Here's the scoop on China's coolest invention
感谢中国发明了冰淇淋！
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.
几周前的一天，万里无云，酷暑难耐，于是我和同事去附近超市买冰淇淋。
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."
回到办公室，我们一头扎进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温利器。我记得我好像说了这么一句话，“幸好你们发明了冰淇淋。”
It was news to my workmates, Chinese and expat alike.
对我的中国同事和外国同事来说，这都是个新闻。
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.
事实上，我只是几天前在英国做一个新闻小测试时发现了这个事实。在清一色的关于英国脱欧的时事幽默和讽刺笑话中，这样一则奇闻脱颖而出：冰淇淋是中国人发明的。
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. 
虽然其他国家很早就喜欢用经过调味的冰来解暑，但历史学家认为冰淇淋起源于唐朝（618 - 907年），唐殇帝是第一个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.
据说，唐殇帝雇用了90多名“冰匠”将牛奶和羊奶、樟脑以及面粉混在一起存放在雪中，这听起来很恶心，和Ben＆Jerry冰淇淋差远了，但这就是冰淇淋的原型。
camphor n. 樟脑
It seems it was pretty popular and murals of the time show ladies of the court with this stuff.
这种甜点（“酥山”）似乎非常受欢迎，当时的壁画也显示出宫廷侍女捧着“酥山”的情形。
壁画中的“酥山”
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).
总之，我不知道自己为什么会如此惊讶，中国明明已经为世界带来了数百项我们使用至今的发明，（我个人最喜欢的是酒、卫生纸和太阳镜。中国人声称足球或蹴鞠也是他们发明的，但作为苏格兰人，我恐怕无法接受）。
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).
我一直以为冰淇淋来自意大利或美国。当然，美国总是喜欢霸占功劳，美国还有全国冰淇淋月，自1984年设立以来每年七月庆祝一次，（我能说什么呢，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.
正如我所说，这一切都发生在几周前。然而真正让我回想起冰淇淋起源史的是上周一条新闻，新闻里说位于西南地区贵州省的梵净山被世界遗产大会认定为世界自然遗产。
梵净山
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.
中国联合国教科文组织全国委员会秘书长秦昌伟告诉新华社，这是国际对中国在保护生态环境和生物多样性方面取得成就的认可。毫无疑问，这很棒，中国当之无愧。
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.
但我想到的却是，冰淇淋呢？冰淇淋不应当成为一种世界遗产吗？自然奇观和文物古迹占据了大半世界遗产名单，但很难想象有哪种发现或发明比冰淇淋给予人类的快乐和幸福还多，人们对冰淇淋的喜爱超越了地域、年龄和文化。冰淇淋就像一个可食用的世界杯。
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，下次在冷冻区找寻解暑的美味冰淇淋时，我会默默地向唐殇帝以及他的冰匠们表示感谢，并希望有一天冰淇淋得到应有的认可。
译者：董晓娜
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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