如何用英文介绍茶文化

世界卫生组织调查了许多国家的饮料优劣情况，最终认为：茶为中老年人的最佳饮料。据科学测定，茶叶含有蛋白质、脂肪等10多种维生素，还有茶多酚、咖啡碱和脂多糖等近300种成分，具有调节生理功能，发挥多方面的保健和药理作用。茶具有防止人体内胆固醇升高、防治心肌梗塞的作用，茶多酚还能清除机体过量的自由基，抑制和杀害病原菌。此外，茶还有提神、消除疲劳、抗菌等作用，这对中年人来说是需要的。因此，在当前自然环境污染严重的情况下，特别是在城市居住的人们，更应经常喝点茶。那么，如何用英文介绍茶文化呢？

Why should we drink tea

为什么要喝茶

In many cultures, tea is often had high class social events, such as afternoon tea and the tea party. It may be consumed early in the day to heighten alertness; it contains theophylline and bound caffeine (sometimes called “theine”), although there are also decaffeinated teas.

Tea is prevalent in most cultures in the Middle East. In Arab culture, tea is a focal point for social gatherings. In Iranian (Persian) culture, tea is so widely consumed that it is generally the first thing offered to a household guest.There are tea ceremonies which have arisen in different cultures, Japan’s complex, formal and serene one being one of the most well known. Other examples are the Chinese tea ceremony which uses some traditional ways of brewing tea.

The American poet Wallace Stevens, a tea-fancier, is credited by Eleanor Cook with a “delicately implicit trope of drinking tea as a metaphor for reading (ingesting a drink from leaves).” See for instance his “Tea”.In the United States, 80% of tea is consumed cold, as iced tea.

In 2010 researchers found that people who consumed tea had significantly less cognitive decline than non-tea drinkers. The study used data on more than 4,800 men and women aged 65 and older to examine change in cognitive function over time. Study participants were followed for up to 14 years for naturally-occurring cognitive decline. (AAICAD 2010; Lenore Arab, PhD; UCLA)

Several of the potential health benefits proposed for tea are outlined in this excerpt from Mondal (2007, pp. 519-520) as following:

Tea leaves contain more than 700 chemicals, among which the compounds closely related to human health are flavanoides, amino acids, vitamins (C, E and K), caffeine and polysaccharides. Moreover, tea drinking has recently proven to be associated with cell-mediated immune function of the human body. Tea plays an important role in improving beneficial intestinal microflora, as well as providing immunity against intestinal disorders and in protecting cell membranes from oxidative damage. Tea also prevents dental caries due to the presence of fluorine. The role of tea is well established in normalizing blood pressure, lipid depressing activity, prevention of coronary heart diseases and diabetes by reducing the blood-glucose activity. Tea also possesses germicidal and germistatic activities against various gram-positive and gram negative human pathogenic bacteria. Both green and black tea infusions contain a number of antioxidants, mainly catechins that have anti-carcinogenic, anti-mutagenic and anti-tumoric properties.

饮茶(tea-drinking)不但是传统饮食文化(traditional food culture)，同时，由于茶中含有多种抗氧化物质(antioxidants)与抗氧化营养素(antioxidants nutrient)，对消除自由基(free radical)具有一定效果。因此喝茶也有助防老，具有养生保健(health care)的功能，每天喝两三杯茶可起到防老的作用。茶叶中含有多种维生素(vitamin)和氨基酸(amino acid)，喝茶对于清油解腻，增强神经兴奋以及消食利尿(dieresis)也具有一定作用。 但并不是喝得越多越好，也不是所有的人都适合喝茶。一般来说，每天1-2次，每次2-3克、400毫升的饮量是比较适当的。