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Alcohol consumption
酒类消费
The spirit level
烈酒级别
The Chinese are drinking more
中国人越喝越多了
Boosting their CVs
改进履历
LI JUN, a construction worker from Shandong, sips a large bottle of Yanjing beer as he squats on the pavement and shares a lunchtime bag of noodles with a colleague. On such a hot day the beer quenches his thirst, he says; the alcohol will not affect his work because he is resting while he drinks. Many of his fellow workers are also enjoying a bottle.
来自山东的建筑工人刘军蹲坐在马路上一边喝着大啤酒瓶里的燕京啤酒，一边和一个同事共吃一包当做午饭的面。在这么一个大热天里啤酒能消除他的干渴，刘军说到；酒精并不会影响到他的工作，因为他是在休息的时候喝酒。他的同事们大部分也在享受着啤酒。
Awareness of the effects of alcohol is extremely low in China. For centuries people enjoyed booze at celebrations, but few drank regularly. As incomes have shot up over the past 35 years, alcohol consumption has accelerated. Average annual consumption rose from 2.5 litres of pure alcohol in 1978 to 6.7 litres in 2010. Nearly 70% of that is spirits.
中国人极少注意酒精的影响。数个世纪以来，人们都会在欢庆时痛饮，不过绝少有人经常性喝酒。不过，随着过去35年间人们收入快速增长，酒类消费也猛增。每年的人均消费从1978年时的2.5升纯酒精增加到了2010年的6.7升。其中的70%都是烈酒。
Until recently social norms favoured moderate consumption. Most people quaffed only with meals; solitary boozing was rare. Few women drank and young Chinese mostly abstained. Biology encouraged moderation, too. About a third of the population finds it hard to metabolise alcohol. Those affected rarely drink.
此前，社会民众的酒类消费比较适度。大部分人只在吃饭时大量饮酒；独自买醉的情况更是少见。在中国，喝酒的女性很少，总体而言孩子们也被禁止喝酒。生理上，他们也比较适合温和些的饮酒方式。大约三分之一的人口难以代谢酒精。这部分人绝少喝酒。
Consumption still looks tame by international standards. Intake per person is around half that of Germany or France, according to the World Health Organisation. But the countrywide statistics hide a grimmer picture. More than half the Chinese population is teetotal. Those who do drink often do so to great excess. Male Chinese drinkers down far more than Japanese ones, and almost as much as notoriously sozzled British, Australian or Irish boozers. Binge-drinking is prevalent and high-risk drinking has reached “epidemic proportions” in China, reckons Hao Wei of Central South University in Changsha, the capital of Hunan province.
以国际标准而言，中国的酒水消费还比较节制。根据世界卫生组织的数据，中国的人均饮酒量只有德国或法国的一般左右。但全国范围的统计数据掩盖了一副糟糕的图景。半数的中国人滴酒不沾，而喝酒的人则经常过量饮酒。中国男人们喝醉的情况比起日本人要多得多，几乎和臭名昭著的英国、澳大利亚醉汉还有爱尔兰酒鬼们旗鼓相当。来自位于湖南省会长沙的中南大学的郝伟认为，在中国，过量饮酒十分盛行，而且高风险饮酒像“流行病一样”。
In China drinking with clients and colleagues is now seen as vital to career advancement; some job adverts even call for “good drinking capacity”. One study found that civil servants had a far higher incidence of alcohol-related liver diseases than the population at large.
如今的中国人普遍认为能和客户、同事喝酒对于职业发展至关重要；一些招聘广告甚至要求“好酒量”。一项研究发现公务员中，和酒精相关的肝脏疾病的发生率比起普通人要高得多。
Traditions such as toasting at banquets encourage excess; drinking games are played by middle-aged men rather than university students. That is why Chinese people drink more, and more often, as they get older, whereas in Europe and North America consumption peaks by the early 20s. Worryingly, young Chinese are now taking to drink, too, often without food. Women are also upping their intake.
敬酒这类习惯也在鼓励过量饮酒；和大学生不同，中年人之间还会进行喝酒游戏。这也是中国人年纪越大喝酒越多的原因，而在欧洲或者北美，酒类消费的巅峰时期则是在20岁出头的时候。令人担忧的是，中国的小孩们也开始喝酒了，很多时候还是不吃东西光喝酒。女人们也越喝越多了。
The state has taken some action in response. Drink-driving cases fell by nearly 40% in the two years after May 2011, when the government started to clamp down and increase penalties. President Xi Jinping’s anti-corruption drive has quashed lavish banquets.
政府作出了一些回应。在2011年5月政府加大管制力度提高量刑后，后续两年的酒驾案件减少了40%。习主席的反腐运动也抑制了铺张的公款吃喝。
But the government has done little to promote public education. Other countries have curbed drinking by increasing tax on booze. In 2006 China lowered its already paltry liquor tax. Its health services and professionals are poorly equipped to deal with alcohol-related problems, says Yilang Tang of Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia. There are no national guidelines on responsible drinking and the minimum drinking age is ambiguous. Rules relating to the sale, consumption and advertising of alcohol are weak or ill-enforced. As Central South University’s Mr Hao puts it: “Alcohol can be bought anywhere, at any time, by any person.”
然而政府在提高公众认知上缺乏作为。其他国家一直通过提高酒品税来遏制过量饮酒。2006年，中国降低了本就微不足道的酒品税。来自位于佐治亚州亚特兰大的埃默理大学的唐力朗表示，该国的医疗系统和医务人员不够完备，难以处理酒精相关的问题。国家对于适当饮酒并没有给出参照的标准而且最小饮酒年龄也模糊不清。和酒水销售、消费和广告宣传相关的法制不是不健全就是没有贯彻实行。正如中南大学的郝先生说的那样：“任何人在任何时间任何地点都能买到酒。”
