"Give me a decaf triple vente, 2 pump vanilla, non-fatm extra hot, stirred, no foam caramel macchiato with whip cream and caramel sauce top and bottom."

“給我一杯熱的、無咖啡因和泡沫的香草糖漿脫脂加奶油濃縮式焦糖瑪奇朵咖啡。”

　　If you happen to be standing in one of the ubiquitous Starbucks or Coffee Bean chains in the US, chances are pretty good you might hear someone order something like this. The advent of big business coffee powerhouses like Starbucks has transformed coffee-drinking into an extremely popular and profitable industry that is quickly spreading across the globe. Like other successful consumer-oriented businesses with a stranglehold on modern culture (iPod and Google come to mindbig), coffeehouse businesses have made their product increasingly user-friendly, highly customizable, and readily accessible to people all around the world.

　　如果你碰巧在隨處可見的星巴克或者香啡繽之類的咖啡連鎖店附近，你會經(jīng)常聽見有人這樣點咖啡。像星巴克這樣的大型商業(yè)咖啡連鎖店的出現(xiàn)已經(jīng)將傳統(tǒng)的咖啡飲品轉變成一種盈利的流行產(chǎn)業(yè)，并且在全世界范圍內(nèi)迅速發(fā)展。不同于其它的一些以消費者為導向的知名成功產(chǎn)業(yè)束縛了現(xiàn)代文化的發(fā)展（馬上就想到了iPod和Google），大型商業(yè)咖啡連鎖店使他們的產(chǎn)品更具親和力、更適合消費者、更接近全球大眾。

　　Coffee has a history dating back to at least the 9th century and has been a catalyst for social interaction across cultures and eras. Originally discovered in Ethiopia, coffee beans were brought into the Middle East by Arab traders, spreading to Egypt, Yemen, Persia, Turkey, and North Africa by the 15th century. Muslim merchants eventually brought the beans to the thriving port city of Venice, where they sold them to wealthy Italian buyers. Soon, the Dutch began importing and growing coffee in places like Java and Ceylon (largely through slave labor), and the British East India Trading Company was popularizing the beverage in England. Coffee spread across Europe and even reached America.

　　咖啡的歷史可以追溯到9世紀，并被看成是一種超越文化和時代限制、促進社會交往的催化劑。最初埃塞俄比亞人發(fā)現(xiàn)了咖啡豆，阿拉伯商人將其帶往中東地區(qū)，并在15世紀傳播到埃及、也門、波斯、土耳其和北非。接著穆斯林商人把這些豆子帶往繁榮的港口城市威尼斯，并將其賣給富有的意大利商人。很快，荷蘭引進咖啡豆并在爪哇、錫蘭（大多是奴隸勞動）等地開始種植。大不列顛東印度貿(mào)易公司將這種飲料在英國普及開來。經(jīng)過這一系列的不斷傳播和發(fā)展，咖啡遍及歐洲，并最終來到美國。

　　Where there has been coffee, there has been the coffeehouse. From the 15th century Middle Eastern establishments where men gathered to listen to music, play chess, and hear recitations from works of literature, to Paris' Cafe le Procope where luminaries of the French Enlightenment such as Voltaire, Rousseau, and Diderot came to enjoy a hot cup of joe， coffeehouses have traditionally served as centers of social interaction, places where people can come to relax,chat and exchange ideas.

　　哪里有咖啡，哪里就有咖啡屋。從15世紀人們聚集在一起聽歌、下棋、講述文學作品的中東地區(qū)，到法國啟蒙運動中的文化名人聚集的巴黎普洛各普咖啡館，比如伏爾泰、盧梭、狄德羅就曾經(jīng)來這里品嘗熱咖啡，咖啡館自古以來就是一個供人們休息、聊天、交流思想和進行社會交往的中心。

　　The modern coffee shop is modeled on the espresso and pastry-centered Italian coffeehouses that arose with the establishment of Italian-American immigrant communities in major US cities such as New York City's Little Italy and Greenwich Village, Boston's North End, and San Francisco's North Beach. New York coffee shops were often frequented by the Beats in the 1950's. It wasn't long before Seattle and other parts of the Pacific Northwest were developing coffee shops as part of a thriving counterculture scene. The Seattle-based Starbucks took this model and brought it into mainstream culture.

