“给我一杯热的、无咖啡因和泡沫的香草糖浆脱脂加奶油浓缩式焦糖玛奇朵咖啡。”

　　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.

　　如果你碰巧在随处可见的星巴克或者香啡缤之类的咖啡连锁店附近，你会经常听见有人这样点咖啡。像星巴克这样的大型商业咖啡连锁店的出现已经将传统的咖啡饮品转变成一种盈利的流行产业，并且在全世界范围内迅速发展。不同于其它的一些以消费者为导向的知名成功产业束缚了现代文化的发展（马上就想到了iPod和Google），大型商业咖啡连锁店使他们的产品更具亲和力、更适合消费者、更接近全球大众。

　　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.

　　咖啡的历史可以追溯到9世纪，并被看成是一种超越文化和时代限制、促进社会交往的催化剂。最初埃塞俄比亚人发现了咖啡豆，阿拉伯商人将其带往中东地区，并在15世纪传播到埃及、也门、波斯、土耳其和北非。接着穆斯林商人把这些豆子带往繁荣的港口城市威尼斯，并将其卖给富有的意大利商人。很快，荷兰引进咖啡豆并在爪哇、锡兰（大多是奴隶劳动）等地开始种植。大不列颠东印度贸易公司将这种饮料在英国普及开来。经过这一系列的不断传播和发展，咖啡遍及欧洲，并最终来到美国。

　　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。从15世纪人们聚集在一起听歌、下棋、讲述文学作品的中东地区，到法国启蒙运动中的文化名人聚集的巴黎普洛各普咖啡馆，比如伏尔泰、卢梭、狄德罗就曾经来这里品尝热咖啡，咖啡馆自古以来就是一个供人们休息、聊天、交流思想和进行社会交往的中心。

　　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.

　　现代咖啡馆借鉴意大利咖啡馆的浓缩咖啡和圆心馅饼模式，以至于在很多美国的大城市出现了一系列意大利裔移民聚集区，比如纽约的小意大利、格林威治村、波士顿北极、旧金山北滩。在20世纪50年代，“垮掉派”也是咖啡馆的常客。不久在西雅图和太平洋西北部的城市也出现了越来越多的咖啡馆，并且迅速发展成为了反传统文化的中心。源自西雅图的星巴克利用这种模式，并将其带入主流文化。

　　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.

　　尽管今天的咖啡馆仍然像过去一样, 在很多地方扮演着社会活动中心的角色, 最显著的特点是它们的时间适应性。重新作为信息交换和谈论的中心，咖啡馆为客人提供上网的途径和报刊杂志。在星巴克看见有人听歌或用笔记本上网是极为平常的事情。直到今天咖啡馆仍然保持其清晰独特的审美品味：木制的家具、舒适的沙发、以及墙上的彩绘和壁画。所有的一切包括柔和的灯光，都给咖啡馆营造了一种舒适安逸的氛围，仿佛置身于自己的另一个家中。

　　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，大型商业咖啡零售店在全球迅速发展。仅仅是星巴克就已经遍及全球40多个国家并且还在不断扩展中。尽管受欢迎，但星巴克还是被有些人指责或标榜为“吸血鬼机器”，因为它的垄断使得许多小型咖啡企业破产。甚至造成了一种反企业垄断的非主流文化和与其相呼应的抵制大型商业咖啡连锁店活动。像香啡缤这样的咖啡馆的兴起也增加了星巴克的竞争压力。无论如何，可以肯定的是，咖啡已经将自己置身于以消费者为导向的文化结构中。

　　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.

　　可以说，咖啡已经不仅仅是一种饮料。自始至终，它都和文化发展紧密相联并且成为历史重要时期的象征。咖啡在改变了人类思想进程的法国启蒙运动巨人们的杯中缓缓流动；咖啡是帝国主义时代巴西奴隶肩上沉重的负担；咖啡在“垮掉派诗人”凯鲁亚克和金斯堡描写孤独寂寥的空气中肆意飘香。到了今天，它依旧在这个科技和全球化的时代里随着世界不断地发展和改变。所以下次，在你享受热铁拿或冰卡布奇诺时，可以想象一下，你正在穿越文化和时空的界限与无数的伟人进行思维的交流和碰撞，都是由于对这种美味饮料的热爱：咖啡。