英语沙龙：咖啡之道

What exactly do you do when you make a cup of coffee?

● Take one cup

● Put in a spoonful of dark, bitter powder

● Add a spoonful of sweetness

● Pour in hot, clear liquid

● Add whiteness

Alone, each item has a complete flavor of its own. The only item that cannot be consumed alone is the bitterness, the coffee powder. Why is this so significant?

Because a cup of coffee represents life, it represents you. You are both the vessel¹ and the contents. You are the one who chooses bitterness, sweetness, life, spirituality. Spirituality and faith are like the milk in coffee; without it the coffee is too bitter and sharp, with no depth to its flavor.

Imagine the cup: when you add the bitterness (coffee) and the "waters of life", you have a sharp, bitter drink, with no sweetness, no depth. It is shallow, it is incomplete, it is missing many factors.

For some people this may be what they choose, this may be the life they settle for.

You add a spoonful of sugar. With the addition of that sweetness the bitterness is gone! But the depth is still missing. It is still a shallow drink. Again, some people may settle for this. You add the whiteness—spirituality, belief in yourself, or belief in something greater than yourself to the drink.

The drink lightens in both color and flavor. It is rich and deep. It is complete. The only remaining ingredient that could lift this drink to a new height, that could transform the drink into something more magnificent, is a more powerful whiteness, a more intense and undoubted spirituality and faith, a greater passion for life itself, a commitment to your own dreams and goals: whipped cream!

The cup of coffee is perfect without the whipped cream, it can stand alone against the world, and know its glory. But, a coffee with whipped cream is even more magnificent. Once you have known coffee with whipped cream, you will not desire anything less.

You will look upon a whipped creamless coffee and see it as lesser²—satisfying, but lesser. The ingredients in your coffee are of your choosing, just as the ingredients in your life are of your choosing. You choose the amount of coffee powder that you add to the vessel, just as you choose the amount of bitterness you add, or create in your life.

You choose the amount of sweetness you add to the vessel, just as you choose the amount of sweetness, joy, laughter, love and happiness that you bring into, or create in your life. You choose the heat and amount of water, just as you choose the quality of energy you bring into your life through diet, attitude, and addiction³.

You choose the amount of milk you add to your coffee, just as you choose the amount of faith, spiritual understanding and truth that you bring or invite into your life. You choose, or do not choose, the whipped cream, just as you choose to believe, or not to believe, in a Divine energy or in your own passions, dreams and goals.

You do not need to put that bitter coffee powder into your drink, but you do so because you find the drink more interesting. You relish⁴ the aroma⁵, the flavor, the depth, the intensity⁶ of the experience—both of the coffee, and of your life.

1 vessel   

n.船舶；容器，器皿；管，导管，血管

参考例句：

• The vessel is fully loaded with cargo for Shanghai.这艘船满载货物驶往上海。
• You should put the water into a vessel.你应该把水装入容器中。

2 lesser   

adj.次要的，较小的；adv.较小地，较少地

参考例句：

• Kept some of the lesser players out.不让那些次要的球员参加联赛。
• She has also been affected,but to a lesser degree.她也受到波及，但程度较轻。

3 addiction   

n.上瘾入迷，嗜好

参考例句：

• He stole money from his parents to feed his addiction.他从父母那儿偷钱以满足自己的嗜好。
• Areas of drug dealing are hellholes of addiction,poverty and murder.贩卖毒品的地区往往是吸毒上瘾、贫困和发生谋杀的地方。

4 relish   

n.滋味，享受，爱好，调味品；vt.加调味料，享受，品味；vi.有滋味

参考例句：

• I have no relish for pop music.我对流行音乐不感兴趣。
• I relish the challenge of doing jobs that others turn down.我喜欢挑战别人拒绝做的工作。

5 aroma   

n.香气，芬芳，芳香

参考例句：

• The whole house was filled with the aroma of coffee.满屋子都是咖啡的香味。
• The air was heavy with the aroma of the paddy fields.稻花飘香。

6 intensity   

n.强烈，剧烈；强度；烈度

参考例句：

• I didn't realize the intensity of people's feelings on this issue.我没有意识到这一问题能引起群情激奋。
• The strike is growing in intensity.罢工日益加剧。