Chocolate a sweet history

도서관에서 빌린 책을 잃어버려서 결국 내 돈 주고 새로 사서 반납해야 했다. 책 제목은 Chocolate a sweet history이지만 나에게는 쓰라림을 앉겨준 책. 그리고 책을 읽으면서 느낀건 정보 전달 위주의 책은 어휘나 문장이 어렵지 않더라도 reading level이 충분히 높아진 후에 읽어야 지루하지 않을거라는 생각을 했다. 이야기 위주의 책은 어려운 부분이 있어도 '재미'로 극복하기 쉽지만 이런 책들은.... 그렇지만은 않은 것 같다. 

I am pretty sure I wouldn’t have liked it. Back then, chocolate was so valuable, only rich ppl could afford it. So maybe I wouldn’t have even had the chance to taste it.

 

Cacao trees /카카오/

Cocoa power /co-co/

 

The fruit from a cacao tree is called a pod and each one is the size of a football!

 

Inside is lots of white pulp and 30 to 40 beans, which kind of look like almonds.

* pulp 과육, 걸쭉한 것

 

Deep in the jungles of Mexico and Guatemala are tombs that are more than a thousand years old. Kings and rich people are buried inside, along with their most valuable possessions, including cacao beans and special griddles for roasting them.

 

Mayan people /마이얀/

 

Jugs in some tombs still had traces of chocolate drink. This showed that the Mayans drank their chocolate unsweetened, with maybe a dash of honey. Sometimes the chocolate drink had traces of spices like black pepper and spicy chili pepper. So the ancient Mayans must have liked their chocolate with a kick!

* a dash of something: 소량의 …

* spice 향신료

* kick    = strong feeling 자극, 알코올 음료의 쏘는 맛,

 

I like to eat chicken mole at Mexican restaurants. Mole is chocolate sauce, but it’s not sweet.

 

Mole /몰레/

 

Forgers made fake beans out of clay.

* Forger 위조자. S1 who makes forged copies.

 

Montezuma is said to have drunk more than 50 cups of chocolate a day. And while he had a fortune in gold, Montezuma also had a cacao bean bank.

 

The Spanish ruler Prince Philip tasted the chocolate drink and decided to give it a new twist.

* a new twist 새로운 방식

Presto! Sweetened chocolate.

 

First, milk is blended with sugar. It becomes like taffy.

* taffy 엿 같은 캔디

 

The result is a crumbly chocolate powder.

* crumbly 작은 조각들로 부시기 쉬운

 

* corn on the cob 옥수수 대에 붙어 있는 옥수수