In the 1960s, during the earliest space flights, no one knew exactly how weightlessness would affect eating and drinking.
早在20世纪60年代,也就是人类最早开始太空飞行时期,没人真正知道失重会对饮食造成多大的影响。
Would food fly off a plate?
食物会不会飞出盘子?
Would astronauts have digestive problems, with no gravity to helpthings along the digestive system?
由于没有重力帮助消化食物,宇航员会不会出现消化不良的问题?
The first astronauts ate rather unappealing food pastessqueezed directly into the mouth from toothpaste-like tubes. Yuck!
第一批宇航员所吃的食物是一些非常难吃的糊状食物,这些食物通过牙膏状的小管被直接挤进宇航员的嘴中。确实够恶心!
Today, astronauts eat a variety of foods like steak, shrimp cocktail, strawberries andbutterscotch pudding.
如今,宇航员的食物选择多种多样,比如牛排、基围虾、草莓和奶油糖果布丁等。
Each food is made as appetizing and simple to prepare as possible.
每样食物要做的尽可能可口并且还要方便食用。
Steak,for example, is cooked here on earth and sealed into a reheatable pack.
例如,牛排会在地球上做好,然后封入一个可加热的食品袋中。
Strawberries are freeze dried, keeping their shape and texture when they're rehydrated.
草莓会被冻干,使得再水化时能够保持原来的形状和口感。
It's easy to get water in space,because the fuel cells that supply electricity for spacecraft produce water as a byproduct.
在太空中喝水很方便,因为燃料电池在为太空飞船供电时产生的副产品就是水。
Containers of food have to be taped, magnetized, or velcroed to trays, and astronauts usuallydine with foot restraints on-unless they feel like floating around!
装食物的容器必须要用胶带封住并被磁化,或者是用魔术贴贴于盘子中。宇航员通常在进餐时会固定住双脚,不然整个人就会漂在空中。
There's usually enough liquidsurface tension to keep food in its container, but bump a plate or fork, and watch your dinnerdrift away!
液体表面的张力通常足以将食物锁定在容器中。但是如果盘子或叉子不小心受到撞击,你就会看到自己的食物开始四处飘浮。
Liquids are even trickier.
液体食物则更加复杂。
Juice won't pour out of a container, but simply stays inside.
果汁不会从容器中自动流出,只是会停留在容器内不动。
If you shook it out, little globs of juice would fly everywhere!
如果你想将它摇出来,果汁会一滴一滴飞得到处都是!
That's why liquids are squirted directly into themouth or sucked in with a straw from a sealed container.
这就是为什么液体食物要被直接送入口中,或者用一根吸管从一个密封的容器中吸出的原因。
Once food is in the mouth, there's noproblem swallowing or digesting.
一旦食物送到嘴中,吞咽和消化就不成问题了。