相親相愛，猶如茶與鹽巴
Love each other devotedly, just like tea and salt
茶越熬越釅，書越讀越精
Constant boiling brings the best out of tea, voracious reading brings the best out of a book.
無諺之語難聽，無鹽之茶難喝
Speech without proverb is hard to comprehend, tea without salt is unpleasant to drink
……
藏族民間諺語中，茶的影子隨處可尋。“人喜啖生物，無蔬茹醯醬，獨知用鹽為滋味，而嗜酒及茶”。西藏素有“寧可三日無糧，不可一日無茶”之說。
The description of tea can be found everywhere in the Tibetan folk proverbs. “People like eating raw food with no mixture of vegetables, vinegar or soy sauce. The food is seasoned with salt only, paired with wine and tea.” There is a well-known saying in Tibet: “It would rather be three days without food, not one day without tea.”
藏地的清晨 伴有微微茶香
An Early Morning in Tibet along with Slight Fragrance of Tea
散步、聊天、遛狗、發呆、曬太陽、轉經……所有你能想象幸福悠哉的事情都和甜茶密不可分，因為藏式甜茶代表著獨特的藏式悠閒。
Strolling, chatting, walking the dog, staring at somewhere, sunbathing, swaying a praying wheel... All you can imagine related to happiness and leisure are inseparable from sweet tea. As Tibetan sweet tea represents a unique Tibetan leisure life, what sweet tea is to Tibetans is what afternoon tea is to the British.
在拉薩的居民中，酥油茶與甜茶是每天必不可少的。與酥油茶的聞名在外不同，甜茶深入藏地百姓生活卻名不顯於外，似乎並不多為外人所知。茶館酒肆，是一個多維立體的成像體，豐富生動地呈現出一座城的市井生活狀態。或許，對於拉薩居民來說，他若不在甜茶館，那一定是在去往甜茶館的路上。
Buttered tea as well as sweet tea are the necessities for Lhasa citizens. Different from the famous buttered tea, the fact that sweet tea goes deep into Tibetan’s life seems to remain unknown to the outside world. Tea houses and taverns are like multidimensional cube imaging objects which represent the street life of a city extensively and lively. As regards to the Lhasa citizens, it is often the case that he or she is either in a sweet tea house or on the way to a sweet tea house.
清晨的陽光伴著藏地微微的茶香，藏家人一天的忙碌便在這一壺甜茶一碗藏面中開始了。特色濃郁的藏茶香，混合著市井的煙火氣。
Bathing in the sunshine in an early morning along with slight fragrance of tea, the Tibetans’ busy day starts with a kettle of sweet tea and a bowl of Tibetan noodles. Distinctive Tibetan tea is mixed with the mundane atmosphere in the marketplaces.
西藏甜茶館主要集中在拉薩和日喀則兩大城市其中以拉薩為最多，如果你在八廓街或者布達拉宮附近的甜茶館轉一轉，就會發現不管是剛會打醬油的七八歲孩童還是上了年紀的藏族老人都喜歡泡在甜茶館裡一碗藏面一壺甜茶便可以隨心所欲的聊聊小道八卦又或者高談闊論一整天。
Tibetan sweet tea houses are mainly gathered in two large cities Lhasa and Shigatse, the quantity of sweet tea houses in Lhasa is the largest. If you hang around in Ba Kuo Street or a sweet tea house near the Potala Palace, you will find that no matter the 7 or 8 years old child who is just capable of buying soy source or the aged Tibetan people, they would like to eat a bowl of Tibetan noodles with a pot of sweet tea in a sweet tea house there, gossiping about hearsay at their own will or convey their ideas with harangue for a whole day.
散步、聊天、遛狗、發呆、曬太陽、轉經……所有你能想象幸福悠哉的事情都和甜茶密不可分，因為藏式甜茶代表著獨特的藏式悠閒。
Strolling, chatting, walking the dog, staring at somewhere, sunbathing, swaying a praying wheel... All you can imagine related to happiness and leisure are inseparable from sweet tea. As Tibetan sweet tea represents a unique Tibetan leisure life, what sweet tea is to Tibetans is what afternoon tea is to the British.
在拉薩的居民中，酥油茶與甜茶是每天必不可少的。與酥油茶的聞名在外不同，甜茶深入藏地百姓生活卻名不顯於外，似乎並不多為外人所知。茶館酒肆，是一個多維立體的成像體，豐富生動地呈現出一座城的市井生活狀態。或許，對於拉薩居民來說，他若不在甜茶館，那一定是在去往甜茶館的路上。
Buttered tea as well as sweet tea are the necessities for Lhasa citizens. Different from the famous buttered tea, the fact that sweet tea goes deep into Tibetan’s life seems to remain unknown to the outside world. Tea houses and taverns are like multidimensional cube imaging objects which represent the street life of a city extensively and lively. As regards to the Lhasa citizens, it is often the case that he or she is either in a sweet tea house or on the way to a sweet tea house.