　　現(xiàn)代咖啡館借鑒意大利咖啡館的濃縮咖啡和圓心餡餅模式，以至于在很多美國的大城市出現(xiàn)了一系列意大利裔移民聚集區(qū)，比如紐約的小意大利、格林威治村、波士頓北極、舊金山北灘。在20世紀50年代，“垮掉派”也是咖啡館的常客。不久在西雅圖和太平洋西北部的城市也出現(xiàn)了越來越多的咖啡館，并且迅速發(fā)展成為了反傳統(tǒng)文化的中心。源自西雅圖的星巴克利用這種模式，并將其帶入主流文化。

　　Although coffeehouses today continue to serve their traditional purpose as lively social hubs in many communities, they have noticeably adapted to the times. Rediscovering their purpose as centers of information exchange and communication, many coffee shops now provide their customers with internet access and newspapers. It has become extremely common to see someone sitting at a Starbucks listening to music or surfing the web on his or her laptop. Coffee stores today also maintain a fairly identifiable, yet unique aesthetic: wooden furniture and plush couches, paintings and murals drawn on walls, and soft-lighting combine to give coffee shops the cozy feeling of a home away from home.

　　盡管今天的咖啡館仍然像過去一樣, 在很多地方扮演著社會活動中心的角色, 最顯著的特點是它們的時間適應性。重新作為信息交換和談論的中心，咖啡館為客人提供上網(wǎng)的途徑和報刊雜志。在星巴克看見有人聽歌或用筆記本上網(wǎng)是極為平常的事情。直到今天咖啡館仍然保持其清晰獨特的審美品味：木制的家具、舒適的沙發(fā)、以及墻上的彩繪和壁畫。所有的一切包括柔和的燈光，都給咖啡館營造了一種舒適安逸的氛圍，仿佛置身于自己的另一個家中。

　　Today, big business retail coffee shops are expanding quickly all over the world. Starbucks alone has stores in over 40 countries and plans to add more. Despite its popularity, Starbucks has been criticized and labeled by many as a blood-sucking corporate machine, driving smaller coffee shops out of business through unfair practices. This has even spawned an anti-corporate coffee counterculture, with those subscribing to this culture boycotting big business coffee chains. Increasingly popular coffee stores such as The Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf are also giving Starbucks some stiff competition. In any case, it seems pretty clear that coffee has weaved itself into the fabric of our consumer-oriented culture.

　　今天，大型商業(yè)咖啡零售店在全球迅速發(fā)展。僅僅是星巴克就已經(jīng)遍及全球40多個國家并且還在不斷擴展中。盡管受歡迎，但星巴克還是被有些人指責或標榜為“吸血鬼機器”，因為它的壟斷使得許多小型咖啡企業(yè)破產(chǎn)。甚至造成了一種反企業(yè)壟斷的非主流文化和與其相呼應的抵制大型商業(yè)咖啡連鎖店活動。像香啡繽這樣的咖啡館的興起也增加了星巴克的競爭壓力。無論如何，可以肯定的是，咖啡已經(jīng)將自己置身于以消費者為導向的文化結構中。

　　Coffee, it would seem, is more than just a drink. From early on after its inception, coffee has been tied closely with cultural trends and has been indicative of important periods in history. It was poured into the cups of the giants of the French Enlightenment as they changed the course of human thought, it was placed on the backs of Brazilian slaves in the era of Imperialism, it's fragrance was in the air as Beat poets like Kerouac and Ginsberg wrote of their alienation, and it is here now as the world continues to change in this era of technology and globalization. So the next time you enjoy your latte or your ice-cold caramel frappuccino, appreciate the fact that you are connected to countless numbers of people spanning many different cultures and eras through your love of that wondrous beverage: coffee.

　　可以說，咖啡已經(jīng)不僅僅是一種飲料。自始至終，它都和文化發(fā)展緊密相聯(lián)并且成為歷史重要時期的象征。咖啡在改變了人類思想進程的法國啟蒙運動巨人們的杯中緩緩流動；咖啡是帝國主義時代巴西奴隸肩上沉重的負擔；咖啡在“垮掉派詩人”凱魯亞克和金斯堡描寫孤獨寂寥的空氣中肆意飄香。到了今天，它依舊在這個科技和全球化的時代里隨著世界不斷地發(fā)展和改變。所以下次，在你享受熱鐵拿或冰卡布奇諾時，可以想象一下，你正在穿越文化和時空的界限與無數(shù)的偉人進行思維的交流和碰撞，都是由于對這種美味飲料的熱愛：咖啡。

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