A Nice Cup of Tea

文/乔治·奥威尔 译/刘春芳

If you look up ‘tea’ in the first cookery book that comes to hand you will probably find that it is unmentioned;or at most you will find a few lines of sketchy instructions which give no ruling1ruling判定。on several of the most important points.

[2] This is curious, not only because tea is one of the main stays22 stay支柱。of civilization in this country, as well as in Eire3爱尔兰共和国旧称。,Australia and New Zealand, but because the best manner of making it is the subject of violent disputes.

[3] When I look through my own recipe for the perfect cup of tea, I fi nd no fewer than eleven outstanding points.On perhaps two of them there would be pretty general agreement, but at least four others are acutely4acutely（描述不快的感觉）极其，强烈地。controversial.Here are my own eleven rules, every one of which I regard as golden:

First of all, one should use Indian or Ceylonese tea. China tea has virtues

要是你在手边任何一本烹饪书中查找“茶”的信息，很有可能发现书中并未提及；或至多只有几行简略的介绍，对最重要的几点也未作说明。

[2]这种现象很奇怪，因为茶不仅是我们这个国家，也是爱尔兰、澳大利亚和新西兰等国家主要的文明支柱之一。更重要的是，泡茶的最佳方法也是人们激烈争论的话题。

[3]我把自己的泡茶方法认真梳理了一下，发现其中至少有十一条值得注意的地方。可能其中两条大家已形成共识，但至少有另外四条是极富争议的 。下面是我个人总结的十一条，每一条我都奉为金科玉律：

首先，应该挑选印度茶或者锡兰茶。中国茶固然有其which are not to be despised nowadays—it is economical, and one can drink it without milk—but there is not much stimulation in it. One does not feel wiser, braver or more optimistic after drinking it. Anyone who has used that comforting phrase ‘a nice cup of tea’ invariably means Indian tea. Secondly, tea should be made in small quantities—that is, in a teapot. Tea out of an urn5urn（带龙头的）茶水桶。is always tasteless, while army tea, made in a cauldron, tastes of grease and whitewash6whitewash（粉刷用的）石灰水，白涂料。. The teapot should be made of china or earthenware. Silver or Britanniaware teapots produce inferior tea and enamel7enamel瓷漆；瓷釉。pots are worse; though curiously enough a pewter88 pewter白镴（质）的。teapot (a rarity nowadays) is not so bad. Thirdly,the pot should be warmed beforehand.This is better done by placing it on the hob99 hob（旧时放在炉侧用于加热锅等的）火炉搁架。than by the usual method of swilling10swill冲洗。it out with hot water. Fourthly, the tea should be strong. For a pot holding a quart11quart夸脱（液量单位，在英国和加拿大等于 2 品脱或 1.14 升，在美国等于 0.95 升）, if you are going to fi ll it nearly to the brim, six heaped122 heaped满满的（一匙等）。teaspoons would be about right. In a time of rationing, this is not an idea that can be realized on every day of the week, but I maintain that one strong cup of tea is better than twenty weak ones. All true tea lovers not only like their tea strong,优点，对这个优点至今我们还颇为赏识——更经济实惠，而且喝时无须加奶——但不是很刺激。喝完中国茶，不觉得自己更聪明、更勇敢，或者更乐观。大家说到“一杯好茶”这句让人感到安慰的话时，几乎无一例外地指的是印度茶。其次，泡茶以量少为宜——要用茶壶。茶桶泡的茶水总是无味，军队里用大锅炉煮的茶有一股油脂和石灰水的味道。茶壶应该用瓷质或陶质的。银质或者铜质茶具泡的茶味道不好，搪瓷的更差。用镴质茶壶是个不错的主意，虽然这种想法有点古怪（这种茶具当今已很罕见）。第三，泡茶之前应该预热茶壶。最好的办法是把茶壶放在炉架上烧热，而不是像通常那样用热水涮一涮。第四，茶浓些才好。容量为一夸脱的茶壶，要想冲满满一壶茶水，就要放六茶匙茶叶。在食物配给的年代，这种做法很难每天实现，但是我坚信一杯浓茶好于二十杯淡茶。真正爱喝茶的人不仅喜欢喝浓茶，并且对茶的浓度要求会随着年龄增长越

