BBC 6分钟英语学习 咖啡店的历史

From

BBC, learning English. Hello, I'm

Catherine. Welcome to 6 min English, where we engage in some lively debate and discuss six stimulating items of vocabulary.

And let's start. Here's your cup of coffee.

ROBB Ah, thanks. But what took you so long?

Catherine? Oh, sorry. Rob I

bumped into someone I knew in the cafe, and we stopped for a chat.

Okay, well, that fits well with today's show, where we're talking about cafes or coffee houses.

Did you know, catherine, that coffee houses were originally a meeting place for lively debate and intellectual discussion?

Really, I didn't know that. Rob And a debate, by the way, means a discussion that a lot of people take part in.

So how long ago was this debating society?

Well, the 1st coffee house was set up in Oxford in 1650, but they quickly became popular, and soon they were all over London too.

You paid a penny to get in, and this included access to newspapers and stimulating conversation.

If something is stimulating, it encourages ideas and enthusiasm.

And I expect the coffee help without a bit.

Did it? No, it certainly helps me.

1st thing in the morning. Which brings me on to today's question.

Rob How many cups of coffee do we consume in coffee shops or stores in the UK every year?

Consume, by the way, is another word for eat or drink.

So is the answer A 2.3 million?

B 23 million, or C 23 billion? Hmm, I don't really know, but it's got to be a lot.

So I'm going to go for sea 23 billion.

That sounds like a lot of coffee, but I buy several cups a week, and I expect you do too, catherine, I do, indeed.

But I have to say, while I was getting our coffees earlier, there was nobody else in the cafe talking except me, my friend.

Everybody else was sitting on their own, tapping away on their laptops.

Let's listen now to Douglas Fraser, bbc's scotland's Business and Economy editor, describing the vibe or atmosphere in a typical 20 onest century cafe.

Ten or so in the morning, the cafe has five people at tables with their backs to the wall, each staring into a screen, plugged in ears, plugged.

The flow of bites through this coffee shops, free wifi is transporting these customers to diverse destinations far from the person beside them.

Collaborative working research grant application, a potential blockbuster novel, and inevitably someone distracted by kitten pictures on social media.

So the spirit of those 17th century coffee houses have disappeared, then.

No more lively debate, an intellectual discussion.

It seems so rob As Douglas Fraser says, many people sit alone, plugged into their laptops, and they're all doing different things, working, writing, messing about on social media.

And I think the cafe owners should turn off the free wifi and force these cafe squatters to move on.

I don't think people should be allowed to sit all day using the Internet, hogging tables and not talking to anybody, especially when some of them don't even buy coffee.

That's a bit extreme. Rob Cavy owners need customers, and they encourage people to stay by having coffee sofas and newspapers to read and the free wifi.

A squatter, by the way, is someone who lives in an empty building without paying rent, And if you hog something, you use most or all of it in a selfish way, I suppose you're right, catherine.

Now, how about telling us the answer to today's question them?

OK. So I asked, how many cups of coffee do we consume in cafes or stores in the UK every year?

Is it A 2.3 million? B 23 million, or C 23 billion?

I could sit in a cafe using their free wifi to research the answer, but I had a guess, and I said, 23 billion.

Well, you didn't need that free wifi, rob, because you are absolutely right.

23 billion coffees per year works out on average, at 45 cups per adult in the UK.

OK, I think it's time we look back at the words we learn today.

Our 1st word is debate, a discussion that a lot of people take part in, e.g.

I took part in a number of stimulating debates at school.

Number two, if something is stimulating, it encourages new ideas and enthusiasm.

E.g. it's hard to have a stimulating conversation with someone who's looking at their phone all the time.

That's very true. Let me just slide my phone in my pocket this way.

Our next word is consume. Another word for eating or drinking, but it can also mean to use, e.g., my car consumes a lot of petrol.

Or, how do I calculate my cause?

Fuel consumption. So consumption there is the noun.

Number four is vibe, which means the mood or atmosphere in a place.

E.g. Oxford is a city, but it has a small town vibe.

Well, I'm getting bad vibes from our next word, which is squatter.

That's someone who lives in an empty building without paying rent.

The building

is called a squat. So, E.G., I lived in a squat for two years.

Really? You squatted in a squat?

Roll? No, no, it's just an example.

I am not a squatter. So you've never squatted?

No, I haven't. Now that we're wasting time here, we need to move on to offer final word.

Hog. If you hog something, you use all or most of it in a selfish way, e.g.

Rob, you've hogged the only comfy chair that's so selfish.

I admitted. Catherine, I'm a chair hog.

That's the noun. OK, well, before we head off for another cup of coffee, please remember to check out our Facebook, twitter and youtube pages.

Bye, bye, bye.

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