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Sam(山姆)

I’m Sam.

你好。这是BBC学习英语的六分钟英语。我是山姆。

Rob(罗伯)

And I’m Rob.

我是罗伯。

Sam(山姆)

Rob, would you describe yourself as a wine connoisseur?

罗伯，你会把自己描述为葡萄酒鉴赏家吗？

Rob(罗伯)

If you mean am I someone who enjoys wine and knows a lot about it, then no – although the ‘enjoy’ part is true – particularly a nice glass of red.

如果你的意思是我是一个喜欢葡萄酒并且对它了解很多的人，那么不 —— 尽管“享受”部分是真的 —— 尤其是一杯漂亮的红酒。

Sam(山姆)

Of course, wine might not be everybody’s cup of tea – not something they like – but wine has been an important part of history and language.

当然，葡萄酒可能不是每个人的一杯茶 —— 不是他们喜欢的东西 —— 但葡萄酒一直是历史和语言的重要组成部分。

Rob(罗伯)

And even if you don’t drink alcohol, wine can be used as a commodity you can invest in and sell at an auction.

即使你不喝酒，葡萄酒也可以作为一种商品，你可以投资并在拍卖会上出售。

Sam(山姆)

And that brings me on to my quiz question, Rob. In 2018, a bottle of wine dating back to 1774 sold at auction in eastern France for a record-breaking price. Do you know how much it was sold for? Was it… a) $20,800; b) $120,800, or c) $220,800?

这让我想到了我的测验问题，罗伯。2018年，一瓶可追溯到1774年的葡萄酒在法国东部的拍卖会上以破纪录的价格售出。你知道它卖了多少钱吗？难道是......a） 20,800美元；b） 120,800 美元，还是 c） 220,800 美元？

Rob(罗伯)

I know wine can fetch a high price – but not as high as some of those options, so I’ll say a) $20,800.

我知道葡萄酒可以卖到高价 —— 但不如其中一些选择那么高，所以我会说 a） 20,800 美元。

Sam(山姆)

I’ll reveal the answer later on. But let’s talk more about wine now. A glass of the stuff can be sipped and savoured or just glugged.

我稍后会透露答案。但现在让我们更多地谈谈葡萄酒。一杯东西可以啜饮和品尝，或者只是咕噜咕噜。

Rob(罗伯)

Glug is a good word, meaning drink in large gulps or mouthfuls - not something a wine expert would do. For some people, drinking and serving wine is almost an art-form.

咕噜咕噜是个好词，意思是大口大口地喝或一口喝 —— 这不是葡萄酒专家会做的事情。对于一些人来说，喝酒和上酒几乎是一种艺术形式。

Sam(山姆)

If you go to a restaurant, there might be a sommelier – a person whose job is to serve and give advice about wine. They may have had years of training to learn about the different types of wine and the individual flavours or aromas, known as notes.

如果你去一家餐馆，可能会有一位侍酒师 —— 他的工作是服务和提供有关葡萄酒的建议。他们可能接受过多年的培训，以了解不同类型的葡萄酒以及所谓的香调或每种风味或香气。

Rob(罗伯)

This job has fascinated journalist and author Bianca Bosker. She wrote a book called ‘Cork Dorks’.

这份工作让记者兼作家比安卡·博斯克着迷。她写了一本名为《软木多克斯》的书。

Sam(山姆)

And here she is talking on the BBC World Service programme The Why Factor describing her fascination with sommeliers…

在这里，她在 BBC 世界服务节目 The Why Factor 上谈论她对侍酒师的迷恋......

Bianca Bosker, writer and author(比安卡·博斯克，作家和作家)

These were people who had taken wine, which I always thought of as a thing of pleasure, something you turn to after a long stressful day, and turned it into something approaching sheer God-awful pain. They licked rocks, trained their palates, they divorced their spouses to spend more time reviewing flash cards - they had hired voice coaches and memory coaches, they took dance classes to learn how to move more gracefully across the dining room floor.

这些人把酒喝了，我一直认为这是一种快乐的东西，在漫长的紧张的一天之后，你会转向它，把它变成一种接近上帝可怕的痛苦的东西。他们舔石头，训练他们的味觉，他们与配偶离婚，花更多的时间复习闪卡 —— 他们聘请了语音教练和记忆教练，他们上了舞蹈课，学习如何在餐厅地板上更优雅地移动。

Sam(山姆)

Like me, Bianca thought drinking wine was a pleasurable activity – something that helped her relax after a long stressful day. So she was surprised at how sommeliers turned this activity into “something approaching sheer God-awful pain.”.

和我一样，比安卡认为喝酒是一种令人愉快的活动 —— 这有助于她在漫长的紧张一天后放松下来。因此，她对侍酒师如何将这项活动变成“近乎上帝可怕的痛苦”感到惊讶。

Rob(罗伯)

The word sheer is used to emphasise the amount of something – or to mean ‘nothing but’. She thought the work of a sommelier was nothing but pain – they seemed to dedicate their life to wine!

