中国人为什么爱喝热水？
Why do Chinese people drink hot water?
Name: ________________ Date: ________
感冒了？多喝热水。肚子疼？多喝热水。工作不顺利？跟男朋友吵架了？还是那句话：多喝热水。在中国，这四个字好像能回答所有问题。
这句话在网上早就成了一个笑话。女朋友说自己不舒服，男朋友过了半天，只回了四个字：“多喝热水。”很多人觉得这样回答太随便了，于是，“多喝热水”就成了“不懂得关心人”的代名词。
不过，中国人是真的爱喝热水。去饭馆吃饭，常常是你刚坐下，服务员就端来一杯热水或者热茶。火车上，车厢里一般都有免费的开水，很多人一上车就泡上一碗方便面。保温杯更是到处都能看到。2017年，一张照片在网上火了：当年的摇滚硬汉，如今手里端着一个保温杯。网友们笑称，这就是人到中年的样子：保温杯里泡枸杞。
那么，这个习惯是从哪儿来的？按照中医的说法，冷的东西伤胃，热的对身体好。不过，有学者认为，喝热水真正成为全国的习惯，主要还是因为二十世纪的公共卫生运动。那时候，很多地方的水不干净，喝生水容易生病。三十年代，当时的政府就提倡喝开水。1952年，爱国卫生运动开始了，“不喝生水”这句话传遍了全国。
在老上海的街上，还有专门卖开水的小店。据说这种店的炉口像老虎张开的大嘴，所以大家叫它“老虎灶”。后来，很多人家里都有了热水瓶。在学校和单位，大家每天拎着热水瓶去锅炉房打水，这是几代人共同的回忆。
这个习惯还跟着中国人去了国外。2011年，一家国际连锁酒店为中国客人推出了专门的服务，房间里特地准备了水壶。
所以，下次有人对你说“多喝热水”，先别急着生气。这四个字背后，有老虎灶，有热水瓶，还有一份不善表达的关心。当然，如果他说完还顺手给你倒了一杯，那就更好了。
Key words
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 肚子 | dùzi | belly; abdomen; stomach |
| 顺利 | shùnlì | smoothly; successfully; smooth; without a hitch |
| 笑话 | xiàohua | joke |
| 免费 | miǎnfèi | free (of charge) |
| 火 | huǒ | fire |
| 网友 | wángyǒu | netizen; internet user |
| 样子 | yàngzi | appearance; look |
| 按照 | ànzhào | according to; in accordance with |
| 说法 | shuōfǎ | version; account; view |
| 真正 | zhēnzhèng | real; genuine; true; truly; really |
| 成为 | chéngwéi | to become |
| 当时 | dāngshí | then; at that time |
English (for the teacher)
Got a cold? Drink more hot water. Stomach ache? Drink more hot water. Work not going well? Had a row with your boyfriend? Same answer: drink more hot water. In China, these four words seem to answer every question.
Online, the phrase turned into a joke long ago. A girlfriend says she isn’t feeling well, and after a long wait her boyfriend replies with just four words: “Drink more hot water.” Lots of people think that is far too offhand, so “drink more hot water” became a byword for not knowing how to show you care.
Still, Chinese people really do love hot water. Go out for a meal and, as often as not, the moment you sit down the waiter brings you a glass of hot water or hot tea. On trains there is usually free boiled water in the carriages, and plenty of people make a bowl of instant noodles as soon as they board. And thermos cups are everywhere you look. In 2017 a photo went viral: a hard-man rocker of years gone by, now holding a thermos cup. People online joked that this is what middle age looks like: goji berries steeping in a thermos.
So where does the habit come from? According to traditional Chinese medicine, cold things are bad for the stomach and hot things are good for the body. But some scholars think what really made hot water a nationwide habit was, above all, the public health campaigns of the twentieth century. Back then, the water in many places was not clean, and drinking it unboiled could easily make you ill. In the 1930s, the government of the day was already urging people to drink boiled water. In 1952 the Patriotic Health Campaign began, and “don’t drink unboiled water” spread across the whole country.
On the streets of old Shanghai there were even little shops that specialised in boiled water. It’s said the mouth of their stoves looked like a tiger’s gaping jaws, so people called them “tiger stoves”. Later, many families got a thermos flask at home. At schools and workplaces, everyone carried a thermos to the boiler room each day to fetch hot water, a memory shared by several generations.
The habit has even followed Chinese people abroad. In 2011 an international hotel chain launched a special service for Chinese guests, with a kettle put in the room especially for them.
So next time someone tells you to “drink more hot water”, don’t get cross just yet. Behind those four words are tiger stoves, thermos flasks and a kind of care that isn’t good at putting itself into words. Of course, if he pours you a glass while he’s at it, even better.