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.
salt pan[ ˈsɔlt ˌpæn ] n. 鹽田，鹽場 fall out of favor不再受歡迎 shallow[ ˈʃælo ] a. 淺的，不深的 evaporate[ ɪˈvæpəˌret ]vi. 蒸發 evaporation[ ɪˌvæpəˈreʃən ] n. 蒸發（作用）
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 directlyfrom the ocean, but as Taiwan’s industrialization began, water along the coasts became polluted, making the water unusable for salt production.
close down (...) / close (...) down（令……）停業，倒閉 draw A from B從 B 汲取∕獲取 A industrialization [ ɪnˌdʌstrɪəˈzeʃən ] n. 工業化polluted a. 受汙染的
爬上去看看鹽田美景吧
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!
reliably [ rɪˈlaɪəblɪ ] adv. 可靠地；確實地 by / in comparison (with...)（與……）相比（之下）
文法重點：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：
farther 一般只用來表實際空間距離的「較遠，更遠」。
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。)
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。)
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」。
Do you have any further questions to ask the teacher?(你們還有沒有別的問題要問老師？)
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。)
