3D Food Printing

There's new frontier in 3D printing that's begining to come into focus: food.

3D打印的一个新的前沿领域正成为人们关注的焦点，那就是食物。

Recent development has made possible machines that print, cook, and serve foods on a mass scale.

最近的发展使能大规模打印、烹饪和提供食物的机器成为了可能。

And the industry isn't stopping there.

而且这个行业也没有就此止步。

Food production 食物生产

With a 3D printer, a cook can print complicated chocolate sculptures and beautiful pieces for

decoration on a wedding cake.

有了3D打印机，厨师可以在婚礼蛋糕上打印出复杂的巧克力雕塑和漂亮的装饰物。

Not everybody can do that-it takes years of experience, but a printer makes it easy.

不是任何人都能做到这一点--这需要多年的经验，但是一台打印机让一切变得简单了。

A restaurant in Spain uses a Foodini to" re-create forms and pieces" of food that are

exactly the same," freeing cooks to complete other tasks.

西班牙的一家餐厅用Foodini打印机“重现了完全一样的食物的形式和部件”，解放了厨师，

让他们可以去完成其他任务。

In another restaurant, all of the dishes and desserts it serves are 3D-printed, rather than farm to table.

在另一家餐厅，所有的和甜点都是3D打印提供的，而不是从农场搬到餐桌上的。

Sustainability 可持续性

The global population is expected to grow to 96 billion by 2050, some analysts estimate that

food production will need to be raised by 50 percent to maintain current levels.

预计到2050年，全球人口将增长到96亿，一些分析人士估计，粮食生产量需要提高50%，

才能维持目前的水平。

Sustainability is becoming a necessity. 3D food printing could probably contrubute to the solution.

可持续性迫在眉睫。3D食物打印可能有助于解决这个问题。

Some experts believe printers could use hydrocolloids from plentiful renewables like

algae and grass to replace the familiar ingredients.

一些专家认为，打印机可以使用大量可再生资源中的水状胶体，如藻类和草，来替代常见的材料。

3D printing can reduce fuel use and emissions.

3D打印机可以减少燃料的使用及排放。

Grocery stores of the future might stock "food" that lasts years on end, freeing up shelf space

and reducing transportation and storage requirements.

未来的食品店可能会储存能够保存数年之久的“食物”，从而腾出货架空间，减少运输和储存需求。

Nutrition 营养

Future 3D food printers could make processed food healthier.

未来3D食品打印机将会使加工食品更健康。

Hod Lipson, a professor at Columbia University, said, "Food printing could allow consumer to

print food with customized nutritional content, like vitamins.

哥伦比亚大学的教授胡德·立普森说：“食品打印可以让消费者打印出含有定制营养成分的食品，比如维生素。

So instead of eating a piece of yesterday's bread from the supermarket, you'd eat something

baked just for you on demand."

所以，与其吃一块从超市买的昨天的面包，你还不如吃一些为你量身定做的面包。“

Challenges 挑战

Despite recent advancements in 3D food printing, the industry has many challenges to overcome.

尽管最近3D食品打印技术取得了进展，但该行业仍然要克服许多挑战。

Currently, most ingredients must be changed to a paste before a printer can use them,

and the printing process is quite time-consuming, because ingredients interact with

each other in very complex ways.

目前，在使用打印机之前，大多数原料必须转换成浆糊，而且打印过程非常耗时，

因为成分之间的反应方式非常复杂。

On top of that, most of the 3D food printers now are restricted to dry ingredients, because

meat and milk products may easily go bad.

最重要的是，现在大多数3D食品打印机都被限制在干燥的原料上使用，因为肉类和奶制品很容易变质。

Some experts are skeptical about 3D food printers, believing they are better suited for

fast food restaurants than homes and high-end restaurants.

一些专家对3D食品打印机持怀疑态度，他们认为3D食品打印机比家庭和高级餐厅来说，更适合 快餐店。

2018年天津卷C