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Sea-water is salty, and people who live near the sea can get salt by filling shallow ponds with sea-water in summer, when the sun is strong.
海水里面是有盐的。夏天日照很强烈的时候, 住在海边的人, 只要把浅浅的池子灌满海水, 就能得到盐。很快, 太阳的热量会烤干海水, 盐就留在了池塘底部。
Soon the heat of the sun dries up the water, and the solid salt is left at the bottom of the pond. In some places rock-salt is dug in mines, just as we dig our coal. These mines are called salt-mines. The rock-salt is first dissolved in water, and then this water is boiled, and the crystals of salt are left behind. This is to make the salt clean and white.
有些地方, 岩盐是从矿里挖出来的, 就像从煤矿里挖煤一样。这种矿, 叫做“盐矿”。人们先把岩盐溶解在水里, 然后把水烧干, 留下了盐的晶体。这就让盐变得又洁白又干净。
Salt is rubbed over meat and fish to keep them from going bad or rotting. Fresh meat goes bad because very tiny living things, called germs, feed on it. But these tiny germs cannot bear the salt—they cannot live in it. Meat soaked in brine or well rubbed with salt will keep good for a long time.
人们把盐抹在肉和鱼上, 不让肉和鱼变质腐烂。鲜肉会腐烂, 是因为有一些很小的, 名叫“细菌”的生物要吃肉。但这些微小的细菌受不了盐, 在有盐的环境里不能生存。把肉类泡在卤水里面, 或者均匀地涂上盐, 就可以保存很长的时间。
Horses and cattle like salt, and thrive best when they get plenty of it. Farmers often mix salt with their haywhen they are piling it up in stacks for the winter. Sometimes they put a lump of rock-salt in their horse's manger, that he may lick it whenever he likes.
牛马是很喜欢吃盐的, 吃足够的盐就能长得很壮。农民在畜栏里堆上干草, 给它们准备过冬的时候, 经常在干草里放上盐。有时候, 农民还会在马槽里放上一大块岩盐, 牛马什么时候想吃, 都可以舔。
Salt springs and pools are often found in the plains of America and other countries, and wild animals will go many miles to these pools, to drink the salt water, or even to lick the ground, if the spring has run dry.
美国平原上, 还有其他国家, 经常能找到含盐的泉水和池塘。野生动物会走上很多英里的路, 来到盐池旁边喝盐水。如果泉水枯干了, 这些动物可能还会舔地上的土呢！
