In Busy Silico Vae,Prte Pwd in Demand1

Brian X Chen

Boom times in Silicon Valley call for hard work, and hard work—at least in technology land—means that coders, engineers and venture capitalists are turning to liquid meals with names like Schmoylent,2. boom: 繁荣，景气；coder: 程序员；venture capitalist: 风险投资家。Soylent, Schmilk and People Chow. The protein-packed3. protein-packed: 富含蛋白质的。products that come in powder form are inexpensive and quick and easy to make—just shake with water, or in the case of Schmilk, milk. While athletes and dieters have been drinking their dinner for years, Silicon Valley’s workers are now increasingly chugging their meals, too, so they can get back more quickly to their computer work.4. 运动员和节食者喝液体食物当正餐已经好多年了，现在，越来越多的硅谷员工也开始大口喝液体食物，以便尽快赶回电脑前工作。chug: 一饮而尽，一口喝下。

Demand for some of the powdered drinks, which typically mix nutrients like magnesium, zinc and vitamins,is so high that some engineers report being put on waiting lists ranging from one to six months to receive their first orders.5. 固体饮料（通常含有镁、锌、维生素等营养物）需求量太大，以至于有些工程师表示，他们得等一至六个月才能收到第一批订货。nutrient: 营养素，营养物；magnesium: 镁；zinc: 锌；vitamin:维生素，维他命。And the drinks are taking off across techie social circles.6. 在技术人员社交圈中，这些固体饮料已成热潮。take off: （产品、事业等）腾飞，突然成功；techie: 技术人员，（尤指）计算机从业人员。Venture capitalists have also poured money into the companies that offer the meal replacements, and investors including Alexis Ohanian, a founder of Reddit7. Reddit: 美国一家社交新闻网站。,count themselves as fans of the drinks.

“硅谷”似乎是“忙碌”的代名词，程序员、工程师、风投师……所有人都恨不得永远坐在电脑前工作。吃饭？太浪费时间了！那怎么办？喝固体饮料！于是，含有丰富营养物的固体饮料代替正餐，迅速风靡技术人员社交圈，蛋白粉供应愈来愈紧张，一份订单最快也得等一个月才能到货！快来看看，他们到底有多疯狂——

“My dream in an ideal scenario would be if I could just pick up some at the airport, premade in the refrigerator section,” said Ohanian, who invested in Soylent and treats the drink as a fallback meal.8. scenario: 设想，可能发生的情况； fallback: （计划失败或发生意外时）应变的，备选的。

The entrepreneur, who frequently flies between New York and San Francisco for work, says he will whip up a batch of Soylent and sip it throughout the day when he is too lazy to make something to eat.9. entrepreneur: 企业家；whip up: 很快做好（尤指一顿饭）；a batch of : 一批；sip: 小口地喝，抿。

The rise of the meal replacements mirrors Silicon Valley’s start-up froth—and includes a dose of confidence.10. mirror: 反映；start-up: 开始阶段的； froth: 空谈，空想；a dose of: 一剂，一份。The makers of the new drinks said their products were better than the commercial powders that had been on the market for years, because those tended to have lots of sugar and overemphasised the use of protein.11. tend to: 易于，有……的倾向；overemphasise: 过分强调，过分注重。In contrast,Soylent and Schmoylent are both blends12. blend: 混合品，混合物。of nutrients that would allow one to drink only those meals and live a healthy life, they said.

Rob Rhinehart, a software engineer, said he came up with the idea for Soylent in 2013 while working long hours at a mobile communications company and realising he was eating poorly. He said he wanted to create something that could be “universally applicable13. applicable: 适合的，适用的。”for hard-working people like himself. So he founded Soylent, based in Los Angeles, that year. Orders took off quickly.

The time wasted by eating is, in Silicon Valley parlance, a “pain point” even for the highest echelon of techie.14. 按照在硅谷的说法，就算是对最高级的技术人员而言，浪费在吃上的时间也是一个“痛点”。parlance: 说法，用语；echelon:等级，阶层。

Elon Musk, Tesla’s founder, once said, “If there was a way that I couldn’t eat so I could work more, I would not eat. I wish there was a way to get nutrients without sitting down for a meal,” according to a new book on the entrepreneur.