大话啤酒历史

搜索关注在线英语听力室公众号：tingroom，领取免费英语资料大礼包。

In reality, drinking that much beer is more likely to have the opposite effect. Nowadays, it is the beverage⁴ of choice among rowdy young people on a Saturday night out, and it has fueled acts of violence and destruction in more than a few societies. It is, nevertheless, the oldest known alcoholic⁵ drink in the world and is widely enjoyed.

Fermented⁶ beverages⁷ made from various types of grain appeared independently in different locations all over the ancient world from Africa to China. The word beer itself comes from a Latin verb meaning "to drink", and the ancient Romans were certainly no strangers to the brew⁸. However, because they considered it the drink of barbarians⁹ , the Romans generally preferred wine.

In ancient times, people who made beer lacked the means to preserve and filter it properly, so the drink was cloudy and turned bad quickly. It was medieval European monks¹⁰ who introduced scientific brewing¹¹ techniques in an effort to produce a nutritious¹² beverage to supplement their meager¹³ diets.

The monks were not restricted to only brewing the beer, and consumption of it within the monasteries¹⁴ reached astonishing levels. One report from Belgium said that monks were drinking as much as five liters a day. Monastery¹⁵ breweries¹⁶ in Europe also ran their own pubs and enjoyed a tax-free status that came to be resented by the growing merchant class.

As the power and influence of the church declined, the art of brewing became an important commercial activity. Today, beer production is largely a high-tech¹⁷ process in the hands of huge corporations or government monopolies. However, recent years have seen a growth in the popularity of small-scale breweries, reflecting an increasing global demand for quality and variety.

分享到：