第二篇 夏季 Summer
原文 Script
Ten Life Hacks You Need To Know For Summer！
The next time you eat a giant hamburger, don't do it like this. The bottoms get soggy and fall apart.Instead, try turning your sandwich upside down.The tops are nearly twice as thick as the bottoms, and a lot more durable.So be smart, and eat your hamburgers upside down.
Have you ever noticed that when you put a straw in a can of soda, it doesn't want to stay?Try bending the tab of the can over the hole and slide your straw down through the tab. No more floating straws because, now, it's held in place.
Grab yourself a mango and try this little trick. Carefully cut off the two sides of the fruit, and hold one piece in your hand.You can gently cut a few lines vertically and a few more across until the pattern resembles a checkerboard.
Now take it with both hands and gently push from the back. You'll see bite-sized pieces pop right up.You can use a spoon to scrape them into a bowl, or just eat them right off the peel.It's fast, easy, and they won't get stuck in your teeth.
If you've got ants and you're looking for a natural form of pest control, try measuring out a cup of popcorn kernels, put them in a blender on high speed for about 30 seconds, and you'll end up with a batch of fresh, homemade cornmeal. Just make a few piles around the ant trails and within a few days, your ant problems will literally disappear.
The next time you're at a party and someone has bags of chips lying around, impress your friends by making them into custom snack bowls.You can fold the top edge inside the bag first, then begin rolling the bottom corners up into the base of the bag, pushing the chips up as you go.You'll end up with a custom snack bowl, with chips overflowing.
It's the season for fruit flies. So before they take over your kitchen, slice a few pieces of banana and mix them with some of your leftover mango peels.Find yourself a couple of small containers and add the fruit.Now just stretch a piece of plastic wrap over the top, and use something like the tip of a chopstick to poke a small hole in the center that's just bigger than the fly.Now you can set it and forget it.
Within a few minutes, the flies will be checking things out.And once one goes in, you can be sure his friends will follow.Within a couple of days, they'll all be having a rocking fruit party.And now you can simply take the lid of the container and press it on, sealing them inside.Now you are the lord of the flies.
Summer means popsicles, and popsicles mean your kids are going to get sticky fingers.Grab a small paper cup, and carefully poke a hole in the bottom about the size of a popsicle stick.Now when you push a popsicle inside, you've got an instant drip catcher and no more sticky fingers.By the way, this works great with cupcake liners as well！
You've probably been to a BBQ where the condiments take up half the table, and the lineups for using them take forever. Solve the problem with a muffin pan.This way your condiments are easy to access and your lines will move along quickly.You'll also dramatically increase your table space and cut down the things to clean up afterward.
When you are at the beach, reduce the chances of things getting stolen by making a covert container. Just take your old shampoo bottle and twist the top so that it pops right off.Clean it out and cut a hole in the top that's just big enough to stash your valuable items inside.
Now you can snap the top back on, and your items are perfectly concealed. Anyone who sees this will just think it's a shampoo bottle, and chances are, nobody's wants to steal your shampoo.
When you need a drink to cool down, hot water can taste disgusting.Try filling your water bottles a quarter of the way, so that when they're on their sides, the water settles just below the bottleneck.Now stick your bottles in the freezer and go on with your day.
When the water is frozen, it will make an ice block on the side of the bottle, but doesn't block the opening.Now when you need to cool off，just take a bottle from the freezer，fill it up with your favorite drink, and you've got an instant, icy cold beverage ready to go.
Well, there are a few tricks to make your summer a little easier.If you liked these projects, perhaps you'll like some of my others.Check them out at thekingofrandom.com.
