the omnivore's dilemma
刚刚开个头，这本书应该是比较科普类的作品，讲我们三餐的来历，主要分了三个版块来展开，比较期待。
第一章的标题是：THE PLANT --- Corn's Conquest
从标题我们就能看出，玉米之征服，其实整个章节大致都在讲，我们吃的东西、用的东西怎么来的，其中有很大比例都是玉米。
expressions
seemingly
This book is a long and fairly involved answer to this seemingly simple question.
adv 似乎，表面上，看起来
venerable
For me the absurdity of the situation became inescapable in the fall of 2002, when one of the most ancient and venerable staples of human life abruptly disappeared from American dinner table.
这里venerable 和 ancient其实是并列表示历史悠久的意思，本身的意思是令人尊敬的。
staple 订书钉，这里指主食。
supplant
取代，take the place of
hold sway 掌权
fluorescent
adj. 荧光的；萤光的；发亮的
n. 荧光；日光灯
teem
And yet what is this place if not a landscape teeming with plants and animals?
V-I If you say that a placeis teemingwithpeople or animals, you mean that it is crowded and the people and animals are moving around a lot. 挤满
例句：For most of the year, the area is teeming with tourists.
legible
Ecologically speaking, these are this landscape's most legible zones.
ADJ Legible writing is clear enough to read. (字迹)清晰可辨的
例句：My handwriting isn't very legible.
例： ...a barely legible sign.
spritz
Spritzed with morning dew every few minutes.
v.
1. eject (a liquid) quickly
2. cover (a location) wholly or partially by squirting a liquid onto it
例句："spritz water on a surface"
produce
N-UNCOUNTProduceis fruit and vegetables that are grown in large quantities to be sold. 农产品
farm produce
dairy produce
native produce
apt
Produce is the only corner of the supermarket where we're apt to think "Ah, yes, the bounty of Nature!"
1. ADJ Anaptremark, description, or choice is especially suitable. 恰当的
例句：The words of this report are as apt today as in 1929.
2. aptly ADV 恰当地
例句： ..the beach in the aptly named town of Oceanside.
3. ADJ If someone isapttodo something, they often do it and so it is likely that they will do it again. 易于…的
例句： She was apt to raise her voice and wave her hands about.
ADJ Anaptstudent is intelligent and able to understand things easily. 聪慧的
例句： She had taught him French and he had been an apt student.
euphemism
n. 委婉语
seep
In recent years some of this supermarket euphemism has seeped into Produce, where you'll now find formerly soil-encrusted potatoes cubed pristine white, and "baby" carrots machine-lathed into neatly tapered torpedoes.
V-I If something such as information or an emotionseepsinto or out of a place, it enters or leaves it gradually. 逐渐外泄; 逐渐进入
pristine
ADJPristinethings are extremely clean or new. 崭新的
taper
1. If somethingtapers, or if youtaperit, it becomes gradually thinner at one end. 使逐渐变细; 逐渐变细
例句： Unlike other trees, it doesn't taper very much. It stays fat all the way up.
2. tapered ADJ 锥形的
例句： ...the elegantly tapered legs of the dressing-table.
offhand
Twinkie is constructed out of ... well, precisely what I don't know offhand, but ultimately some sort of formerly living creature,i.e., a species.
1. ADJ If you say that someone is being offhand, you are critical of them for being unfriendly or impolite, and not showing any interest in what other people are doing or saying. 不友好的; 不礼貌的; 漫不经心的
例句：Consumers found the attitude of its staff offhand and generally offensive to the paying customer.
2. ADV If you say something offhand, you say it without checking the details or facts of it. 未经核实地
例句： "Have they done the repairs?"—"Can't say off-hand, but I doubt it."
We haven't yet begun to synthesize our foods from petroleum, at least not directly.
作者的话很有趣，但感觉也很无奈。
provenance
N-VAR The provenance of something is the place that it comes from or that it originally came from. 出处 [正式]
culminate
When I started trying to follow the industrial food chain --- the one taht now feeds most of us most of the time and typically culminates either in a supermarket or fast-food meal --- I expected that my investigations would lead me to a wide variety of places.
V-I If you say that an activity, process, or series of events culminates in or with a particular event, you mean that event happens at the end of it. 以…告终; 结果成为
ferment
If a food, drink, or other natural substance ferments, or if it is fermented, a chemical change takes place in it so that alcohol is produced. This process forms part of the production of alcoholic drinks such as wine and beer. 使发酵; 发酵
植物
radicchio
N-UNCOUNT Radicchio is a vegetable with purple and white leaves that is usually eaten raw in salads. 菊苣
starch
Starch is a substance that is found in foods such as bread, potatoes, pasta, and rice and gives you energy. 淀粉
batter
Batter is a mixture of flour, eggs, and milk that is used in cooking. (面粉、蛋和牛奶混合成的) 糊
lecithin
卵磷脂
fructose
果糖；左旋糖
triglyceride
甘油三酸酯
glucose
Glucose is a type of sugar that gives you energy. 葡萄糖
等于dextrose 右旋糖
maltodextrin
麦芽糖糊精
maltose
麦芽糖
dextrin
糊精
ascorbic
n. 抗坏血病
adj. 维生素C的；抗坏血病的
polyol
n. 多元醇；多羟基化合物
