizes for the beard.

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