外國人最想和你聊的時事話題：喝茶的時尚

　Why should we drink tea　為什么要喝茶
     In many cultures, tea is often had high class social events, such as afternoon tea and the tea party. It may be consumed early in the day to heighten alertness； it contains theophylline and bound caffeine(sometimes called "theine"), although there are also decaffeinated teas.
     Tea is prevalent in most cultures in the Middle East. In Arab culture, tea is a focal point for social gatherings. In Iranian (Persian) culture, tea is so widely consumed that it is generally the first thing offered to a household guest.
     There are tea ceremonies which have arisen in different cultures, Japan's complex, formal and serene one being one of the most well known. Other examples are the Chinese tea ceremony which uses some traditional ways of brewing tea.
     The American poet Wallace Stevens, a tea-fancier, is credited by Eleanor Cook with a "delicately implicit trope of drinking tea as a metaphor for reading (ingesting a drink from leaves)." See for instance his "Tea".
     In the United States, 80％ of tea is consumed cold, as iced tea.
     In 2010 researchers found that people who consumed tea had significantly less cognitive decline than non-tea drinkers. The study used data on more than 4,800 men and women aged 65 and older to examine change in cognitive function over time. Study participants were followed for up to 14 years for naturally-occurring cognitive decline. (AAICAD 2010； Lenore Arab, PhD； UCLA)
     Several of the potential health benefits proposed for tea are outlined in this excerpt from Mondal (2007, pp. 519-520) as following:
     Tea leaves contain more than 700 chemicals, among which the compounds closely related to human health are flavanoides, amino acids, vitamins (C, E and K), caffeine and polysaccharides. Moreover, tea drinking has recently proven to be associated with cell-mediated immune function of the human body. Tea plays an important role in improving beneficial intestinal microflora, as well as providing immunity against intestinal disorders and in protecting cell membranes from oxidative damage. Tea also prevents dental caries due to the presence of fluorine. The role of tea is well established in normalizing blood pressure, lipid depressing activity, prevention of coronary heart diseases and diabetes by reducing the blood-glucose activity. Tea also possesses germicidal and germistatic activities against various gram-positive and gram negative human pathogenic bacteria. Both green and black tea infusions contain a number of antioxidants, mainly catechins that have anti-carcinogenic, anti-mutagenic and anti-tumoric properties.
     飲茶(tea-drinking)不但是傳統(tǒng)飲食文化(traditional food culture)，同時，由于茶中含有多種抗氧化物質(zhì)(antioxidants)與抗氧化營養(yǎng)素(antioxidants nutrient)，對消除自由基(free radical)具有一定效果。因此喝茶也有助防老，具有養(yǎng)生保健(health care)的功能，每天喝兩三杯茶可起到防老的作用。茶葉中含有多種維生素(vitamin)和氨基酸(amino acid)，喝茶對于清油解膩，增強(qiáng)神經(jīng)興奮以及消食利尿(dieresis)也具有一定作用。 但并不是喝得越多越好，也不是所有的人都適合喝茶。一般來說，每天1-2次，每次2-3克、400毫升的飲量是比較適當(dāng)?shù)摹?br />