31 Drink Up

CHAPTER 1 Thirst OUR BODIES NEED A LOT OF WATER. WE CAN LIVE WITHOUT FOOD FOR UP TO EIGHT WEEKS. WE CAN ONLY LIVE WITHOUT WATER FOR THREE TO FIVE DAYS. It's seven in the morning. You wake up, but you're tired. You need a drink because you feel thirsty. What drink do you want? Milk? Water? Orange juice? Tea? Coffee? In bed at night, you sweat and your body loses water and salts. Many morning drinks put the water and salts into your body again. Now you have energy for the day. Water is a very important liquid. It is 60 percent of our bodies and 70 percent of our brains. We need about eight glasses of water every day. How many glasses do you drink? Do you play a lot of sports? Then you're going to need to drink a lot more liquids. Sports people sweat a lot. When you sweat, your body loses liquid and salt. There are special energy drinks for sports people. These drinks put liquid and salt back into your body. There is water in drinks, of course. Cow's milk is about 87 percent water. But there is water in many fruits and vegetables, too. Do you know...? How much of a tomato is water? a 35% b 52% c 93% The answer is c, 93%.

CHAPTER 2 Water: The Most Important Drink WATER IS GOOD FOR YOU. BUT CAN IT MAKE YOUR LIFE LONGER? Juan Ponce de Leon (1460-1521) wanted a very long life. He heard stories about a Fountain of Youth on an island far away. The stories said that water from this fountain was good for people. They drank it and stayed young for a long time. Ponce de Leon didn't find the fountain. He found Florida in the USA! And he didn't live for a very long time. He died at the age of 61. There is no "fountain of youth." Water can't help us to live for hundreds of years, but it is very important for our health. Americans use about 650 liters of water every day. They drink it and wash with it. They clean their houses and cars with it. But many people in the world can only use less than 20 liters of water a day. In some countries, more than 10 percent of the people can't get any clean drinking water. Their water is unhealthy, and they can get sick if they drink it. Many of these people die because of unclean water. Every year there are many millions of new babies. They need water to live. There is a lot of water in the world, but it is salt water. We can't drink it. Less than one percent of the world's water is OK to drink. Where is the water for these new babies going to come from? This is a big problem.

There's another important drink for young animals and people milk. Milk is food for babies. All baby mammals— animals like cows, sheep, horses, cats, dogs— drink milk from their mothers. It makes them strong and healthy. People are mammals, too. We drink milk for about six months before we can eat food. Some animals drink milk for a very long time. Baby elephants can drink 11.4 liters of milk a day for about two years! Do you like milk? It's a popular drink, and it's good for our bones and teeth. Most milk in the supermarket comes from cows on farms. We drink it and make it into butter and cheese, too. Not all people like cow's milk. It makes some people sick. In some parts of Asia and Africa, milk is not a popular drink. But people can get a kind of milk from plants like rice, soybeans, and coconuts. This milk is very good for you, too. Do you know...? How much milk can a cow give every day? a 5-7 liters b 12-14 liters c 18-20 liters The answer is c, 18—20 liters.

CHAPTER 3 Hot Drinks PUT SOME TEA IN A CUP WITH SOME HOT WATER. WAIT ONE OR TWO MINUTES. WATCH THE WATER. IT IS CHANGING COLOR. YOU ARE BREWING A CUP OF TEA! Many people like tea and coffee because of the caffeine in these drinks. Caffeine wakes us up and gives us energy. Tea is a favorite drink in every country in the world. Fiona is English. She drinks tea from India. Some years ago in England, "afternoon tea" was popular. This was a small meal between lunch and dinner. People drank cups of tea and ate cakes and small sandwiches. Most people don't have time for afternoon tea today. Aiko lives in Japan. She likes green tea. Green tea is a healthy drink. Some days, she makes tea for her mother and father. Many people in Japan and other parts of Asia drink three to five cups of green tea a day. They also eat green tea ice cream. Green tea is more and more popular in other parts of the world now, too. Yuba is a boy from Morocco. He likes mint tea. Moroccan mint tea is made with mint, green tea, and lots of sugar. Yuba brews it for about five minutes. People in Morocco drink mint tea at meals and other times of the day.

The first tea came from China. It was very expensive. Now tea plants grow in many countries. India and some countries in Africa Kenya, Malawi, and Zimbabwe sell a lot of tea. You can find it in every supermarket. We can all drink tea now because it is not expensive. In the United States, people love coffee. More than 50 percent of Americans drink it every day. Coffee first started in east Africa, in today's Ethiopia, hundreds of years ago. Now coffee plants grow in more than 50 countries. Brazil, Indonesia, and Mexico sell a lot of coffee. Do you know...? About how much does the average American pay for coffee a year? a $1,090 b $190 c $90 The answer is a, $1,090. We can brew hot drinks with many different plants and fruits. In Mexico, they make a drink with water and the toloache plant. Many people like this drink because of stories that say it is a love potion— a special drink to bring love. Does it work? We don't know! But too much toloache can make you very sick. In stories, witches often make special drinks called potions. A witch's potion can make you happy or sad, sick or well. Some of these potions are good for you; others are very bad for you. But that's true for all drinks, not only the potions in stories!

CHAPTER 4 Unusual Drinks TRAVEL AROUND THE WORLD AND YOU CAN FIND MANY UNUSUAL DRINKS. In the United Kingdom, people make a drink from water, sugar, and the flowers of the elder tree. This unusual drink is good for your health. Do people in your country make drinks from flowers? The drinks from some countries are very unusual! In Southeast Asia, they make drinks from different parts of snakes and snake blood. And in Peru, they make a drink from frogs! Some people think this frog drink gives them energy. Bubble tea is very popular in China. This is tea with fruit or milk and small tapioca balls. Now some Americans like this drink, too. There are bubble tea cafes in many cities in the United States. "Dr. Brown" first made celery soda in New York, in the USA, in 1868. People still drink it. In Japan, they make special summer Pepsi drinks. In 2007, they made Ice Cucumber Pepsi. This light green soda tastes like cucumbers. In 2012, they made Salty Watermelon Pepsi. Many people in Japan eat watermelon in the summer. They put salt on it. Many Japanese people enjoy this red soda. It tastes like one of their favorite foods.