You've just opened a bottle of wine for dinner.

设想一下，你在晚餐时刚刚打开了一瓶酒，

On the label,you see these words: Contains Sulfites.

你会在酒瓶的标签上看到：含亚硫酸盐。

What are sulfites?

亚硫酸盐是什么?

And what are they doing in your wine?

这些成分在你的酒中发挥什么样的作用呢?

Sulfites are chemical compounds found naturally ingrapes, garlic and other plants.

亚硫酸盐是在葡萄，大蒜和其他植物中常见的一种化合物。

Thousands ofyears ago, people realized something nifty about sulfites: they kill or slow thegrowth of bacteriaand most yeasts.

几千年前，人们就发现了亚硫酸盐的一些妙用：它们能杀死细菌，或者降低细菌滋生和发酵的速度。

This comes in handy for winemakers, who add specific yeasts to ferment wine,and don't wantwild yeasts or bacteria to spoil it.

这个发现对于酿酒师来说是非常重要的，他们通常会在酒中加一些特定的酵母使酒发酵，但是同时，他们又不想野生酵母和细菌破坏了这个过程。

Sulfites prevent spoilage in wine, acting as apreservative.

而亚硫酸盐就能阻止酒的腐坏，在其中发挥了防腐剂的作用。

The amount of sulfites naturally in grapes is very small, and there's a bit more producedduringfermentation.

葡萄中含有亚硫酸盐的量非常少，在发酵过程中数量会有稍许的增加。

But to take full advantage of sulfites' preservative abilities, winemakers add a littlemore tothe process.

但是，为了有效利用亚硫酸盐的防腐作用，酿酒师们通常会在酿酒过程中多添加一点点亚硫酸盐。

The Egyptians sterilized wine containers with sulfites, and sulfites have beenadded to wine forhundreds of years.

埃及人也曾使用亚硫酸盐对酒类容器进行杀菌，而且，亚硫酸盐被添加进入酒类也已经有了几百年历史了。

So the relationship between wine and sulfites goes way back.

因此，酒和亚硫酸盐的关系其实可以回溯到很久很久以前。

But in 1985, the Food and DrugAdministration required wine with added sulfites to say so onthe label. Why?

但在1985年，食品与药品管理局要求，若酒类有添加亚硫酸盐，需要在标签上注明，为什么?

Researchers had recently discovered that less than one percent of the population is sensitivetosulfites.

因为有研究人员之前发现，有不到1%的人会对亚硫酸盐产生过敏反应，

Most have mild reactions, like an itchy rash.

虽然多数人的反应比较轻微，比如说会起很痒的皮疹，

But some folks have life-threatening reactions,including difficulty breathing and low bloodpressure.

但有部分人的过敏反应会威胁到生命安全，这些反应包括呼吸困难或低血压等。

These rare but serious reactions are most often seen in asthmatics.

我们经常会在哮喘症患者身上看到这些少有但严重的反应。

Not all asthmatics are sensitiveto sulfites, but the label's there for those who need to steerclear.

其实，也并不是所有的哮喘症患者都会对亚硫酸盐过敏，标签上的说明只是为了警示需要注意的人避开这些成分。

As the old saying goes, inwine–and now on the label–there is truth!

就像老话常说的那样，酒后，现在是标注在标签上吐真言!