3. Does easier-prepared food improve the way people live?

People today can prepare their meal much easier than has ever been before. To prepare a single dinner, provident housewives usually had to work for hours in the past: they had to buy home dirty vegetables which had to wash, meat which had to slice, and so on so forth. Each and every step of preparation was a time-consuming task. But now, things are entirely different. Supermarkets provide vegetables and meat clean and neat, some of them even have relevant ingredients and need only a few minutes to be made into delicious meals. And this change has indeed greatly improved the way people live.

In a sense, food preparation is no longer a tedious task, at least much easier to tolerate. Such a change has liberated many women and given them chance to do more meaningful things, for example, a higher pay job or a more respectful one. On the other hand, more men are becoming willing to do the thing that they once hated so much, and in some cases such transformation of men brought dramatic positive impact on the family. Today, it's not hard to imagine a wife comes home after a day's hard work and how delightful she is to find out his husband has already prepared her several her favorite dishes! Children can more easily become independent—at least they can make themselves breakfasts or dinners when parents are occasionally not present.

But such a change has also brought some unexpected consequences. Girls nowadays are becoming more and more reluctant to deem household work as their responsibility. The reason is quite straightforward: it was once really ridiculous to insist men do trivial household work rather than go work and earn money to support family, but conditions have altered now, girls might think: "I can work as well, or maybe I can earn a higher salary than you do, dear boy friend, if you want to marry me, answer me one question first, will you prepare me breakfast and dinner every day?" And some boys, on the other hand, are becoming hesitant to get married, or simply remain solitary, among miscellaneous reasons they do so is one thing: "I can take care of myself, at least I don't really need someone prepare me dinner!"

Anyway, such a change is positive and it did improve the quality of people's life. At least it has brought girls, boys, husbands, wives, children and everyone else who has to prepare food an opportunity, no matter what kind of opportunity it is.

译文

3. 更易准备的食物改进了人们的生活方式吗？

人们现在准备饭菜比以前容易多了。过去为了准备一顿正餐，有远见的家庭主妇们也需要准备几个小时：她们不得不买回那些必须要洗的脏蔬菜、必须要切的肉等等诸如此类。每一步准备工作都是耗费时间的任务。但是现在，事情变得完全不同了。超级市场供应干净整洁的蔬菜和肉类，有些还带有相关的配料，只需几分钟就可以做成美餐。这种改变在很大程度上改进了人们的生活方式。

在某种意义上来说，准备食物已经不再是一项单调乏味的工作，至少更容易忍受些。这种变化解放了很多妇女，使她们有机会做一些更有意义的事，例如一份薪水更高或更体面的工作。另一方面，很多男性变得愿意去做这项他们一度十分厌恶的事。在有些情况下，男性的这种转变为家庭带来了戏剧性的积极影响。今天，不难想像当一位妻子在一天的劳累工作之后回到家里，发现丈夫已经为她准备好了好几道她爱吃的菜，她该有多高兴。孩子也更容易变得独立——至少在家长偶尔不在的时候他们可以自己做早餐或正餐。

但是这种变化也带来了一些意想不到的后果。现在的女孩们变得越来越不愿意将家务活看成自己的责任。原因很简单：坚持让男人做一些琐碎的家务活儿而不是出去挣钱养家曾被一度认为是很荒谬的，但情况现在已经改变了。女孩们会想：“我也同样可以工作，或许我拿的工资可以比你挣的更高，亲爱的男友，假如想娶我就先回答一个问题，你愿意每天给我准备早饭和正餐吗？”另一方面，有些男孩子在结婚还是保持单身上犹豫不决，众多原因中有一：“我可以照顾自己，至少我并不需要有人给我准备正餐！”

总之，这种改变是积极的，它确实提高了人们的生活质量。它至少为女孩、男孩、丈夫、妻子、孩子或其他需要准备食物的人提供了机会，无论它是什么样的机会。

Word List

• provident ［ˈpra:vidənt］ adj. 有远见的
• straightforward ［streitˈfɔ:wəd］adj. 简单的，易懂的
• ingredient ［inˈgri:diənt］ n. 配方
• slice ［slais］ v.切（片）
• ridiculous ［riˈdikjələs］ adj. 荒谬的
• delicious ［diˈliʃəs］ adj. 美味的
• consequence ［ˈka:nsiˌkwens］ n. 结果
• tedious ［ˈti:diəs］ adj. 单调乏味的
• solitary ［ˈsa:ləteri］ adj. 孤独的，单身的
• transformation ［ˌtrænsfəˈmeiʃən］n. 变化，转化
• positive ［ˈpa:zitiv］ adj. 积极的