译文 Translation
夏日大作战！十个实用生活小技巧
下次你吃巨无霸汉堡的时候，不要这样吃，因为底部面包会变得湿软且裂开。换个方式，把汉堡上下颠倒。因为上面的面包几乎是底部的两倍厚，而且结实得多。所以，聪明点，把汉堡上下颠倒过来吃。
你注意过没有？当你把吸管放进一罐汽水里，它不会乖乖地待在里边。试试看，将汽水罐的拉环拉弯到洞口上，把吸管向下穿过拉环放进汽水里。这回，吸管再也不会漂起来了，而是被固定住了。
拿个芒果，试试这个小技巧吧。把芒果的两边仔细切下来，用手托住其中一片，轻轻地切几条垂直的线条，然后再横着切几条线，把它切得像块棋盘一样。
现在双手拿住，轻轻地从后面推一下。你会看到一口大小的果肉块会直接露出来。你可以用汤匙把它们刮进碗里吃，也可以直接从果皮上挖下来吃。这种吃法既快速又简单，还不会塞牙。
如果你家里有蚂蚁，你想找一个天然的防治方法的话，试试看装一杯用来爆爆米花的玉米粒，放进果汁机里高速打大约三十秒的时间，将其打成新鲜的自制玉米粉。只要在蚂蚁经过的路径附近堆上几堆，困扰你的蚂蚁问题将不复存在。
下一次去参加派对，如果有人带来一些袋装的薯条的话，你可以把它们做成自制的零食碗来让你的朋友们惊艳一下。首先把顶端的边缘往袋子内部折，然后把底部的角往袋子的底部卷，边卷边将薯条向上推，你就做成一个自制的零食碗，里边装满了薯条。
现在是果蝇的季节。所以在它们占领你的厨房之前，切几片香蕉，和一些你剩下的芒果皮混在一起。找几个小容器，然后把这些水果放进去。用一片保鲜膜盖在容器上面，用筷子头一类的东西在保鲜膜上戳出一个比果蝇大一点的小洞。放在那里不用管了。
几分钟内，果蝇就会飞过来查看。只要有一只进去了，它的朋友们肯定会跟上的。几天之内，所有的果蝇全都会进来举行一场摇滚水果派对。现在你只需要拿起盖子把容器盖上，把它们封在里头，你就可以主宰这些果蝇的命运了。
夏天是吃棒冰的季节，吃棒冰就意味着你的孩子们的手指会被弄得黏答答。拿一个小纸杯，小心地在底部开一个与棒冰棍大小相同的洞，把棒冰放进去，纸杯就会接住融化滴落的棒冰，孩子的手指就再也不会黏答答的了。顺道一提，用蛋糕纸杯来代替纸杯也很好用！
你去参加野外烧烤，调味料占据了桌子的一大半地方，而使用调味料的人总是排着长队，无穷无尽地等待。把调味料放在玛芬蛋糕烤盘里就能解决这问题。这么一来取调味料就会容易得多，等着取调味料的队伍前进就会很迅速。而且桌子的空间会明显增加，烧烤之后要清理的东西也明显减少了。
去海边玩时，你可以做一个隐蔽的容器来降低东西被偷的几率。拿一个用过的洗发水空瓶子，把盖子扭开，清洗干净，在顶部切开一个大小合适的洞，放入你的贵重物品。
现在把盖子盖上，你的东西便完美地藏起来了。看到这个的人只会觉得这是瓶洗发水，可能没人会偷你的洗发水。
如果你想要喝点饮料来降降温，热水喝起来可是不怎么样。试着在水瓶里装四分之一的水，这样，侧放时，水面会刚好在瓶颈之下。现在把水瓶冷冻上，你就该干啥干啥吧。
当水冷冻后，它会在瓶子侧边形成一块冰砖，但又不会挡住瓶口。现在如果你需要清凉一下，只要从冷冻室拿出一瓶，装上你喜欢的饮料，你可以享受冰凉爽口的冰镇饮料了。
好吧，这就是几个让你的夏日过得轻松些的小秘诀。如果你喜欢的话，也许你也会喜欢我的其他小窍门。到thekingofrandom.com去看看吧。
词汇短语 Words and Phrases
soggy adj.浸水的；透湿的
vertically adj.垂直的，直立的
checkerboard n.棋盘
kernel n.谷粒，果核；核心，要点
literally adv.确实地，准确地；照字面地，逐字地
leftover adj.残余的；吃剩的
condiments n.调味品；佐料
lineup n.阵容；一组人
muffin pan 玛芬蛋糕烤盘
covert adj.隐蔽的；隐秘的
stash vt.隐藏，贮藏；藏匿
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