中国人爱喝茶的历史据说已经超过了四千年。茶叶是由中国的传统方法加工而成的。很多中国人一天里,甚至吃饭的时候,都喝茶来替代白水。依据一个流行的传说,茶是由中国的神农皇帝发现的,当时一片灌木丛的叶子掉到了神农皇帝正在烧的水里,他发现叶子在水里散发 (emanate)出一种香气,于是便品尝了一下。就这样,一种饮品 (beverage)便诞生了。茶深深地交织于中国的历史和文化中。它被认为和柴、米、油、盐、酱油 (soy sauce)、醋一样,是中国人生活中的七种必需品之一。
翻译点拨
1. 加工:翻译为process,是英文中表达“加工”最为常用的一个词。
2. 白水:即普通的水,翻译为water即可,不用再加任何的形容词对其进行修饰。
3. 交织于:翻译be woven into,woven是weave的过去分词形式。
参考译文
Chinese Tea Culture
Chinese people are generally believed to have enjoyed tea drinking for more than 4,000 years. Tea-leaves are processed using traditional Chinese methods. Lots of Chinese people drink tea throughout the day, even during meals, as a substitute for water. According to a popular legend, tea was discovered by Chinese Emperor Shennong when a leaf from a nearby bush fell into the water the emperor was boiling. He noticed that the leaf in the water emanated a pleasant smell. So he tasted it. In this way, a new kind of beverage came into being. Tea is deeply woven into the history and culture of China. It is considered one of the seven necessities of Chinese people's life, along with firewood, rice, oil, salt, soy sauce and vinegar.
知识小贴士
茶是“开门七件事”之一。所谓“开门七件事”,指的是古代中国平民百姓每天为生活而奔波的七件事。“开门”即指开始家庭一天正常运作之时。维持生计(livelihood)离不开七件日常生活的必需品,它们分别是:柴、米、油、盐、酱、醋、茶,故而饮茶在古代中国是非常普遍的。中国是茶的故乡,是茶的原产地(place of origin),在我国,茶被誉为“国饮”。中国茶文化是中国制茶、饮茶的文化。中国的茶文化与欧美或日本的茶文化差别很大。中华茶文化源远流长,博大精深,不但包含物质文化层面,还包含深厚的精神文化层面。几千年来中国不但积累了大量关于茶叶种植、生产的物质文化,更积累了丰富的有关茶的精神文化,这就是中国特有的茶文化。