BBC 6分钟英语 喝酒有多糟？

English, from BBC,

learning English. Hello, and welcome to Six Minute English.

I'm Alice, and I'm Rob. You look very pale.

Rob, are you? OK. Well, I was a rather boozy wedding party last night.

I had a bit too much champagne.

Do you know any good hang over yours?

A hangover is the headache and sickness you can feel after drinking too much alcohol, and a cure is something that makes you better.

Well, I'm tea total. I don't drink alcohol, so I'd say the best hangover cure is not to drink in the 1st place.

You don't believe in hair of the dog, then no, rub, I don't.

Hair of the dog is the belief that drinking more alcohol when you already have a hangover will make you feel better, and boozy means lots of alcohol.

I can see I'm not going to get much sympathy from you, so I'm going to take a couple of painkillers and let you tell everyone what the subject of today's show is.

All right then, well, it's drinking too much.

Rob and I have a question for you.

What is the name of the main process involved in producing alcohol?

Is it a fermentation? B hydration or C purification?

OK, I know it has something with water, so I want to go for B hydration.

Rings A bell from my chemistry lessons at school.

Ah, well, we'll find out later on in the show whether you were listening carefully in class.

Rob Well, um, no. Comet Well, most people are aware of the links between smoking and cancer, but fewer are aware that drinking alcohol is linked to an increased risk of future health problems.

The UK government is currently trying to raise awareness with their new guidelines on how much it's safe to drink.

Let's hear what Doctor Michael Mosley has to say about health risks.

Unfortunately, whatever level of alcohol you are drinking, it is likely to increase your risk of some forms of cancer, particularly breast cancer, but also other rare reforms of cancer, like head, neck and throat.

The rests are quite low at moderate drinking, but they do rise rapidly, so any drinking at all, even one small glass of wine with your evening meal raises your risk of cancer.

Is that right? Yes, and the health risk increases with the amount you drink.

But I thought wine was supposed to be good for you.

Hmm. It's a popular belief, but medical evidence doesn't seem to support this view.

Let's listen to Doctor Michael Mosley again on this.

Now, there's long been this idea there is this marvelous stuff in red wine called risveritol, which is said to reduce your risk of all sorts of things.

And fortunately, the amount you would have to consume would be so huge that the downsides of drinking red wine would swiftly overwhelm them.

And the downside of something means the disadvantages.

Now, alice, what's your favorite tipple?

Well, I don't have one rob because I'm tea total.

Remember, tipple is another way of saying an alcoholic drink.

I enjoy beetroot in chaos, movies with a dash of turmeric and ground pepper kale.

Oh, yeah, that's disgusting. Now, smoothie is a thick drink made of fruit or vegetables blended with milk or yogurt or water.

Well, I like sweet stuff. Maybe a banana, smoothy with some honey.

But beetrood and caled sounds disgusting, and don't knock it until you've tried it.

And that means to try something before you criticize it.

OK, OK, but seriously, a glass of wine makes me happy and relaxed, and there are health studies that suggest being happy is good for your health.

That's true, but eating and drinking healthily makes me happy.

Now, moving on, it's important to put the risk of drinking alcohol or horrible vegetable smoothies in context.

Statistically, drinking alcohol regularly represents just under 1% lifetime risk of death.

But actually, an hour of TV watching or eating a bacon sandwich a couple of times a week is more dangerous.

Well, that's what I like to hear, though.

What if I'm watching TV, enjoying a beer and a lovely bacon sandwich?

Does that triple my lifetime risk of death?

Well, rob, you better ask Professor David Spiegel Halter at the University of Cambridge that question.

I was quoting him earlier about the TV watching and the bacon sandwich.

He works with statistics, but this is for another program.

Now, let's get on to the serious matter of today's quiz.

Question. I asked, what is the name of the main process involved in producing alcohol?

Is it a fermentation? B hydration or C purification?

Well, I said B hydration, though you were skeptical one.

You are. Listen, yes. And I was right to be skeptical, which means doubtful, because B is the wrong answer.

I'm afraid wrong. The main

process involved in producing alcohol is fermentation, which is the process in which yeast or bacteria, changes sugar into alcohol.

Hydration is the process of making your body absorb water, and purification is the act of

removing some harmful things from something.

Actually have this glass of water.

Rob Hydration is a good hangover cure, much better than hair of the dog.

Ah, cheers. Alice. Now let's hear the words we learned today.

They are hangover cure, tea, total hair of the dog.

Boozy. Downside tipple. Don't knock it until you've tried it.

Skeptical fermentation. Well, that's the end of today's six minute English.

Keep hydrated and don't forget to join us again soon.

Bye, bye, bye.

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