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If you can't imagine life without chocolate, you're lucky you weren't born before the 16th century.
如果你不能想象没有巧克力的生活，那你该为没在16世纪前出生感到庆幸。
Until then, chocolate only existed in Mesoamerica in a form quite different from what we know.
在那之前，巧克力仅存于中美洲，并且形态和我们所知道的大有区别。
As far back as 1900 BCE, the people of that region had learned to prepare the beans of the native cacao tree.
早在公元前1900年，该地区的人民已经学会了如何处理天然的可可豆。
The earliest records tell us the beans were ground and mixed with cornmeal and chili peppers to create a drink
根据最早的记载，这些豆子被研磨后跟玉米面和红辣椒混合在一起，用来制作饮料，
not a relaxing cup of hot cocoa, but a bitter, invigorating concoction frothing with foam.
不是令人放松的热可可，而是一种味苦却振奋精神的带泡沫的混合饮料。
And if you thought we make a big deal about chocolate today, the Mesoamericans had us beat.
如果你认为如今我们对巧克力的热爱已到极致，中美洲人绝对是第一个不服气的。
They believed that cacao was a heavenly food
他们认为可可是神圣的食物，
gifted to humans by a feathered serpent god, known to the Maya as Kukulkan and to the Aztecs as Quetzalcoatl.
受赐于一位被玛雅人称为Kukulkan的羽蛇神，阿兹特克人也将其称之为Quetzalcoatl。
Aztecs used cacao beans as currency and drank chocolate at royal feasts,
阿兹特克人将可可豆作为货币使用，并在皇家盛宴中饮用巧克力，
gave it to soldiers as a reward for success in battle, and used it in rituals.
以及将其作为士兵战功的奖励和用于宗教仪式。
The first transatlantic chocolate encounter occurred in 1519
第一次跨大西洋的巧克力邂逅发生在1519年，
when Hernán Cortés visited the court of Moctezuma at Tenochtitlan.
当荷南·科尔蒂斯拜访位于特诺奇蒂特兰城蒙特祖马的皇宫时。
As recorded by Cortés's lieutenant, the king had 50 jugs of the drink brought out and poured into golden cups.
根据科尔特斯的陆军中尉记载，国王将50罐巧克力饮料拿出来倒入金杯。
When the colonists returned with shipments of the strange new bean,
当殖民者满载这种新奇古怪的豆子回归时，
missionaries' salacious accounts of native customs gave it a reputation as an aphrodisiac.
传教士对土著风俗的诲淫解释，使其被打上了壮阳药的烙印。
At first, its bitter taste made it suitable as a medicine for ailments, like upset stomachs,
起初，巧克力因其苦味被用作可治愈像肚子痛一类小病的药，
but sweetening it with honey, sugar, or vanilla quickly made chocolate a popular delicacy in the Spanish court.
但将其和蜂蜜、糖、香草混合增甜后，美味的巧克力迅速风靡于西班牙的皇宫中。
And soon, no aristocratic home was complete without dedicated chocolate ware.
很快，巧克力成为了贵族家中的必需品。
The fashionable drink was difficult and time consuming to produce on a large scale.
大量生产这种时尚饮料是耗时耗力的。
That involved using plantations and imported slave labor in the Caribbean and on islands off the coast of Africa.
并且制作过程需要用到种植园及从加勒比海区和非洲海岸附近岛屿俘虏来的奴隶。
The world of chocolate would change forever in 1828 with the introduction of the cocoa press by Coenraad van Houten of Amsterdam.
1828年，来自阿姆斯特丹的康纳德·凡·休顿用他发明的可可豆压榨机改变了巧克力的未来。
Van Houten's invention could separate the cocoa's natural fat, or cocoa butter.
这种压榨机能将可可豆里的油脂分离开。
This left a powder that could be mixed into a drinkable solution
制造出一种可以冲泡成饮料的粉末，
or recombined with the cocoa butter to create the solid chocolate we know today.
或者和可可豆油脂重新混合，就得到了我们今天所熟知的固体巧克力。
Not long after, a Swiss chocolatier named Daniel Peter added powdered milk to the mix, thus inventing milk chocolate.
不久后，一位名为丹尼尔·彼得的瑞士巧克力大亨将奶粉和巧克力粉混合，发明了牛奶巧克力。
By the 20th century, chocolate was no longer an elite luxury but had become a treat for the public.
到了20世纪，巧克力已不再是精英阶层的奢侈品，普及到了千家万户。
Meeting the massive demand required more cultivation of cocoa, which can only grow near the equator.
巧克力的大量生产增大了对可可豆的需求，但问题在于其只能生长于赤道附近。
Now, instead of African slaves being shipped to South American cocoa plantations,
现在与其将非洲奴隶运往南美洲可可园，
cocoa production itself would shift to West Africa with Cote d'Ivoire providing two-fifths of the world's cocoa as of 2015.
不如直接在西非生产可可豆，截止2015年，科特迪亚出产了世界五分之二的可可豆。
Yet along with the growth of the industry, there have been horrific abuses of human rights.
但是，这个产业的壮大伴随着太多对人权的残忍掠夺。
Many of the plantations throughout West Africa, which supply Western companies, use slave and child labor,
西非很多向西方国家供应可可豆的种植园使用了奴隶和童工，
with an estimation of more than 2 million children affected.
据估算，有超过200万的孩童被迫劳作。
This is a complex problem that persists
这个问题复杂庞大，依然存在，
despite efforts from major chocolate companies to partner with African nations to reduce child and indentured labor practices.
尽管很多巧克力公司和非洲国家沟通干涉让他们减少对童工和契约工的使用。
Today, chocolate has established itself in the rituals of our modern culture.
今天，巧克力成为了我们现代文化重要的一部分。
Due to its colonial association with native cultures, combined with the power of advertising,
因为其和土著文化在殖民方面的联系和广告中的大力宣传，
chocolate retains an aura of something sensual, decadent, and forbidden.
巧克力隐约暗示了性欲、堕落和禁忌。
Yet knowing more about its fascinating and often cruel history, as well as its production today,
了解更多关于巧克力迷人却残酷的历史，以及如今的生产现状，
tells us where these associations originate and what they hide.
能够使人们更多的知道这种暗示的起源和背后的故事。
So as you unwrap your next bar of chocolate, take a moment to consider that not everything about chocolate is sweet.
那么，当你下一次撕开一包巧克力棒时，停留片刻思考一下，并不是关于巧克力的一切都是香甜可口的。
