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Some Fun Facts about Coca-Cola

Intro:

Welcome to daily fun facts where we discuss fun facts about this crazy world. Use these newfound facts to break the ice and start an interesting conversation.  Happy learning everyone!

Dialogue:

Brie:  Hey, Andrea, I’m thirsty.  I could go for a coke right about now.  

Andrea:  Alright, let me see what I have in the fridge.  One ice cold fizzy Coca-Cola coming up!

Brie:  Thank you for getting that for me.  But no ice, please.

Andrea:  No ice?  But that’s what makes Coca-Cola cool and refreshing, at least that’s what the commercials say.   That imagery of the fizz and ice is part of what makes the drink so popular!

Brie:  Well, I’m not about to let my tastes be influenced by commercials.  Coca-Cola has been around for over a century and is popular around the world.  I heard that today it is officially sold in every country except for Cuba and North Korea, and that by country, consumers in Mexico drink the most!   So, I’m sure it didn’t always have the same ingredients.

Andrea:  You’re right, Brie!  And it is quite a fun fact how the carbonated sweet drink we know as Coca-Cola came about.  John Pemberton, a pharmacist from the US state of Georgia, created the first Coca-Cola recipe in 1886.  According to the New York Times, Coca-Cola was first marketed as a “brain tonic and intellectual beverage” meant for improving health, and it contained coca with cocaine as a main ingredient.

Brie:  原来在1886年, 美国佐治亚州的药剂师 - 约翰·彭伯顿便创造了第一个可口可乐配方。根据《纽约时报》的报道，当时的可口可乐是作为一种“脑补品和智力饮料”进行推广的，旨在改善人们的健康状况，并且它包含以可卡因为主的古柯树成分。Wait, cocaine? You mean the illegal and dangerously addictive drug that kills over 166 thousand people a year?

Andrea:  Yes, that’s the one! But at the time in history when Coca-Cola was first made, cocaine was considered to be a normal, everyday medicine used to relieve pain and therefore was not illegal in the United States.  It is of course no longer an ingredient in Coca-Cola.  I may be wrong about this, but I think that might be why the term “coke” is often used to describe the drink. Coke is also the term used as slang for cocaine.

Brie:  Wow, 最早的可口可乐的确含有可卡因，但在当时可卡因并没有被认为是禁用品，恰恰相反，它是人们用来缓解疼痛的普通日常药物。然而，随着人们对可卡因危害认识的逐渐增多，可口可乐也停止了使用可卡因作为其成分之一。But Coca is still the first word of Coca-Cola.  And the coca plants are where Cocaine comes from.  So, why keep that name if the drink no longer contains Cocaine?

Andrea:  Well, a fluid extract from the coca plant leaves is still used to flavor Cola-Cola.  It does not have the narcotic effects of cocaine.  

Brie:  哦，原来是因为可口可乐虽然已不含有可卡因，但它仍然含有古柯树叶的液态提取物，用于提高可口可乐的口感，所以 “coca” 仍然是可口可乐全名的一部分。I’m glad the drink is no longer dangerous.  It was a smart move on the part of the Coca-Cola company to change the original recipe, otherwise the drink would not be as popular as it is today.

Andrea:  I agree with that. The worldwide popularity of the Coca-Cola company is also due to the excellent job the company has done to market their products.  Thanks to a Christmas marketing ad, the company is even responsible for developing the image of how Americans today recognize Santa Claus - as a big jolly man in a red outfit and with a long white beard!  

Brie:  Wow, so Coca-Cola even created a cultural icon? - 穿着红色大衣，留着一个大大白胡子的圣诞老人!

Andrea: Yes, they’ve indeed greatly influenced our popular imagination.  You know, talking about this really makes me want to go get a six-pack!

Brie:  Get a six-pack? You really think drinking coke will help you grow muscles?  Coke may not have cocaine anymore, but it contains a lot of sugar. It definitely is not good enough for your health to give you good-looking abs.

Andrea:  No, no, I mean a six-pack of Coca-Cola, silly!  Along with everything else, the Coca-Cola company invented a bottle holder that allows consumers to bring six bottles of Coke home to store in their fridge.  This promoted increased coke consumption.  Today, the container that holds six bottles is referred to as a six-pack.   Though it’s clear the Coca-Cola company has made quite a cultural impact, they unfortunately have not yet found a way to give me a sculpted abdomen!

Close:

So, everyone, there’s your fun fact of the day!  Let’s go over some of the vocabulary and phrases from this dialogue.

Vocabulary:

Coke  / koʊk /  可口可乐，也可以指可卡因

Fizzy  / ˈfɪz i /  汽水

Refreshing  / rɪˈfrɛʃ ɪŋ /  提神醒脑

Ingredient  / ɪnˈgri di ənt /  成分

Carbonated  /ˈkɑr bəˌneɪtɪd /  碳化的

Pharmacist  / ˈfɑr mə sɪst /  药剂师

Tonic  / ˈtɒn ɪk /  补品/补药

Beverage  / ˈbɛv ər ɪdʒ /  饮料

Coca  / ˈkoʊ kə /  古柯树

Cocaine  / koʊˈkeɪn /  可卡因

Addictive  / əˈdɪk tɪv /  上瘾的

Slang  / slæŋ /  俚语

Extract  /ˈɛk strækt /  提取物

Narcotic  / nɑrˈkɒt ɪk /  麻醉的

Santa Claus  / ˈsæn tə ˌklɔz /  圣诞老人

Jolly  / ˈdʒɒl i /  欢乐的

Cultural icon  / ˈkʌl tʃər əl  ˈaɪ kɒn /  文化偶像

Popular imagination  / ˈpɒp yə lər  ɪˌmædʒ əˈneɪ ʃən /  大众的想象力

Abs  / æbz /  腹部

Promoted  / prəˈmoʊtɪd /  促进

Consumption  / kənˈsʌmp ʃən /  消费

Container  / kənˈteɪ nər /  容器/箱子

Sculpted  / skʌlptɪd /  雕刻的/线条感的

Phrases:

Get a six-pack 美国俗语，既指锻炼出六块腹肌，又可指买6瓶包装的饮料

Alright, join us next time for another fun fact to help break the ice! 好了，这就是我们今天的有趣常识分享，如果喜欢我们，请别忘了点击订阅！拜拜，咱们下期再见！

Photo Credit:  Omar Elmokhtar Menazeli on Unsplash

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