How Did People Keep Food Fresh Before Refrigerators?
Can you imagine life before today's modern conveniences?
你能想象没有现代便利设施的生活吗？
Here's an example: Try to picture the world before refrigerators.
举个例子：试着想象冰箱发明之前的世界是什么样。
Life today would be quite different without refrigerators. How did people keep their food fresh before refrigerators were around?
如果没有冰箱，今天的生活将会大不相同。冰箱发明之前，人们是怎样保持食物新鲜的？
The first electric refrigerator was made in 1913. Before then, people found other ways to store their food. In cold areas, ancient people could freeze their food. They could then store it in ice and snow. Warmer places allowed for drying food in sunlight.
One advanced method of food storage arose in Persia around 400 BCE. People there stored food in structures called Yakhchal. These were domed buildings made from mud brick to keep ice frozen during even the warmest summer months.
During the Middle Ages, people preserved meat by salting or smoking it. They would also dry many foods, including grains. Vegetables were often salted or pickled. Many fruits were dried or turned in preserves. These foods could then be stored in cool places, like cellars and caves. This allowed people to save food for times of need during droughts and famines.
在中世纪，人们通过腌制或烟熏来保存肉类。他们也会烘干许多食物，包括谷物。他们会用盐来腌制蔬菜。许多水果被晒干或做成蜜饯。这些食物可以储存在阴凉的地方，比如地窖和山洞。这使得人们能够在干旱和饥荒期间储存粮食以备不时之需。
Later, buildings called ice houses or ice pits built upon the idea of the Yakhchal. They were cooled by an underground pit full of ice. A larger above-ground building covered the pit. Ice houses were very common by the 1800s. This is also when ice delivery became commonplace.
后来，根据Yakhchal的想法，人们开始建造冰屋或冰坑。这种冰屋由一个装满冰的地下坑冷却。而它上面覆盖着一个更大的建筑。冰屋在19世纪随处可见。冰块运送也是在这个时候开始流行起来的。
At the end of the 19th century, many people kept their food fresh in iceboxes made of wood. These cabinets held large blocks of ice to keep food cool. Ice delivery businesses grew as more homes required ice to preserve food.
19世纪末，许多人把食物存放在木制的冰柜里保鲜。这些柜子里装着大块冰块，使食物保持凉爽。随着越来越多的家庭需要用冰块来保存食物，冰块运送业务也随之发展起来。
By the 1930s, many people were using electric refrigerators to keep food fresh.
到了20世纪30年代，许多人开始使用电冰箱来保鲜食物。
Does your family use a refrigerator to keep food fresh? Maybe you even practice other preservation methods.
你们家会用冰箱保鲜食物吗？也许你还有其他保鲜方法。
2026年1月11日于经典龙苑
