Most Americans think that ice cream is as American as baseball and apple pie. But ice cream was known long before America was discovered.
The Roman emperor Nero may have made a kind of ice cream. He hired① hundreds of men to bring snow and ice from the mountains. He used it to make cold drinks. Traveler Marco Polo brought back recipes② for chilled and frozen milk from China.
Hundreds of years later， ice cream reached England. It is said that King Charles I enjoyed that treat very much. There is a story that he bribed③ his cook to keep the recipe for ice cream as a royal secret.
Today， ice cream is known throughout the world. Americans alone eat more than two billion quarts④ a year.
① hirev. 雇，雇用
② recipen. 烹饪法；食谱；(糕饼等的)制作法[(+for)]
③ bribev. 向……行贿；收买[(+with/into)]
④ quartn. 夸脱(英美容量或液量单位，=2品脱)
冰淇淋的首创者
大多数美国人认为，冰淇淋像棒球和苹果饼一样，是属于美国的。但是，早在人们发现美洲大陆之前，冰淇淋就已经问世了。
古罗马国王尼禄可能配制过一种冰淇淋。他曾雇用几百人从山上搬来雪和冰，用以制作冷饮料。旅行家马可波罗也曾从中国带回了冷冻奶和冰奶的配方。
几百年后，冰淇淋传到了英国。据说国王查理一世十分欣赏这种食品，他曾贿赂御厨，要他把制作冰淇淋的配方作为皇家秘密，守口如瓶。
今天全世界都知道冰淇淋了，仅美国人一年的消耗量就超过20亿夸脱。