餐桌礼仪：喝酒为什么要碰杯?

　　新年到了，无论是在哪里，家人朋友聚在一起就难免不了会喝喝酒。而喝酒中少不了的一个环节就是要碰杯，那么，有人想过我们为什么在喝酒的时候要碰杯吗?想要知道喝酒的时候为什么要碰杯，我们就得要先知道我们为什么要喝酒?怎么喝酒?才能够更加了解我们在喝酒时什么情况下会碰杯了。

　　我们聚会喝酒多是表达喜悦和庆祝之情， 最初人们间喝酒时碰杯是为了证明酒里没有毒，而现如今，碰杯更多是表达互相之间的信任和尊敬，同时也是消除人们之间隔阂的很有效的方法之一。

　　Claim: The ritual of clinking glasses evolved from efforts to prove that the drinks contained therein were not poisoned.

　　False

　　Q: Why do people clink their glasses before drinking a toast?

　　A: It used to be common for someone to try to kill an enemy by offering him a poisoned drink. To prove to a guest that a drink was safe, it became customary for a guest

　　to pour a small amount of his drink into the glass of the host. Both men would drink it simultaneously. When a guest trusted his host, he would then just touch or clink the

　　host's glass with his own.

　　Origins: Many explanations have been advanced to explain our custom of clinking glasses when participating in toasts. One is that early Europeans felt the sound helped to

　　drive off evil spirits. Another holds that by clanking the glasses into one another, wine could be sloshed from glass to glass, thereby serving as a proof the beverages had not

　　been poisoned. Yet another claim asserts that the "clink" served as a symbolic acknowledgment of trust among imbibers who did not feel the need to sample each others'

　　drinks to prove them unadulterated.

　　To get at the real reason for the clink of glass on glass, we have to first look at why and how we toast, and where the practice originated.

　　The custom of sealing with booze expressions of good wishes for the health of others dates back so far that its origins are now lost to us, yet in numerous cultures such

　　acts of camaraderie often involved shared drinking vessels. The clinking of individual cups or glasses as a proof of trust wouldn't have meant much when everyone drank from

　　the same bowl. Indeed, in those cultures where shared drinking containers was the norm, to produce one's own vessel in such company was to communicate an unmistakable

　　message of hostility and distrust; it would have been regarded as akin to bringing along a food taster to sample the repast.

　　Etiquette mavens say one need not clink glasses with everyone present when participating in toasts among large assemblies. Rather than reach across vast expanses of

　　wide tables (thereby risking losing your balance and ending up in the guacamole), simply raise your glass and make eye contact with the group.