5.A riotous indulgence（533）

5.Passage Five

A riotous indulgence

纵情狂欢

【1】For a Christmas drink, eggnog does not have a heartwarming history. To the cadets at West Point,the prospect of eggnog without whisky was unconscionable. Flouting a ban on alcohol, a group took a boat across the Hudson river and procured(bought) gallons of grog(wine).

圣诞饮品蛋酒由来历史并没那么暖心。对于西点军校的学员来说，蛋酒里面怎么能少了威士忌。于是一群人无视禁酒令，乘船横渡哈德逊河，购买了数加仑的酒。

【2】Around 90 cadets got so drunk that they spent Christmas morning smashing windows and flashing their weapons. Among the participants in the “eggnog riot” of 1826 was Jefferson Davis, who later became president of the Confederacy.

大约90名学员喝得酩酊大醉,圣诞节早上，他们猛砸窗户、乱挥武器。杰斐逊·戴维斯也曾参与了1826年的“蛋酒骚乱”，他后来成为了邦联总统。

【3】eggnog is a sweet beverage(drinks) with a serious edge. It is probably derived from “posset”—a concoction involving a combination(mixture) of cream or milk, eggs, spices and ale or wine. posset was believed to have medicinal properties: when King Charles I came down with a cold in the 1600s, his physician prescribed it.

蛋酒是一种甜味饮料，风味浓郁。它可能源自“牛乳酒，一种由奶油或牛奶鸡蛋、香料和麦芽酒或葡萄酒混合而成的饮料。人们认为牛乳酒具有药用价值。17世纪查理一世国王感冒时，他的医生就给他开了这个方子。

【4】The annual flu probably established the drink’s association with winter. But Christmas has also given eggnog a boost. The spices used—cinnamon, cloves and nutmeg—are present in other festive treats, such as gingerbread.

蛋酒与冬天的联结，还要归结于一年一度的流感。圣诞节也让蛋酒声名大振。使用的肉桂、丁香和肉豆蔻等香料，在姜饼等其他节日美食中也常见。

【5】For centuries cream and fresh eggs were harder to acquire in winter, so were viewed as luxuries.

几个世纪以来，在冬季弄到奶油和新鲜鸡蛋要更难一些，因此算得上是奢侈品。

【6】Britons brought the drink to America in the 18th century. Fortified wine, traditionally used to spike posset, was difficult to obtain(gain), so Americans laced their version with bourbon, rum or whisky instead.

18世纪，英国人将这种饮品带到美国。原本用于激活牛乳酒的加强型葡萄酒不好弄到，因此美国人改用了波旁、朗姆酒或威士忌。

【7】Though eggnog is consumed in many English-speaking countries, Americans are the most keen on it. They consume around 15m gallons every year, the equivalent of one small cup per person. (Some “eggheads”, no doubt, guzzle(drink) more.)

尽管蛋酒在许多英语国家都受欢迎，但还属美国人对其最为热衷。他们每年大约消耗1500万加仑蛋酒相当于每人一小杯的量。（一些“蛋酒迷”无疑会喝得更多。）

【8】Many countries have added their own twist(feature). Germans make Eierpunsch with wine. Peruvians add pisco, a white brandy; South Africans opt for amarula, a liqueur. eggnog has also been adapted for a health-conscious age.

许多国家都融入了自己的特色，形成了自己的配方。德国人用葡萄酒制作蛋酒，秘鲁人加入白色白兰地皮斯科，南非人选择甜酒爱玛乐酒为了满足养生需求，蛋酒还适时进行了改良。

【9】Vegans can forgo(abandon) eggs and use almond, coconut or oat milk, which is less fatty; a single portion of the original can exceed 300 calories (admittedly a trifling sum compared with the roughly 6,000 calories the average Briton consumes on Christmas Day).

素食主义者可以不用鸡蛋，改用杏仁、椰子或燕麦奶，这样脂肪含量更低。原味的单杯蛋酒可能超过300卡路里（与英国人在圣诞节的平均消耗量大约6000卡路里相比，这简直是微不足道）。

【10】Its creaminess is a reminder of the comforts of childhood, while the addition of booze is a grown-up pleasure. Unlike mulled wine, eggnog is often served chilled, so none of the alcohol evaporates.

蛋酒的浓郁口感让人忘返于童年的舒适，而添加酒味则是成年人的快乐。与热葡萄酒不同，蛋酒通常是冷藏的，因此酒精不会挥发。

【11】A recipe attributed to George Washington could take down an elephant: he called for adding brandy, rum, sherry and whisky.

乔治·华盛顿的配方要求添加白兰地、朗姆酒、雪利酒和威士忌，该用量足以放倒一头大象。

【12】The stupefying effect of eggnog was known long before the riot that bears its name. In Shakespeare’s play, the murderous Lady Macbeth drugs the servants’ posset in order to gain access to the king’s bedroom: “That which hath made them drunk hath made me bold(fearless).”Today the drink is associated with less serious crimes, namely tipsiness at holiday parties.

蛋酒的让人思维不清的效果早在1826年“蛋酒骚乱”之前就为人所知。在莎士比亚的戏剧中，凶恶的麦克白夫人将仆人的牛乳酒掺上药物，以便进入国王的卧室：“使他们喝醉的东西也使我大胆。” 如今，蛋酒不再与那些重罪挂钩，更多的是假日聚会上的酗酒发癫。

【13】A poem published in the American Beacon on Christmas Eve in 1817 evoked ancient Greek mythology to suggest that the drink turned respectable people into beasts: “When Circe, the witch, caught Ulysses’s men/She gave each a dram that soon made him a hog(pig)/The identical(same) mixture—’tis now as ’twas then/So attend to the moral, Beware of eggnog.”

1817年圣诞节前夕，《美国灯塔》上发表的一首诗引用了古希腊神话，暗示这种饮料将体面人变成了野兽，“当女巫喀耳刻抓住尤利西斯的手下时/她给了每个人一杯酒，很快就让他们变成了猪/ 同一个配方，同一个道理/所以要牢记训诫，小心蛋酒。”