美文選刊｜朋友，喜歡喝咖啡嗎？

Oil is valuable. In fact, it is so valuable that it’s often called black gold. However, oil isn’t the only liquid to hold this title. Coming in[1] as the second-most valuable trade item in the world, coffee has enormous economic, social, and even political power. Researchers claim that over 2 billion cups of coffee are consumed every single day. Let’s find out some interesting facts about “Coffee”.

石油很寶貴。事實上，正因其寶貴，常被稱為“黑色的金子”。不過，石油并非唯一享此美譽的液體。作為交易額位居世界第二的商品，咖啡有著巨大的經濟、社會甚至政治影響力。研究人員指出，每天都會有20 多億杯咖啡被喝掉。這里是關于“咖啡”的一些趣事。

[1] come in （賽跑等）得名次。

Coffee is actually a fruit like a cherry. Its seed is often called coffee beans because of its resemblance[2] to actual beans. Because it is a fruit it could be processed differently for getting different type of flavors. Depending on the variety, the roast, and the brewing method, coffee can be brewed to taste like white grape, lemon zest[3], plum juice, strawberry jam, etc.

咖啡實際上是一種果實，類似櫻桃。種子的外形像真正的豆類，所以常被稱作咖啡豆。對這樣的果實進行不同方式的加工，可制作出各種口味?？Х纫榔淦贩N、烘焙和煮制方式，能煮泡出如白葡萄、檸檬皮、李子汁、草莓醬等諸多味道。

[2] resemblance 相似；相像。

[3] zest（在糕點或飲料中用作調味香料的）橙皮（或檸檬皮）。

The term coffee came from the Dutch word “koffie” which was originally borrowed from Ottoman Turkish[4] language word “kahve”. It is interesting that “kahve” was originally borrowed from Arabic word “Qahwah”. Qahwah is also known as Arabic coffee.

coffee一詞來源于荷蘭語koffie，而koffie是借用奧斯曼土耳其語kahve一詞。有趣的是，kahve最初是借用阿拉伯詞語Qahwah。Qahwah也就是阿拉伯咖啡。

[4] Ottoman Turkish 奧斯曼土耳其語。

No, not that George Washington. While Satori Kato actually created the first “recipe”[5] for making instant coffee, the man who invented the first mass produced instant coffee was George Constant Louis Washington, born in Kortrijk, Belgium in May 1871. While it wasn’t very tasty, it did hit the spot[6] for soldiers on the battlefield in World War I.

不，不是大家都知道的喬治·華盛頓。毋庸諱言，加藤聰里創制了速溶咖啡的首個“配方”，但量產速溶咖啡的首創者是1871年5月出生于比利時科特賴克市的喬治·康斯坦特·路易斯·華盛頓。盡管這種咖啡味道不很可口，卻在第一次世界大戰戰場的士兵中廣受歡迎。

[5] recipe（飲料等的）調制法。

[6] hit the spot（尤指食物和飲料）使人完全滿意，切合需要。

Just as they are today, coffee houses often served as portable[8] “offices” for gentlemen doing business in earlier years. Both the London Stock Exchange and the New York Stock Exchanges started in popular coffee houses in their respective cities. Other financial industries that also started in coffee house include auction houses (Sotheby’s of London) and the insurance industry—Lloyds of London began in a coffee house as well.

正如今天的情形一樣，咖啡館早些年也是生意人的便攜“辦公室”。無論倫敦交易所還是紐約交易所，都是從各自城市備受青睞的咖啡館起家。其他由咖啡館發展而來的金融行當包括拍賣行（如倫敦的蘇富比拍賣行）和保險業——倫敦的勞埃德銀行，前身也是咖啡館。

[7] stock exchange 證券交易所；證券市場。

[8] portable 可移動的。

Although Coffee plant was first in Ethiopia it was first cultivated in Yemen. Initially it was used for religious purpose for Arabs at that time. From Middle East it was reached Europe through Italy in 17th century.

雖然最早發現咖啡樹是在埃塞俄比亞，但最早種植卻是在也門。起初它被當時的阿拉伯人用于宗教目的，17世紀從中東通過意大利傳至歐洲。

Despite old wives tales[9] to the contrary, if you feed coffee to a drunk, all you get is a wide-awake[10] drunk. On the other hand, considerable research has found that people who drink coffee regularly show a much lower incidence of all liver diseases, including cirrhosis of the liver, which is commonly associated with chronic alcoholism.

盡管關于咖啡的功效有很多荒誕傳說，不過若是讓醉酒的人飲咖啡，最終也只是讓其毫無睡意。另一方面，大量研究發現，常喝咖啡的人各類肝病的發生率要低很多，包括肝硬化，而該病常見于慢性酒精中毒者。

[9] old wives tale 無稽之談；迷信。

[10] wide-awake 完全醒著的。

While mid-1970s US ads centered around women who couldn’t make a good cup of coffee and the displeasure of their husbands, in ancient times, the onus[11] for coffee was laid upon the providers. A woman could legally divorce her husband if he failed to provide her with enough coffee.

20世紀70年代中期，美國廣告最為鐘愛的題材是女人煮不出好咖啡如何令丈夫不開心；不過在古代，有關咖啡的一應責任卻是落在養家者的身上。法律規定，如果丈夫不能供給足夠的咖啡，妻子可以提出離婚。

[11] onus 職責；責任。

（譯者為“《英語世界》杯”翻譯大賽獲獎選手）