Taiwanese used salt pans▼ to produce salt for hundreds of years, but they eventually fell out of favor. 臺灣人用鹽田來產鹽已有數百年歷史，但最終它們還是逐漸落沒。
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Salt is found in almost everything you eat, but have you ever wondered how it’s made? Long ago, Taiwanese used to boil seawater until only the salt remained. Another method for making salt was to use salt pans. These were shallow fields filled with seawater. The water in the fields would gradually evaporate, leaving salt behind. Taiwanese used salt pans to produce salt for hundreds of years. But in 2002, Taiwan’s last salt pan, called Cigu Salt Field, closed down. Salt pans fell out of favor for several reasons. Traditional salt pans draw water directly from the ocean, but as Taiwan’s industrialization▼ began, water along the coasts became polluted, making the water unusable for salt production. Factories, on the other hand, can use pipes to draw clean water from farther off the coast. Salt pans also don’t produce salt as reliably as factories. The seawater in salt pans is exposed to the weather for over 20 days. Any rain during this period will cause the evaporation process to take even longer. A factory, by comparison, can produce salt in only eight to 10 hours!
1. fall out of favor 不再受歡迎 The actor fell out of favor because he made too many bad movies. 那名男演員因為拍了太多部爛片而不再受影迷喜愛。 2. shallow a. 淺的，不深的 No diving is allowed in the shallow end of the pool. 游泳池較淺的那一端不准跳水。 3. evaporate vi. 蒸發 evaporation n. 蒸發（作用） The dewdrops on the petal evaporated after the sun came up. 太陽升起後，花瓣上的那些露珠就蒸發了。 * dewdrop n. 露珠 * petal n. 花瓣 4. close down (...) / close (...) down （令……）停業，倒閉 The company has decided to close down its Paris branch next year. 那間公司決定明年要收掉巴黎分處。 5. draw A from B 從 B 汲取／獲取 A Plants grow by drawing nutrients from soil. 植物會藉由從土壤吸取養分來成長。 * nutrient n. 養分；營養物 6. polluted a. 受汙染的 The campers got very sick from drinking water from the polluted river. 那些露營者因為喝了被汙染的河水而生重病。 7. reliably adv. 可靠地；確實地 This app can quickly and reliably find and correct spelling errors. 這個應用程式可以迅速並確實地尋找且訂正拼字錯誤。 8. by / in comparison (with...) （與……）相比（之下） In comparison with Asians, Europeans eat far less fish. 跟亞洲人相比，歐洲人魚吃得少很多。
▼ salt pan n. 鹽田，鹽場 ▼ industrialization n. 工業化
farther vs. further farther 和 further 同為 far 的比較級，可作形容詞和副詞用，但兩者到底有何差別呢？以下就為各位解釋清楚： 1. farther 一般只用來表實際空間距離的「較遠，更遠」。 例 You can find history novels at the farther end of the library 你可以在圖書館較遠的那一端找到歷史小說。 例 Jason can’t walk any farther without a rest. 再不休息一下，傑森連一步都走不動了。 2. further 除了同 farther 表實際距離的「較遠，更遠」外，還可用來指抽象的距離，表「時間、數量、程度」等方面「更遠的／地」或「進一步的／地」，此外，作形容詞時還可表「更多的；另外的」。 例 Do you have any further questions to ask the teacher? 你們還有沒有別的問題要問老師？ 例 We discussed the problem, but we didn’t get much further in actually solving it. 我們雖然討論了這個問題，但在實際解決方面並沒有更進一步的進展。
