VOA慢速英语2015 专家认为埃塞俄比亚拥有最好的咖啡

 

Experts Decide Ethiopia Has Best Coffee 专家认为埃塞俄比亚拥有最好的咖啡

An international group of coffee experts has rated Ethiopia’s coffee as the best in the world. Coffee is a top export for the country. But at home, it is a source of national pride. Ethiopians feel good about their coffee, and enjoying a drink with friends is a longstanding tradition.

International coffee experts travel the world to find the best tasting cup of coffee. They keep returning to Ethiopia. Some people say the climate produces quality beans. Morton Wennersgarrd is a coffee importer.

“You have different ancient varieties referred to as Ethiopian heirdom. They are grown in places with perfect soil, perfect altitude, and micro climates that are really suitable for coffee processing, such as drying and things like that.”

Finding the best quality beans is often an issue of taste. The intense process is known as cupping -- tasting and comparing coffee from different roasted beans, grading and then pricing them.

But before international experts come to taste, coffee beans are studied in small coffee laboratories. Helen Assefa, a lab technician, describes the process.

“When the coffee comes to the lab, we assess the coffee quality first by recording¹ the details. Then we weigh the moisture level and we screen the beans for analysis. After that we grind the coffee beans and taste the samples. At the end we check for defective² beans.”

Mubarik Abaoli is a lab worker. He says the testing is a very difficult and lengthy³ process.

“We sort out the defects manually, by hand. And we sort out the defect according to the defect types. The types are immature⁴, paste damage, foxy, black -- all has to be sorted out according to the severity of the defects.”

Ethiopia is making big profits on its coffee reputation with exports to more than 120 countries. The country has an export revenue of more than $840 million a year.

But not all the best coffee leaves Ethiopia. Forty percent of the coffee grown in the country stays there. It remains⁵ an important part of everyday life at work, at home and at ceremonies just to celebrate that special cup.

Words in this Story

longstanding - adj., lasting⁶ or existing for a long time

analysis – n., a careful study of something to learn about its parts, what they do, and how they are related to each other 

reputation – n., the common opinion that people have about someone or something; public image

1 recording   

n.录音，记录

参考例句：

• How long will the recording of the song take?录下这首歌得花多少时间？
• I want to play you a recording of the rehearsal.我想给你放一下彩排的录像。

2 defective   

adj.有毛病的，有问题的，有瑕疵的

参考例句：

• The firm had received bad publicity over a defective product. 该公司因为一件次品而受到媒体攻击。
• If the goods prove defective, the customer has the right to compensation. 如果货品证明有缺陷， 顾客有权索赔。

3 lengthy   

adj.漫长的，冗长的

参考例句：

• We devoted a lengthy and full discussion to this topic.我们对这个题目进行了长时间的充分讨论。
• The professor wrote a lengthy book on Napoleon.教授写了一部有关拿破仑的巨著。

4 immature   

adj.未成熟的，发育未全的，未充分发展的

参考例句：

• Tony seemed very shallow and immature.托尼看起来好像很肤浅，不夠成熟。
• The birds were in immature plumage.这些鸟儿羽翅未全。

5 remains   

n.剩余物，残留物；遗体，遗迹

参考例句：

• He ate the remains of food hungrily.他狼吞虎咽地吃剩余的食物。
• The remains of the meal were fed to the dog.残羹剩饭喂狗了。

6 lasting   

adj.永久的，永恒的；vbl.持续，维持

参考例句：

• The lasting war debased the value of the dollar.持久的战争使美元贬值。
• We hope for a lasting settlement of all these troubles.我们希望这些纠纷能获得永久的解决。