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Another telling experiment, conducted on rats, did not rely on cooking. Rather the experimenters ground up food pellets and then recompacted them to make them softer. Rats fed on the softer pellets weighed 30% more after 26 weeks than those fed the same weight of standard pellets. The difference was because of the lower cost of digestion. Indeed, Dr Wrangham suspects the main cause of the modern epidemic of obesity is not overeating (which the evidence suggestsin America, at leastis a myth) but the rise of processed foods. These are softer, because that is what people prefer. Indeed, the nerves from the taste buds meet in a part of the brain called the amygdala with nerves that convey information on the softness of food. It is only after these two qualities have been compared that the brain assesses how pleasant a mouthful actually is.
The archaeological evidence for ancient cookery is equivocal. Digs show that both modern humans and Neanderthals controlled fire in a way that almost certainly means they could cook, and did so at least 200,000 years ago. Since the last common ancestor of the two species lived more than 400,000 years ago (see following story) fire-control is probably at least as old as that, for they lived in different parts of the world, and so could not have copied each other.
Older alleged sites of human fires are more susceptible to other interpretations, but they do exist, including ones that go back to the beginning of Homo erectus. And traces of fire are easily wiped out, so the lack of direct evidence for them is no surprise. Instead, Dr Wrangham is relying on a compelling chain of logic. And in doing so he may have cast light not only on what made humanity, but on one of the threats it faces today.

A. 어휘
telling 보여주는, 明示(명시)하는. rely on ...에 의존하다. rather 오히려.
grind-ground-ground 빻다, 연마하다. pellet 작은 알, 작은 알약.
recompact 압축하여 잘게 만들다. feed-fed-fed 먹이다.
suspect ...이 아닌가 하고 생각하다. epidemic 유행병. obesity 비만. rise 상승, 증가.
processed foods 가공식품. taste buds 味"174;(미뢰), 맛 봉오리(혀의 미각 기관).
amygdala 扁桃(편도). convey 전달하다. assess 평가하다. mouthful 한 입(의 분량).
archaeological 고고학적. equivocal 분명하지 않은, 애매한. dig 고고학적 발굴.
Neanderthals 구석기시대에 유럽에 살고 있던 인류. ancestor 조상.
alleged sites 주장되는 장소. cf. allege 주장하다.
susceptible 영향 받기 쉬운, 민감한, 가능한, 허용하는. interpretation 해석.
trace 흔적. wipe out 파괴하다, 닦아 내다. compelling 강제적인, 마음을 끄는.
logic 논리. cast-cast-cast 던지다.

B. 구문
- Rats fed on the softer pellets . . . the same weight of standard pellets.
cf. Rats fed→Rats who were fed. those fed→those who were fed.
[26주 후에 보다 더 부드러운 작은 알(식품)을 먹인 쥐들은 같은 양의 표준 식품을 먹인 쥐보다도 체중이 30% 더 많이 나갔다.]
- could not have copied each other.
cf. could+have+pp.=...했을 리가 없다.