luosteve的部落格

到南非，除了嚐嚐當地老少閒宜的牛肉乾之外，不妨試試那兒的「AMARULA」-一種所謂的大象酒。  

When you go to South Africa , in addition to tasting the local beef jerky appealing to people of all ages, you may as well try out its AMARULA, a so-called elephant liqueur.  

**in addition to/besides和except皆指「除了…」的意思。不同之處是，前者有「包含」，而後者則無。如：I love various water-related sports in addition to swimming. 除了游泳之外(游泳也算；不只有游泳)，我也喜歡其它各式各樣的水上運動。而I love various water-related sports except swimming.所用的except則不包含游泳，所以本句意思是：除了游泳之外(不包含游泳)，我喜歡各式各樣的水上運動。  

** S + may as well是「不妨~、最好~」的用法，如：When eating red meat, you may as well go with red wine for better texture and health-conscious reason.當你吃紅肉時，不妨配些紅酒以增添口感同時也兼顧健康。  
 

這是第二趟到南非的約翰尼斯堡了。除了陪台灣阿哥Johnny到處吃吃喝喝外，重要的是要買個幾瓶當地有名的AMARULA回去。這種南非大象酒是由一位網友而得知的，後來仔細對它在網上調查了一番，才知道這款酒是南非獨一無二的知名甜酒。  

This was my second flight to Johannesburg . When in there, besides having a bite of various yummy foods everywhere with Johnny, a Taiwanese Flight purser, the most important mission I needed to accomplish was to bring back some bottles of the locally noted AMARULA. I firstly got to know this kind of “Elephant Liqueur”from one of my cyber friends and I then realized how unique it actually is in South Africa right after I had done some researches via the Internet.  
 

我很多朋友一聽到大象酒，便馬上聯想到它是否是種「用大象釀成的」酒，其實非也。AMARULA是用南非Marula樹的果實釀製的，這種Marula樹的果實是大象很喜歡吃的果實，它的糖份相當高，特別受到象群的關照，所以Marula Tree又稱為大象樹。 

Many of my friends who were told about the elephant liqueur would associate it with a sort of alcohol made from real elephants, but it is not on the contrary. AMARULA is brewed from the fruits of South Africa ’s Marula trees. The trees, whose fruits are so favored by elephants because of their richness in sugar, can also be called as “Elephant Trees”.
 

AMARULA超級像百利甜酒(Baileys，一種威士忌加上煉乳的甜酒)。甜甜的口感再加上濃濃的奶香讓人嘗起來備感幸福。我倒給家人嚐第一口時，他們都說極類似重奶味珍珠奶茶再加上高梁的味道。大象酒最好喝的方式是加冰塊一起喝。天哪，你喝下去時根本不會感覺自己在喝酒，這種香甜冰涼的口感只會讓你一杯加上一杯，讓你忘了它其實是一種酒來的，不過它比一般的紅白酒還高的酒精濃度(17%)卻足以讓你不小心就醉倒，首次喝AMARULA真的要小心喔！  

AMARULA tastes very much similar to Baileys (a liqueur combined with whiskey and cream). Its sweet flavor blending with strong texture of cream gives drinkers an impression of happiness. After the first sip of the liqueur, most of my family considered it to be very close to the mouthfeel of the mixer blended with heavy-milk bubble milk tea and Kaoliang. When drinking this elephant liqueur, you are highly recommended to drink it with ice, which will bring out the best texture of it. Gosh, you will never know you are drinking alcohol when you have some AMARULA on the rocks at hand. Its sweet and cool taste will only accelerate your drinking from a cup after another, confusing you to regard it as just a good-to-drink soft drink. Well, AMARULA’s high amount of alcohol, even higher than general white and red wine, 17%, will surely make you get drunk easily. So, be careful when giving AMARULA an initial whirl.

  說文解字  

Key Words  

1). in addition to~：除了~  + N (= besides~ = apart from~)  

2). liqueur：帶有甜味的烈酒  

3). to have a bite of：嚐嚐~  

4). to accomplish：完成  

5). noted：有名的  (= famous = celebrated = well-known = celebrated = renowned)  

6). cyber friend：網友  

7). via：從~、透過~、藉由~  (= through = from = by)  

8). to associate A with B：將A聯想成B  

9). on the contrary：想反地  

10). brew：釀造  

11). texture：口感  (= mouthfeel = flavor)  

12). sip：一小口啜飲  

13). mixer：調和物  

14). on the rocks：(飲料)加冰塊