為吃飯發(fā)愁的時(shí)候，總想能有一種“營(yíng)養(yǎng)藥片”省去吃飯的麻煩，可是當(dāng)這種富含人體所需全部營(yíng)養(yǎng)物的“營(yíng)養(yǎng)飲料”Soylent出現(xiàn)之時(shí)，很多人才發(fā)現(xiàn)其實(shí)吃飯并不只是為了補(bǔ)充能量和攝入營(yíng)養(yǎng)……

Have you ever imagined that one day everything your body needs will come in powder form and all you have to do is add water?
你是否想象過(guò)未來(lái)的某一天，一袋粉末就能提供我們身體每日所需，而我們唯一需要做的就是加點(diǎn)水沖著喝？

Soylent, a drink developed by a group of US engineers, claims it can do just that. It can provide your body with all the nutrients it needs and for as long as you want, you don’t have to eat any other food. This April, Soylent shipped its first batch of products to consumers in the US.
來(lái)自美國(guó)的一個(gè)工程師團(tuán)隊(duì)聲稱(chēng)他們做到了這一點(diǎn)，他們開(kāi)發(fā)出了一款名為Soylent的飲料粉，能為我們的身體提供全部營(yíng)養(yǎng)，而且只要你愿意，食用期間，你無(wú)需再吃其他食物。今年4月，第一批Soylent已經(jīng)送達(dá)到美國(guó)消費(fèi)者手中。

Robert Rhinehart is the 25-year-old co-founder and chief executive of the firm selling the drink. He found himself spending too much time and money searching for nutritious meals while he was working in San Francisco.
25歲的羅伯特•瑞恩哈特正是這家飲料公司的CEO與共同創(chuàng)始人之一。他發(fā)現(xiàn)自己在舊金山工作時(shí)，總是將很多的時(shí)間和金錢(qián)花在尋找營(yíng)養(yǎng)豐富的菜肴上。

An electrical engineering graduate, Rhinehart began to consider food as an engineering problem. “You need amino acids and lipids, not milk itself,” he was quoted as saying by The New Yorker: “You need carbohydrates, not bread.” He began to think that food was an inefficient way of getting what he needed to survive.
于是，這位電子工程專(zhuān)業(yè)的畢業(yè)生開(kāi)始像思考工程問(wèn)題一樣思考起了食物。《紐約客》引用了瑞恩哈特的原話(huà)：“我們需要各種氨基酸和脂肪，而不是牛奶。我們需要的只是碳水化合物，而非面包。”他認(rèn)為通過(guò)攝取食物而獲得生存所需，其實(shí)是一種低效的行為。

He took a break from work and taught himself about nutrition and nutritional biochemistry. Eventually, Rhinehart came up with a list of nutrients required for survival. Then, he ordered them off the Internet — mostly in powder or pill form — and poured everything into a blender, with some water. The result, according to The New Yorker article, looked like gooey lemonade. Then, Rhinehart started living on it. In several interviews, Rhinehart said Soylent changed his life and made him healthier than ever before.
為此，他專(zhuān)門(mén)請(qǐng)假，自學(xué)了營(yíng)養(yǎng)學(xué)與營(yíng)養(yǎng)生物化學(xué)，并最終列出了人類(lèi)生存所需的營(yíng)養(yǎng)清單。隨后，他在網(wǎng)上按照清單購(gòu)買(mǎi)了這些營(yíng)養(yǎng)劑（大都是藥粉或藥片），并將其磨成粉末混合在一起，再加水沖開(kāi)。《紐約客》的文章則將其比作糊狀的檸檬水。自此，瑞恩哈特就開(kāi)始喝Soylent為生，在一些采訪(fǎng)中，他說(shuō)Soylent已經(jīng)改變了他的生活，讓他比以前更健康。

Fast, but no fun
高效卻無(wú)趣

Rhinehart hopes his product can be a game changer in the food business. But Soylent may potentially be good for the environment, too. According to a Guardian article, food production is responsible for 30 percent of greenhouse gas emissions. But to completely replace our daily meal with a bland-tasting drink? Not many people are enthusiastic about the idea.
瑞恩哈特希望他的產(chǎn)品能夠顛覆整個(gè)食品產(chǎn)業(yè)。同時(shí)，Soylent也許會(huì)更加環(huán)保，因?yàn)楦鶕?jù)《衛(wèi)報(bào)》的報(bào)道，制造食品排放的溫室氣體占到溫室氣體總排放量的30%。但是，這種寡淡無(wú)味的飲品真的可以完全代替我們的一日三餐么？很多人并不這么認(rèn)為。

After all, most of us see food as not merely fuel, but also a pleasure. New York Times writer Farhad Manjoo lived largely on Soylent for a week and a half. He declares that “everything about Soylent screams function, not fun,” deeming it “the most joyless new technology to hit the world since we first laid eyes on MS-DOS.”
畢竟，對(duì)于大部分人而言，食物不只是能量來(lái)源，也是人生樂(lè)趣。《紐約時(shí)報(bào)》撰稿人法爾哈德•曼約奧用一周半的時(shí)間體驗(yàn)了Soylent之后，認(rèn)為“Soylent雖然在功能性上登峰造極，但卻毫無(wú)趣味可言”，并將其稱(chēng)為“微軟DOS系統(tǒng)之后影響世界的最無(wú)趣新科技”。

Lizzie Widdicombe, who wrote The New Yorker’s article on Rhinehart, also tried out Soylent. With Soylent, you “cruise” through the day. If you are working at your computer and feel hungry, you don’t have to stop for lunch. You can always be productive.
《紐約客》撰寫(xiě)瑞恩哈特文章的撰稿人莉齊•威特庫(kù)姆也曾嘗試Soylent。她說(shuō)，依靠Soylent，你可以持續(xù)工作一整天，如果你在電腦前工作到饑腸轆轆，你無(wú)需停下吃飯了，只要喝一些Soylent就可以一直高效地工作下去。

And here lies Soylent’s downside, Widdicombe says: “Meals provide punctuation to our lives: we’re constantly recovering from them, anticipating them, riding the emotional ups and downs of a good or a bad sandwich. With a bottle of Soylent on your desk, time stretches before you, featureless and a little sad.”
而Soylent的缺點(diǎn)也正在于此，威特庫(kù)姆寫(xiě)到，“每頓飯就如同為我們生活中的小停頓：讓我們?cè)谝活D飯之后得到恢復(fù)精力和體力。因此我們期待用餐的時(shí)間，因?yàn)槌缘揭粋�(gè)或美味或難吃的三明治而開(kāi)心或難過(guò)。而自從桌上有了一瓶Soylent，時(shí)間就變得平淡無(wú)味，在我們面前延伸而去，想來(lái)反而覺(jué)得有些傷感。”