纯粹这个词用来强调某物的数量 —— 或者意思是“除了什么都没有”。她认为侍酒师的工作只不过是痛苦 —— 他们似乎将自己的一生献给了葡萄酒！

Sam(山姆)

One thing a sommelier does is train their palate – this is their ability to distinguish and appreciate different tastes – and identify types of good wine from their taste. I guess this is quite important.

侍酒师要做的一件事就是训练他们的味觉 —— 这是他们区分和欣赏不同口味的能力 —— 并从他们的口味中识别好酒的类型。我想这很重要。

Rob(罗伯)

But divorcing their spouses does sound a bit extreme! I’m afraid I wouldn’t take it so seriously - I’ll stick to drinking poorer quality, cheap red wine – sometimes called plonk!

但是与配偶离婚听起来确实有点极端！恐怕我不会那么认真地对待它 —— 我会坚持喝质量较差、价格便宜的红酒 —— 有时被称为 plonk！

Sam(山姆)

WeIl, Rob, cheap wine doesn’t always have to be poor quality. Interestingly, there is some evidence that shows we only think wine tastes better because it’s more expensive.

WeIl，罗伯，便宜的葡萄酒并不总是质量差。有趣的是，有一些证据表明，我们只认为葡萄酒味道更好，因为它更贵。

Rob(罗伯)

Ah yes, this is research Hilke Plassmann from INSEAD Business School in France spoke about on the BBC World Service’s Why Factor programme. She’s been looking into what influences consumer behaviour…

啊，是的，这是法国欧洲工商管理学院商学院的希尔克·普拉斯曼在BBC世界服务部的“为什么因素”节目中谈到的研究。她一直在研究影响消费者行为的因素......

Hilke Plassmann, from INSEAD Business School in France(Hilke Plassmann，来自法国欧洲工商管理学院)

The price tag affects that region in your brain that encodes your liking of the taste, so in other words, you not only think that you like the more expensive wine more, you feel you like the more expensive wine more, because your brain region that encodes this feeling is influenced by the price tag.

价格标签会影响你大脑中编码你对味道的喜好的区域，所以换句话说，你不仅认为你更喜欢更贵的葡萄酒，你觉得你更喜欢更贵的葡萄酒，因为你的大脑区域编码这种感觉是受价格标签影响的。

Sam(山姆)

So, our brain is possibly playing tricks on us. When we see the price tag on a bottle of wine, our brain encodes the information and tells us how it should taste. Encodes means changes the information into something that we can use or understand. Drinking more expensive wine makes you think it tastes better. So perhaps, when buying supermarket wine or wine in a restaurant, it may be better telling yourself that the cheaper option is OK!

所以，我们的大脑可能在捉弄我们。当我们看到一瓶葡萄酒的价格标签时，我们的大脑会对信息进行编码，并告诉我们它应该如何品尝。编码意味着将信息更改为我们可以使用或理解的内容。喝更贵的葡萄酒会让你觉得味道更好。所以也许，在购买超市葡萄酒或在餐厅购买葡萄酒时，最好告诉自己更便宜的选择是可以的！

Rob(罗伯)

I’ll drink to that! But I wonder how that most expensive bottle of wine ever sold at auction tastes? The one dating back to 1774 that you asked me about.

我会喝到那个！但我想知道拍卖会上最贵的一瓶酒的味道如何？你问我的那个可以追溯到 1774 年。

Sam(山姆)

So you thought it sold for $20,800, but sorry, Rob, that’s too cheap. It was in fact sold for $120,800. I assume it wasn’t drunk.

所以你以为它卖了 20,800 美元，但对不起，罗伯，这太便宜了。事实上，它以 120,800 美元的价格售出。我猜它没有喝醉。

Rob(罗伯)

I hope not. Well, I think I’ll stick to my plonk for now, Sam. Plonk was one of our vocabulary words today and describes cheap, poor quality wine.

我希望不是。好吧，我想我现在会坚持我的 plonk，山姆。Plonk 是我们今天的词汇之一，它描述了廉价、劣质的葡萄酒。

Sam(山姆)

We also mentioned a connoisseur – someone who enjoys a particular thing and knows a lot about it.

我们还提到了鉴赏家 —— 喜欢某件特定事物并了解很多的人。

Rob(罗伯)

A sommelier is someone who serves and gives advice about wine in a restaurant.

侍酒师是在餐厅提供葡萄酒并提供有关葡萄酒建议的人。

Sam(山姆)

Sheer is a word used to emphasise the amount of something – or to mean ‘nothing but’.

纯粹是一个用来强调某物数量的词 —— 或者意思是“什么都没有”。

Rob(罗伯)

A palate describes someone’s ability to distinguish and appreciate different tastes.

味觉描述了一个人区分和欣赏不同口味的能力。

Sam(山姆)

Finally, encodes means changes information into something we can use or understand. But now we’re out of time so ‘cheers’ everyone.

最后，编码意味着将信息更改为我们可以使用或理解的内容。但现在我们没有时间了，所以“欢呼”大家。

Rob(罗伯)

Thanks for listening and goodbye.

感谢您的聆听和再见。

Sam(山姆)

Goodbye.

再见。