清晨的陽光伴著藏地微微的茶香，藏家人一天的忙碌便在這一壺甜茶一碗藏面中開始了。特色濃郁的藏茶香，混合著市井的煙火氣。
Bathing in the sunshine in an early morning along with slight fragrance of tea, the Tibetans’ busy day starts with a kettle of sweet tea and a bowl of Tibetan noodles. Distinctive Tibetan tea is mixed with the mundane atmosphere in the marketplaces.
西藏甜茶館主要集中在拉薩和日喀則兩大城市其中以拉薩為最多，如果你在八廓街或者布達拉宮附近的甜茶館轉一轉，就會發現不管是剛會打醬油的七八歲孩童還是上了年紀的藏族老人都喜歡泡在甜茶館裡一碗藏面一壺甜茶便可以隨心所欲的聊聊小道八卦又或者高談闊論一整天。
Tibetan sweet tea houses are mainly gathered in two large cities Lhasa and Shigatse, the quantity of sweet tea houses in Lhasa is the largest. If you hang around in Ba Kuo Street or a sweet tea house near the Potala Palace, you will find that no matter the 7 or 8 years old child who is just capable of buying soy source or the aged Tibetan people, they would like to eat a bowl of Tibetan noodles with a pot of sweet tea in a sweet tea house there, gossiping about hearsay at their own will or convey their ideas with harangue for a whole day.
一壺甜茶少許鹽 滋味剛剛好
A Pot of Sweet Tea with a Dash of Salt: Just the Right Taste
在西藏，茶館遍佈各地集市，有酥油茶、清茶、奶茶、甜茶等多種飲茶方式，而藏族人喝茶，不管是酥油茶還是清茶，都喜歡在裡面放點鹽。
In Tibet, tea houses are scattered around the market. There are various tea drinking methods such as buttered tea, green tea, milk tea and sweet tea. When Tibetans drink tea, they like adding some salt in it no matter it is buttered tea or green tea.
在西藏民間，流傳著一個關於茶葉和鹽的悽美愛情故事。相傳，在河的兩岸有兩個部落，住在東岸的叫轄部落，住在西岸的叫怒部落。兩個部落結下了冤仇，彼此勢同水火，斷絕了所有往來，只剩一條粗粗長長的溜索橋空落落地懸在河上。
There is a sad and beautiful love story in the Tibetan folk saying about tea and salt. According to legend, there are two tribes living on both sides of the river, the tribe that lives on the east riverside is called the "Xia" tribe and the tribe living on the west riverside is called 'Nu" tribe. The two tribes had a feud and were embittered toward each other. They cut off all their contacts, leaving only a thick, long, slippery bridge hanging over the river.
轄部落土司有個女兒叫麥美措，從小趕著羊群到河東岸的坡壩上放牧。怒部落土司有個兒子叫文頓巴，也是從小趕著牛馬到河上游西岸的坡壩上放牧。一年又一年，時間在指縫間不經意地溜走，麥美措和文頓巴都慢慢長大，每日隔河相望，兩人漸生情愫。
The chieftain of “Xia” tribe had a daughter named Mai Meicuo, who let her goats gaze on the slope dam of the east riverside. The chieftain of “Nu” tribe had a son called “Wen Dunba”, who similarly herded oxen and horses on the slope dam of the west side. Years after years, time passed unconsciously through the fingers, Mai Meicuo and Wen Dunba were growing up. They looked at each other from a distant view, though separated by the river, they fell in love.
從此，麥美措和文頓巴每天清早把牛羊趕到一塊兒放牧，兩人在青青草地上追逐嬉戲，直到太陽落山，才戀戀不捨地回家。
From then on, Mai Meicuo and Wen Dunba herded their oxen and goats on the same dam, they chased and played on the green green grass. They were reluctant to part and did not go home until the sun went down.
過了不久，不幸的事情發生了。麥美措和文頓巴相戀的事被發現了，遭到了族人的強烈反對。於是，兩人雙雙殉情。死後文頓巴的靈魂飛到了羌塘，變成鹽湖中的鹽；麥美措的靈魂飛到雅州，變成茶樹長出茶葉。佛見他們有緣，讓他們在茶碗中相會。西藏商人到四川雅州買來茶葉，到羌塘買來鹽巴，在煮好的茶水中放入鹽，兩個相愛的人又得以相會。
Before long, something unfortunate happened. The fact that Mai Meicuo and Wen Dunba fell in love was discovered and strongly opposed by the two tribes. As a result, both of them committed suicide. After the death, the soul of Wen Dunba flew to Qiangtang and became the salt in the Salt Lake; the soul of Mai Meicuo flew to Yazhou and became a tea tree which grew tea. The Buddha regarded their relationship as the destined one and allowed them to meet in the tea bowl. Tibetan businessmen buy tea from Yazhou, Sichuan Province, and buy salt from Qiantang. Then, salt will be added into the cooked tea. The two lovers are able to meet again in this way.
茶與鹽的交融，品味愛情的味道。其實茶與鹽交融而飲還有助於同時吸收茶葉和鹽的成分，因此一直以來都是西藏受歡迎的飲茶方式。
Perceive the taste of love with the mixture of tea and salt. As a matter of fact, drinking tea mixed with salt promotes the absorption of the ingredient of tea and salt. Therefore, it has always been a popular way of drinking tea in Tibet.
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