VOA常速英语2015 专家评定埃塞俄比亚最上等咖啡

专家评定埃塞俄比亚最上等咖啡

International coffee experts travel the world to find the best tasting cup.They keep coming back to Ethiopia, where importers like Morton Wennersgaard say the climate produces quality coffee beans.

国际咖啡专家们前往世界各地寻找最上等的咖啡。但最终总会回到埃塞俄比亚。咖啡进口商莫顿·温纳斯加德表示这个地方的气候能够生产出优质的咖啡豆。

“You have different ancient varieties referred to as Ethiopian heirdom. They are grown in places with perfect soil, perfect altitude, and micro climates that are really suitable for coffee processing,such as drying and things like that.”

“这里有自古流传下来名为埃塞俄比亚遗产的截然不同的品种。这里的土壤、海拔和局部气候环境都非常适合烘焙等加工程序。”

Finding the best beans is a matter of taste, literally¹. The intense process is known as cupping-tasting and comparing coffee from different roasted beans, grading and then pricing them.

寻找最顶级咖啡豆其实就是在寻找最顶级的口感。这个过程叫作杯评，即品尝和比较不同的咖啡豆，评定定级及价位。

But before international experts come to taste,coffee beans go through analysis in small coffee labs, where Helen Assefa describes the process.

不过在国际专家品尝前，咖啡豆要先经过小型咖啡实验室的分析筛选，实验室的海伦·阿西法介绍这个过程。

“When the coffee comes to the lab,we assess the coffee quality first by recording² the details. Then we weigh the moisture level and we screen the beans for analysis.After that we grind the coffee beans and taste the samples.At the end we check for defective³ beans."

“咖啡豆一进实验室，我们首先详细记录咖啡的情况，对品质进行鉴定。然后我们检测湿度及筛选后进行分析。接下来我们磨碎咖啡豆品尝样品。最后我们将不好的咖啡豆去除。”

And that screening is a very difficult and lengthy⁴ process, says lab worker Mubarik Abaoli.

实验室工作人员穆巴里克·阿博利表示这一筛选过程既困难又漫长。

“We sort out the defects manually, by hand. And we sort out the defect according to the defect types.The types are immature⁵, paste damage, foxy, black-all has to be sorted out according to the severity of the defects.”

“我们手工挑出有毛病的咖啡豆。然后按照不成熟、有虫害，有狐骚味及黑色等进行归类，全都要根据次品咖啡豆问题的严重性分拣。”

Nevertheless, Ethiopia is cashing in on its coffee reputation with consumers in more than 120 countries and a yearly export revenue of more than 840 million.

不管怎样，咖啡仍为埃塞俄比亚这个国家带来经济收入，120多个国家的消费者对它青睐有加，每年出口额超过8400万美元。

 

But not all the best coffee leaves Ethiopia.With 40 percent of the coffee production consumed at home, it remains⁶ an important part of everyday life at work,at home and at ceremonies just to celebrate that special cup.

不过这个国家最上等的咖啡并不是全部出口。国内40%的咖啡产品仍然占据埃塞俄比亚人日常工作、生活的重要部分。有时人们就是为了庆祝这杯特殊咖啡而举行庆祝。

1 literally   

adv.照字面意义，逐字地；确实

参考例句：

• He translated the passage literally.他逐字逐句地翻译这段文字。
• Sometimes she would not sit down till she was literally faint.有时候，她不走到真正要昏厥了，决不肯坐下来。

2 recording   

n.录音，记录

参考例句：

• How long will the recording of the song take?录下这首歌得花多少时间？
• I want to play you a recording of the rehearsal.我想给你放一下彩排的录像。

3 defective   

adj.有毛病的，有问题的，有瑕疵的

参考例句：

• The firm had received bad publicity over a defective product. 该公司因为一件次品而受到媒体攻击。
• If the goods prove defective, the customer has the right to compensation. 如果货品证明有缺陷， 顾客有权索赔。

4 lengthy   

adj.漫长的，冗长的

参考例句：

• We devoted a lengthy and full discussion to this topic.我们对这个题目进行了长时间的充分讨论。
• The professor wrote a lengthy book on Napoleon.教授写了一部有关拿破仑的巨著。

5 immature   

adj.未成熟的，发育未全的，未充分发展的

参考例句：

• Tony seemed very shallow and immature.托尼看起来好像很肤浅，不夠成熟。
• The birds were in immature plumage.这些鸟儿羽翅未全。

6 remains   

n.剩余物，残留物；遗体，遗迹

参考例句：

• He ate the remains of food hungrily.他狼吞虎咽地吃剩余的食物。
• The remains of the meal were fed to the dog.残羹剩饭喂狗了。