中国是茶的故乡，喝茶对于中国人来说，也许是一件稀松平常的事。但是，当时间退回300年前，那时在中国再普通不过的红茶，却成为了英国只有上流社会才得以啜饮的佳品。

China is the hometown of tea. Drinking tea seems common for the Chinese, however, dating back to 300 years ago, only the uppper class were accessible to the ordinary black tea for today in England.

从17世纪开始，英国人喝下午茶的习俗便如风潮一般，不但形成了英国人独有的生活习惯，也席卷了全世界。甚至在习大大访问英国时，也亲自下榻查尔斯王子府邸感受传统英式下午茶的惬意美好。

Since the 17th centuary it has been popular for the British to have afternoon tea which not only formed the particular lifestyle in England, but also swept over the whole world. During the time when President Xi visited England, he also lived in the house of Prince Charles to feel the traditional British lifestyle with the afternoon tea there.

提起下午茶，就不得不说到一个有趣的故事。在1840年的某个下午，英国贝德福德郡公爵夫人安娜·玛丽亚，饿的前胸贴后背。那时的英式饮食习惯一天只有两顿饭，早餐和晚餐，漫长的下午往往总要饿着肚子度过。这天，安娜实在忍不住，就让侍女在她的起居室准备了一套茶具，并搭配上面包和奶油。只是这位女伯爵没想到，这样一个小举动，居然在上流社会中掀起了时尚风潮，更是得到了她的好友维多利亚女王的青睐。

When talking about the afternoon tea there is a must story to tell. In an afternoon of 1840, Anna Maria, the duke’s wife of Bedford in England was exteremely starving because at that time the British only ate twice a day without lunch. That day she was too hungry to survive, so she asked her maidservant to prepare a tea set with bread and butter. The servant had never thought that this small thing would have given rise to a vogue and gained great favor from her friend Queen Victoria.

下午茶的时间到了，各位伯爵夫人们就开始互相邀请，一场精致的下午茶会就在欢笑声中热闹起来，逐渐演变成一种崭新的社交方式。喝下午茶的场所，也从女士的起居室发展到公共场所，好让那些过路的人，看到窗子里香甜可口的水果和面包，以及自己优雅的抿茶姿势。

When it’s time for the afternoon tea, the countesses would invite each other sitting together to spend a delicate afternoon in a laughter, which slowly transformed into a freshly new way of socializing. What’s more, the places for afternoon tea has been developing from lady’s living room to the public so that the passers-by could see the delicious fruits and bread and their elegant gestures fof sipping tea through the windows.

传统的英式下午茶，有其品赏的顺序。一般是按照吃点心、赏茶器、品热茶的顺序进行。下午茶的茶水，主要采用极品的红茶，搭配上中国的瓷杯或银质杯具。茶点则一般分为三层，品尝的时候由下及上，口味从清淡到浓重，一口甜点一口香茶，回味着午后的闲暇时光。而这道精致的下午茶，就是中西文化融合的最佳典范。

The British traditional way for afternoon tea has its own order. Generally it starts form eating dessert, then appreciating the tea things, then enjoying the hot tea. And the best black tea mainly serves as the afternoon tea with the Chinese tea chinas or silver cups. The tea cakes are divided into three layers which needs to be eaten from the bottom, and the flavor gets stronger when you eat. A mouth of cake with a sip of fragrant tea will take you to fully enjoy the buffy time in the delicate afternoon, which is the best model of culture fusion of the east and the west.

如今的下午茶已经走进了全世界寻常百姓的家里，成为了人们打发午后时光的方式。在更多时候，这也成为了朋友们小聚的理由，放下手机，离开电脑，坐下来面对面，聊聊近况，侃侃梦想，这才是生活真正的乐趣。

Today, the afternoon tea has been part of the ordinary people’s life all over the world playing an important role of killing time. Most of the time, it’s been the reason for meeting friends to keep away from cellphones and computers. Sometimes sitting down face to face with friends, talking about recent lifes of each other, and dreaming about the futures are the real fun of life.

撰稿：文小样 译者：尚小桦