英國人習慣喝下午茶。在下午四點左右的時候，泡上一杯香茗，配上幾塊精致的點心，享受一陣逸散的心情……就如一位英國作家所說，下午茶是自己對自己好的時間。在享受悠閑輕松的下午茶時，也讓我們打開歷史這扇門，去看看下午茶是怎么起源的吧。

When related to afternoon tea, what would you think of? A cup of tea, a piece of cake and a good mood, what a good enjoyment! But do you know how comes the afternoon tea?

That we should thank for a lady, who had created the custom of afternoon tea in the year 1840. She is Anna, the seventh Duchess of Bedford. At that time, people of upper class usually had supper at around 8 o’clock in the evening. But Anna began to feel hungry at round 4 in the afternoon. This had left her a good long time of 4 hours. Therefore, she told the servant to bring a tray of tea, bread, butter and cake to her room during the late afternoon. It became a habit of hers. Soon, she invited her friends to join her.

Afternoon tea was favored by most women, because they then have reason to get together and killing the leisure time more meaningfully. After Anna’s launch of the afternoon tea, women of the aristocracy did the same in their home and it later became a fashionable social event, providing a place for people to meet new friends and get new information.

The traditional afternoon tea usually contains a teapot of tea, several teacups and pastries. There are different types of pastries: a selection of dainty sandwiches, scones served with clotted cream and preserves, teacakes etc. English tea is mainly from India or Ceylon, which was originally transported by the East India Company.

Today, afternoon tea has been simplified because of the change of lifestyle. People use tea bags instead of infusing tea leaves. Pastries are no longer as various and sophisticated as that of long time ago. They usually are some pieces of biscuits or cakes.

But if you want to experience a real English afternoon tea, I would advise you to Devonshire, where produces good clotted cream and famous cream tea. The tea consists of cups of hot and sweet tea served in china teacups and scones, strawberry jam as well as the fine clotted cream—the vital ingredient of cream tea. You may indulge yourself for a whole afternoon to enjoy the best tradition.

Dainty: 精致的，少量的

Ceylon: 錫蘭

Infuse: 浸泡，泡茶

Clotted cream: 凝固的奶油，英國德文郡出產的最好的奶油Devonshire clotted cream，奶脂含量55%，濃稠度足以用來涂面包，但一加熱就會分離。

（通訊員Celia 供稿 英語點津 Annabel 編輯）

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