A In China at least, coffee is often associated with an exotic, well-to-do bourgeois lifestyle. Coffee is often considered a hobby of the well-educated, middle-class people. 在中國,說起咖啡,人們往往會想到異國情調,小資的優(yōu)越生活方式.喝咖啡通常被認為是有修養(yǎng)的中產階級的習慣.

B Maybe that's why some young chaps often spend a whole afternoon in a coffee bar, surfing the net or just typewriting something with laptop. While they are savoring a coffee at a leisured pace, they are actually showing off! 也許,這便是有些年輕人動不動就花一整個下午泡在咖啡吧,擺開筆記本電腦,上上網,或者只是打打文件的原因吧.他們悠閑地品著咖啡,其實也是在炫耀自己.

A Yes. Behind a lifestyle, there is a culture. Young people easily become blind worshippers of a Westernized life. While they may not really like coffee, they think it desirable and enviable to be lavish with money in those high-consumption places. 嗯.生活方式背后就是文化.年輕人很容易就迷信西式生活.他們也一定喜歡咖啡,但堅信,在那些高消費場所花錢至少令人羨慕.

B Then what about tea? We need to bear in mind in the first place that tea, rather than coffee, has been the most popular drink for the Chinese people. 那你說喝茶怎么樣?要知道,中國人最喜歡的飲料不是咖啡,而是茶.

A Well. Tea represents another facet of popular culture. While a coffee bar is usually quiet and resonates with soft, elegant music, a teahouse is often a noisy, crowded, public space. People visit teahouses to associate with others, playing chess, chatting, or simply listening to operas. 嗯,茶大概是代表了大眾文化的另一個側面.咖啡吧是那種安靜,高雅,余音繚繞的地方,茶館則往往是嘈雜,擁擠的公共空間.人們去茶館是想跟人說說話,下下棋,或者只是聽聽戲.

B What a pity that the traditional teahouses, as depicted by Lao She, keep fading away so quickly in this metroplis. It is not easy to find an old-fashioned teahouse that suits the ordinary people's spending power either. Teahouses of today all feature a cozy, comfortable environment, and high-quality services, but can easily cost you a good deal—just like a coffee bar. 可惜啊,在北京這個大都市,老舍筆下那種傳統茶館正在迅速地銷聲匿跡.普通人去的起的那種老茶館再也難找到了.如今的茶館都是那種舒適,愜意的環(huán)境,還有高檔的服務,但是太貴了,跟咖啡廳幾乎不相上下.

A Well, that's true. In a sense, it is not so much what you drink that really counts, as where and how you drink. 這是實話,在某種意義上,重要的仿佛不再是喝什么了,而是在哪兒喝,怎么喝.