I'm Bob Doughty. And I'm Shirley Griffith with "Explorations" in VOA
Special English. Today we travel around the world exploring the history of
chocolate. Its story begins
with a plant whose scientific
name, Theobroma cacao, means
"food of the gods."
For centuries, people
have been enjoying the rich
flavor of chocolate, a product
made from this plant.
begins:
comienza; whose: cuyo; means: significa; gods: dioses;
for centuries: durante siglos; enjoying: disfrutando: flavor:
sabor;
Most people today think of chocolate as something
sweet to eat or drink
that can be easily found in stores
around the world. It might
surprise you that chocolate was once
highly treasured.
sweet:
dulce; that can be easily found: que puede hallarse fácilmente; might:
podría; once: una vez; highly treasured: altamente valorizado;
Historians believe the Maya
people of Central America first
learned to farm cacao
plants around two thousand years ago. The Maya took the cacao trees from the
rainforests and
grew them in their gardens.
They cooked the cacao
seeds, then
crushed them into a
soft paste. They mixed the
paste with water and flavorful spices
to make an unsweetened
chocolate drink. The Maya poured
the chocolate drink back and forth
between two containers so that
the liquid had a layer of bubbles,
or foam.
historians:
los historiadores; learrned to farm: aprendieron a cultivar;
rainforests: slvas tropicales; grew them: los cultivaban; cooked:
cocinaban; seeds: simientes; crushed: aplastadas; soft paste:
pasta suave; flavorful spices: sabrosas especias; unsweetened:
sin endulzar; poured: volcaban, vertían; back and forth: hacia
adelante y hacia atrás; so that: a fin de que; layer of bubbles:
capa de burbujas; foam: espuma;
Cacao and chocolate were an important part of Maya culture. There are
often images of cacao plants on
Maya buildings and art objects.
Ruling families
drank chocolate at special
ceremonies. And, even poorer
members of society could enjoy the drink
once in a while. Historians
believe that cacao seeds were also used in
marriage ceremonies
as a sign of the union between
a husband and
wife.
often:
a menudo; buildings: construcciones; ruling families: las
familias gobernantes; drank: bebían; even poorer: aún los más
pobres; once in a while: de vez en cuando, cada tanto; marriage:
casamiento; as a sign of: como símbolo de; husband: esposo;
wife: esposa;
The Aztec culture in current day
Mexico also prized chocolate.
But, the cacao plant could not grow in the area where the Aztecs lived. So,
they traded to get cacao. They
even used cacao seeds as a form of money to
pay taxes or give as
holy offerings to the gods.
in current
day: en el actual; prized: apreciaban, valoraban; traded:
negociaban; pay taxes: pagar impuestos; holy offerings: ofrendas
sagradas;
Only the very wealthy people in
Aztec societies could afford to
drink chocolate because cacao was so
valuable. The Aztec ruler
Moctezuma was believed to drink fifty
cups of chocolate every day.
wealthy:
rica, adinerada; could afford: podía pagar; valuable: valioso;
ruler: gobernante; cups: tazas;
Some experts believe the word for chocolate came from the Aztec word "xocolatl"
which in the Nahuatl language
means "bitter water." Others
believe the word "chocolate" was created by combining Mayan and Nahuatl words.
which:
la cual; bitter water: agua amarga;
The explorer Christopher Columbus
brought cacao seeds to Spain after his
trip to Central America in
1502. But it was the Spanish
explorer Hernando Cortes who
understood that chocolate could be a valuable investment. In fifteen
nineteen, Cortes arrived in current day Mexico. He believed the chocolate
drink would become popular with
Spaniards.
brought:
llevó (el verbo bring significa "traer" pero también se lo utiliza como
"llevar"); trip: viaje; fifteen oh two: 1502; understood:
comprendió; would become popular: se populizaría; Spaniards: los
españoles;
After the Spanish soldiers defeated
the Aztec empire, they
were able to seize the supplies
of cacao and send them home. Spain later began planting cacao in its colonies
in the Americas in order to
supply the large demand for
chocolate.
defeated:
derrotaron, vencieron; empire: imperio; were able to seize:
pudieron capturar; in order to: con el propósito de; large demand
for: gran demanda de;
The wealthy people of Spain first enjoyed a
sweetened version of the
chocolate drink. Later, the popularity of the drink
spread throughout Europe. The
English, Dutch and French began
to plant cacao trees in their own colonies. Chocolate
remained a drink that only
wealthy people could afford to drink
until the eighteenth century.
During the period known as the Industrial Revolution, new technologies
helped make chocolate less costly to
produce.
sweetened:
endulzada; spread throughout: se expandió por toda; Dutch:
holandeses; remained: permaneció; until: hasta; during:
durante; less costly to: menos costoso de;
Farmers grow cacao trees in many countries in Africa, Central and South
America. The trees grow in the shady
areas of rainforests near the Earth's equator. But these trees can be
difficult to grow.
shady area:
zonas o regiones protegidas por la sombra;
They require an exact
amount of water,
warmth,
soil and protection. After
about five years, cacao trees start producing large fruits called
pods, which grow near the
trunk of the tree. The seeds
inside this pod are harvested
to make chocolate.
require:
requieren, exigen; amount: cantidad; warmth: calor; soil:
suelo; pods: vainas; trunk: tronco; harvested:
cosechadas. |