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(单词翻译:双击或拖选)
Since the earliest days of the United States, Americans began their days by eating whatever was most easily available. These foods often included bread, eggs or leftovers1 – food left over from the night before.
Today, ease is still an important factor when it comes to breakfast. However, what people eat has changed over time. And some of today’s common breakfast foods, such as cereal, are the result of very effective marketing2.
“Advertising3 was practically invented to sell cereal,” says Heather Arndt Anderson. She is the writer of the book "Breakfast: A History."
Arndt Anderson adds, “One of the first ways advertising was successfully or effectively used was to convince mothers that it was okay for their children to eat these instant cereals. It sort of offered working mothers a chance to let kids take care of themselves in the morning.”
As women entered the workforce4 to help support their families, cereal was a food kids could make on their own.
“That's still sort of the power, really the lasting5 effect of breakfast as being the first meal that kids do learn how to prepare themselves,” Arndt Anderson says.
Advertising also played an important part in orange juice becoming a morning drink. In 1916, farmers grew more oranges than usual, so advertisers began saying, “Drink an orange.” They aimed to persuade people that drinking orange juice was a healthy way to start the day.
Two years later, a worldwide flu epidemic6 caused people to drink more orange juice for its health benefits.
As for coffee, it might have the 1773 Boston Tea Party to thank for its popularity in the United States. In that year, American colonists7 protested British taxation8 by throwing tea into Boston Harbor. In time, coffee became so popular that people traveling to the American West in the 1830s made sure to carry coffee beans on the journey.
Pancakes have also been around for a very long time. Researchers believe the world's oldest naturally preserved human mummy ate a pancake-like food as one of his last meals.
Researchers think pancakes may have been made in the morning because they are much quicker to prepare than bread. Cooks could then have to time to make fresh bread for dinner.
Americans still eat breakfast foods like bread and eggs that their ancestors did. Writer Heather Arndt Anderson notes that people’s concerns about healthy food choices have also stayed the same.
She says the idea of clean eating and healthy eating has been around for hundreds of years. She adds, “The only thing that’s changed has been the details with which we define what these things are — what clean eating is, and being healthy.”
Arndt Anderson hopes more Americans will see leftovers as a breakfast food. She adds that leftovers taste good and are a great way to reduce waste.
I’m Jonathan Evans.
Words in This Story
cereal – n. a breakfast food made from grain
convince – v. to cause someone to believe that something is true
flu epidemic – n. an occurrence in which the influenza9 disease spreads very quickly and affects a large number of people
instant – adj. able to be made very quickly; partially10 prepared by the manufacturer so that final preparation is quick and easy.
prepare – v. to make someone or something ready for some activity, purpose, use, etc.
1 leftovers | |
n.剩余物,残留物,剩菜 | |
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2 marketing | |
n.行销,在市场的买卖,买东西 | |
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3 advertising | |
n.广告业;广告活动 a.广告的;广告业务的 | |
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4 workforce | |
n.劳动大军,劳动力 | |
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5 lasting | |
adj.永久的,永恒的;vbl.持续,维持 | |
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6 epidemic | |
n.流行病;盛行;adj.流行性的,流传极广的 | |
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7 colonists | |
n.殖民地开拓者,移民,殖民地居民( colonist的名词复数 ) | |
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8 taxation | |
n.征税,税收,税金 | |
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9 influenza | |
n.流行性感冒,流感 | |
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10 partially | |
adv.部分地,从某些方面讲 | |
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