2016年06月六级第2套仔细阅读 Passage 2 原文翻译及答案解析

These days, nobody needs to cook. Families graze on high-cholesterol take-aways and microwaved ready-meals. Cooking is an occasional hobby and a vehicle for celebrity chefs. Which makes it odd that the kitchen has become the heart of the modern house: what the great hall was to the medieval castle, the kitchen is to the 21st-century home.

如今，没有人需要烹饪。家庭以高胆固醇的外卖和微波加热的即食餐为主食。烹饪只是一种偶尔的爱好，也是名厨展示的工具。这使得厨房成为现代住宅的核心变得奇怪：就像中世纪城堡的大厅一样，厨房对21世纪的家庭至关重要。

The money spent on kitchens has risen with their status. In America the kitchen market is now worth $170 billion, five times the country's film industry. In the year to August 2007, IKEA, a Swedish furniture chain, sold over one million kitchens worldwide. The average budget for a "major" kitchen overhaul in 2006, calculates Remodeling magazine, was a staggering $54,000; even a "minor" improvement cost on average $18,000.

随着厨房地位的提升，花在厨房上的钱也在增加。在美国，厨房市场现在价值1700亿美元，是该国电影产业的五倍。截至2007年8月的一年内，瑞典家具连锁店宜家在全球售出了超过100万套厨房。《改造》杂志计算，2006年“重大”厨房改造的平均预算高达54,000美元；即使是“小幅”改进，平均也要花费18,000美元。

Exclusivity, more familiar in the world of high fashion, has reached the kitchen: Robinson & Cornish, a British manufacturer of custom-made kitchens, offers a Georgian-style one which would cost £145,000-155,000--excluding building, plumbing and electrical work. Its big selling point is that nobody else will have it: "You won't see this kitchen anywhere else in the world."

排他性，更常见于高端时尚界，如今已延伸到厨房领域：英国定制厨房制造商罗宾逊与康沃尔提供一款乔治亚风格的厨房，价格在145,000至155,000英镑之间——不包括建筑、管道和电气工程。其最大卖点是独一无二：“你在世界其他地方都看不到这个厨房。”

The elevation of the room that once belonged only to the servants to that of a design showcase for the modern family tells the story of a century of social change. Right into the early 20th century, kitchens were smoky, noisy places, generally located underground, or to the back of the house, and as far from living space as possible. That was as it should be: kitchens were for servants, and the aspiring middle classes wanted nothing to do with them.

这个曾经只属于仆人的房间提升为现代家庭的设计展示，讲述了一个世纪的社会变迁故事。直到20世纪早期，厨房还是烟雾缭绕、嘈杂的地方，通常位于地下或房子后部，并尽量远离生活空间。这本应如此：厨房是给仆人用的，而有抱负的中产阶级不想与之有任何瓜葛。

But as the working classes prospered and the servant shortage set in, housekeeping became a matter of interest to the educated classes. One of the pioneers of a radical new way of thinking about the kitchen was Catharine Esther Beecher, sister of Harriet Beecher Stowe. In American Woman's Home, published in 1869, the Beecher sisters recommended a scientific approach to household management, designed to enhance the efficiency of a woman's work and promote order.

但随着工人阶级的繁荣和仆人的短缺，家务管理开始引起知识阶层的兴趣。凯瑟琳·埃斯特·比彻，哈丽特·比彻·斯托的妹妹，是厨房新思维方式的先驱之一。在1869年出版的《美国女性之家》中，比彻姐妹推荐了一种科学的家庭管理方法，旨在提高女性工作效率并促进秩序。

Many contemporary ideas about kitchen design can be traced back to another American, Christine Frederick, who set about enhancing the efficiency of the housewife. Her 1919 work, Household Engineering: Scientific Management in the Home, was based on detailed observation of a housewife's daily routine. She borrowed the principle of efficiency on the factory floor and applied it to domestic tasks on the kitchen floor.

许多关于厨房设计的现代理念可以追溯到另一位美国人克里斯蒂娜·弗雷德里克，她致力于提高家庭主妇的效率。她1919年的著作《家务工程：家庭科学管理》基于对家庭主妇日常活动的详细观察。她借鉴了工厂车间的效率原则，并将其应用于厨房地板上的家务任务。

Frederick's central idea, that "stove, sink and kitchen table must be placed in such a relation that useless steps are avoided entirely", inspired the first fully fitted kitchen, designed in the 1920s by Margarete Schutter-Lihotsky. It was a modernist triumph, and many elements remain central features of today's kitchen.

弗雷德里克的核心观点是“炉灶、水槽和餐桌必须以这样的方式摆放，从而完全避免无用的步骤”，这启发了由玛格丽特·舒特-利霍茨基在20世纪20年代设计的第一个全装配式厨房。这是现代主义的胜利，许多元素至今仍是厨房的核心特征。