but like it a little stronger with each year that passes—a fact which is recognized in the extra ration issued to oldage pensioners. Fifthly, the tea should be put straight into the pot. No strainers13strainer滤网。, muslin14muslin细平布（旧时尤用于做衣物和窗帘）。bags or other devices to imprison15imprison禁锢; 使不自由。the tea. In some countries teapots are fitted with little dangling16dangling（晃来晃去地）吊着；悬挂着。baskets under the spout17spout（容器的）嘴。to catch the stray18stray杂散的。leaves, which are supposed to be harmful. Actually one can swallow tealeaves in considerable quantities without ill effect, and if the tea is not loose in the pot it never infuses19infuse泡，沏（茶）。properly.Sixthly, one should take the teapot to the kettle and not the other way about. The water should be actually boiling at the moment of impact,which means that one should keep it on the flame while one pours. Some people add that one should only use water that has been freshly brought to the boil200 boil沸腾；沸点。,but I have never noticed that it makes any difference. Seventhly, after making the tea, one should stir it, or better,give the pot a good shake, afterwards allowing the leaves to settle. Eighthly,来越高——给领养老金的老年人多配给一份茶叶，就印证了这一点。第五，应该把茶叶直接放入茶壶中。不要使用滤网或棉布袋等把茶叶包起来。在有些国家，茶壶嘴上会挂上小篮子，以便倒茶时将茶叶渣兜住，人们认为茶叶渣不好。实际上即便是吞掉大量茶叶，也不会对健康有害。如果不让茶叶在茶水里散开，那茶就泡不彻底。第六，应该把茶壶拿到开水壶旁边，而不是提着水壶去找茶壶。应该用沸腾的水沏茶，这意味要用还在火上沸腾的开水冲泡。有的人还说，只用刚刚烧开的水，但是我并没有发现这有什么区别。第七，冲好茶后，应该搅动茶水，要是能轻轻地摇动茶壶效果会更好，然后让茶叶沉淀。第八，应该用上等的早餐杯来喝茶—— 一种圆柱形的杯子，而不是用平平的浅口杯。早餐杯能容纳更多的茶水，而要是one should drink out of a good breakfast cup—that is, the cylindrical21cylindricaltype of cup, not the flat, shallow type. The breakfast cup holds more, and with the other kind one’s tea is always half cold before one has well started on it. Ninthly,one should pour the cream off the milk before using it for tea. Milk that is too creamy always gives tea a sickly taste.Tenthly, one should pour tea into the cup first. This is one of the most controversial points of all; indeed in every family in Britain there are probably two schools of thought on the subject. The milk- fi rst school can bring forward some fairly strong arguments, but I maintain that my own argument is unanswerable222 unanswerable无可争辩的；不容反对的。. This is that, by putting the tea in fi rst and stirring as one pours, one can exactly regulate the amount of milk whereas one is liable to put in too much milk if one does it the other way round.

Lastly, tea—unless one is drinking it in the Russian style—should be drunkwithout sugar. I know very well that I am in a minority here. But still, how can you call yourself a true tea lover if you destroy the flavour of your tea by putting sugar in it? It would be equally reasonable to put in pepper or salt. Tea is meant to be bitter, just as beer is meant to be bitter. If you sweeten it, you are no longer tasting the tea, you are merely tasting the sugar; you could make a使用浅口杯的话，在开始好好品茶之前，茶水就开始变凉了。第九，如果加牛奶，要把奶油撇掉。如果掺入的牛奶含太多乳脂，茶水会很难喝。第十，应该先倒茶水，再倒牛奶。这一条是最有争议的，每个英国家庭对此都有两派观点。主张先倒牛奶的人论据充分，但是我认为我的观点也是无法辩驳的。我的理由是，如果先倒茶，一边搅拌一边倒，对于该放多少牛奶，就能控制得恰到好处，然而要是先倒牛奶，很有可能会倒多了。

最后，除非你想喝俄式的茶，否则不要加糖。我知道持这种观点的人只占少数。但是我仍认为，如果你用糖毁掉了茶的味道，又怎能自称是一个真正的爱茶之人呢？这跟往茶里放胡椒粉或盐一样没道理。茶和啤酒一样，应该是苦的。very similar drink by dissolving23dissolve使（固体）溶解。sugar in plain hot water.

Some people would answer that they don’t like tea in itself, that they only drink it in order to be warmed and stimulated, and they need sugar to take the taste away. To those misguided people I would say: Try drinking tea without sugar for, say, a fortnight and it is very unlikely that you will ever want to ruin your tea by sweetening it again.

[4] These are not the only controversial points to arise in connexion with tea drinking, but they are suf fi cient to show how subtilized24subtilize趋于精细（或微妙）。the whole business has become. There is also the mysterious social etiquette surrounding the teapot(why is it considered vulgar25vulgar粗俗的；不雅的。to drink out of your saucer, for instance?) and much might be written about the subsidiary26subsidiary附带的；次要的。uses of tealeaves, such as telling fortunes, predicting the arrival of visitors, feeding rabbits, healing burns and sweeping the carpet. It is worth paying attention to such details as warming the pot and using water that is really boiling, so as to make quite sure of wringing27wring用力绞出，挤出。out of one’s ration the twenty good, strong cups of that two ounces,properly handled, ought to represent. ■

（FromThe Collected Essays, Journalism and Letters of George Orwell,Volume 3, 1943—1945.）如果加糖使之变甜，那么你品尝的就不再是茶水，而是糖水；要是想喝这种饮料，不如直接把糖溶解在热开水中。

有些人说，他们本来不喜欢茶本身的味道，喝茶是为了暖身或者提神，因此他们需要加糖来淡化浓茶的味道。我想告诉这些误入歧途的人：坚持喝不加糖的茶，一直坚持两个星期，你就会发现再也不想加糖来破坏茶的味道了。

[4]关于怎样喝茶引起的争论还不仅上述几点，但从中我们可以看出喝茶是一件非常讲究的事情。喝茶时还有很多让人琢磨不透的社交礼节（比如，为什么大家会认为喝茶时不用茶碟是不雅的？）；关于茶叶的附带用途，还有很多可以写的，比如茶叶能预测运势，预见客人来访，可以喂兔子，还能治疗烧伤和清洁地毯。我们应该留意预热茶壶和用沸水沏茶这些细节，这样才能使配给的茶叶量得到充分利用——方法得当的话，两盎司茶叶能泡出二十杯浓香的好茶。 □