AMERICAN DRINKS
AUDIO
AMERICAN DRINKS by Laura Warrell (American English spelling) What do you drink in the morning? Some tea, perhaps, or a cup of coffee, or just water. And what do you have during the day when you’re feeling thirsty? More water. Now what about the Americans? What do you think they drink? Like most things in the United States, Americans have a big choice when it comes to drinks. There’s coffee, milk, juice, soft drinks and special “diet drinks” (made with enough chemicals to exterminate a small village), and beer. So what do Americans prefer? And when do they drink it?
Soda Americans are well-known soda drinkers. Pepsi and Coca-Cola dominate the soda industry, though there are smaller companies trying to compete. There’s the basic brown cola, plus an endless supply of other flavors, including orange, lime, grape and cherry. Then there are crystal-clear drinks like Sprite and 7-Up, and a lesser-known product called Crystal Pepsi. Many people blame this high soda consumption for most of the country’s social problems, including obesity, heart disease and an inability to drive. Apparently, in 2000, more than 75 billion litres of soda was consumed…. which means at least one can per day for every man, woman and child.
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Milk What do you give your guests when they come to your house? A glass of beer, or wine? Or some tea or coffee, perhaps? Foreigners in the States are often surprised when they sit down to dinner with an American family and are offered milk. But this is perfectly normal as many Americans, especially children, have milk with nearly every meal. At present, there’s an aggressive campaign to get Americans to drink even more milk. It’s healthy, they say, and prevents bone diseases such as osteoporosis. The milk industry also scares consumers by saying 88% of women and 60% of men aren’t getting enough calcium in their diets, and how 28 million people already have bone diseases. Then, they push old ladies to show how easy it is to break a limb when you’re not drinking enough milk. For a long time, there was a series of television ads as part of the “Got Milk” campaign. They showed famous people wearing a “milk mustache” (a line of milk above their upper lip) and saying something meaningful about the drink. Some of the people who have appeared in the videos include Britney Spears, director Spike Lee and Sarah Michelle Gellar.
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