Beer is an alcoholic beverage produced by the saccharification of starch and fermentation of the resulting sugar. The starch and saccharification enzymes are often derived from malted cereal grains, most commonly malted barley and malted wheat. Most beer is also flavoured with hops, which add bitterness and act as a natural preservative, though other flavourings such as herbs or fruit may occasionally be included. The preparation of beer is called brewing. 啤酒是一种酒精饮料，由淀粉糖化和产生的糖发酵而成。淀粉和糖化酶通常来自麦芽谷物，最常见的是麦芽大麦和麦芽小麦。大多数啤酒还加入了啤酒花，这会增加苦味，并起到天然防腐剂的作用，不过偶尔也会加入其他调味品，如草药或水果。啤酒的制备被称为酿造。

Beer is the world's most widely consumed alcoholic beverage, and is the third-most popular drink overall, after water and tea. It is thought by some to be the oldest fermented beverage. 啤酒是世界上消费最广泛的酒精饮料，是仅次于水和茶的第三大最受欢迎的饮料。有些人认为它是最古老的发酵饮料。

In 2010, China's beer consumption hit 450 million hectoliters (45 billion liters) or nearly twice that of the United States but only 5 percent sold were Premium draught beers, compared with 50 percent in France and Germany. 2010年，中国的啤酒消费量达到4.5亿公升（450亿公升），几乎是美国的两倍，但售出的优质生啤酒仅占5%，而法国和德国为50%。 More than 133 billion liters (35 billion gallons) are sold per year—producing total global revenues of $294.5 billion (£147.7 billion) as of 2006. 截至2006年，全球年销售量超过1330亿升（350亿加仑），总收入为2945亿美元（1477亿英镑）。突然觉得某游戏公司没那么厉害和可恨了。2006年中国人口13.11亿，世界人口66亿人，1美元=7.9735元人民币, 2945*7.9735*13.11/66=4664.4亿人民币。

Pale ale is a beer which uses a top-fermenting yeast and predominantly pale malt. It is one of the world's major beer styles. Stout and porter are dark beers made using roasted malts or roast barley, and typically brewed with slow fermenting yeast. Lager is the English name for cool fermenting beers of Central European origin. Lambic, a beer of Belgium, is naturally fermented using wild yeasts, rather than cultivated. 淡啤酒是一种使用顶层发酵酵母和主要为淡麦芽的啤酒。这是世界上主要的啤酒风格之一。Stout和porter是用烤麦芽或烤大麦酿造的黑啤酒，通常用缓慢发酵的酵母酿造。Lager是起源于中欧的冷发酵啤酒的英文名称。Lambic是比利时的一种啤酒，是用野生酵母自然发酵的，而不是人工培养的。

Beer ranges from less than 3% alcohol by volume (abv) to around 14% abv.

Draught beer from a pressurised keg is the most common method of dispensing in bars around the world. A metal keg is pressurised with carbon dioxide (CO2) gas which drives the beer to the dispensing tap or faucet. 在世界各地的酒吧里，从压力桶中取出生啤酒是最常见的分配方法。金属桶被二氧化碳（CO2）气体加压，将啤酒送到分配龙头或水龙头。

Most beers are cleared of yeast by filtering when packaged in bottles and cans.

If you say that something is small beer, you mean that it is unimportant in comparison with something else.

六级/考研单词: beverage, seldom, derive, cereal, grain, wheat, flavor, hop, herb, brew, consume, million, billion, liter, unite, premium, draught, quart, globe, ale, predominant, stout, roast, cultivate, dispense, carbon, dioxide, tap, filter