Irish pubs can be found in every corner of the world. Most major capitals in the west will have at least a few. Even in South America and the Far East one can enjoy
a pint of stout while listening to traditional Irish music. Are these bars opened to serve homesick Irish expats living abroad? With a population of about 4 million, Ireland could hardly provide enough expats to keep a fraction of them up and running. It is owing to the reputation of Irish pubs, and Irish drinking culture in general, that they can be found wherever there are large communities of Americans and Europeans.
你可以在世界的每個角落裏尋覓到愛爾蘭酒館的身影。在大多數知名的西方首府城市裏，至少都會有幾家這樣的酒館。甚至在南美洲和遠東地區，人們也可以一邊欣賞愛爾蘭傳統音樂一邊享用着黑啤酒。這些酒吧是用來招待那些移居海外思鄉心切的愛爾蘭人嗎?愛爾蘭的人口只有400萬，不可能有那麼多移民來光顧多如牛毛的海外酒吧。總體來講，正是由於愛爾蘭酒館和愛爾蘭酒文化名聲在外，人們纔會在任何美國人和歐洲人聚居的大型社區找到愛爾蘭酒館的身影。
"Fun, music and drink"; this is a sign commonly seen on Irish pubs and it indicates the kind of atmosphere that these bars aim to create. The key to a successful bar is the atmosphere it exudes. Many of the Irish theme bars found abroad strive to recreate the ambience of bars in Ireland by playing Irish music and decorating the interiors with Irish paraphernalia.
“快樂、音樂和美酒”;這就是愛爾蘭酒館常見的招牌文字，它表明了這類酒吧力圖營造的氣氛類型。酒吧成功的關鍵就在於它所營造出的氛圍。在很多海外愛爾蘭主題酒吧中，都會演奏愛爾蘭音樂並用具有愛爾蘭特色的物品來進行內部裝飾，以便再現這種氣氛。
What is so special about Irish pubs? Roughly speaking, there are two kinds of bars in Ireland. The most common bar is known as the local pub and it is this type that has influenced the theme bars found in foreign countries. The word "pub" stands for "public house" and that"s exactly what the local pub is. Every community in Ireland, both urban and rural, will have a few local pubs. (Most areas have more than a few). Not unlike the teahouses of old Sichuan, the local pub acts as a recreation centre for the community.
愛爾蘭酒館究竟有什麼特別之處呢?總的來說，愛爾蘭的酒吧分爲兩種。最常見的酒吧就是本地酒館，對海外主題酒吧影響頗大的酒吧就是這一類型。單詞“pub”代表着“public house”(公共場所)，而這正是本地酒館的內涵所在。愛爾蘭的每個社區，無論是在城市還是在鄉村，都會有幾家本地酒館。(而大部分地區可不止僅有幾家)。愛爾蘭的本地酒館與四川省過去的茶館不同，它們扮演的'是社區娛樂中心的角色。
During daylight one can eat lunch in a local pub, read a newspaper, chat with other customers and generally enjoy a respite from the daily grind. At night the bar will fill up with residents from the area ending their day by catching up on the local gossip, discussing politics and sport, and getting tipsy in the process. In many pubs, those who want privacy can find it in a snug. A snug is a little room blocked off from the rest of the bar by a wooden screen.
白天，人們可以在本地酒館裏享用午餐、閱讀報紙、與其他客人閒聊，總的來說是在忙裏偷閒、放鬆自己。到了晚上，酒館裏就會擠滿結束一天工作的當地居民，他們打聽着當地的八卦新聞，討論着政治和體育，並隨着時間的流逝而喝得酩酊大醉。很多酒館還爲那些不願受別人打擾的人設置了雅座單間。雅座單間是一個小房間，一扇木製屏風把它與酒吧其它區域分隔開來。
Needless to say, Ireland also has a wide array of trendy modern bars aimed at younger customers and these are mostly situated in city and town areas. Nonetheless, the more traditional bar is still going strong and continues to appeal to locals and foreigners alike. It is rooted in a drinking culture that has a long history. In Ireland, whiskey has long been known as "the water of life" and throughout the centuries bars have been places where marriages were arranged, business deals clinched and revolutions hatched. Many of the bars themselves have long histories. There are a few bars in Ireland today that first started serving drinkers in the early 17th century.
不用說，愛爾蘭也有一系列以年輕人爲目標顧客羣的時尚現代酒吧，它們主要位於城鎮地區。雖然如此，更爲傳統的酒吧也在蓬勃發展着，繼續吸引着當地居民和外國人。這類酒吧植根於歷史悠久的酒文化。在愛爾蘭，威士忌一直以來被看作是“生命之水”，而且數百年來，酒吧一直都是舉行婚禮、達成交易、孕育革命的地方。很多酒吧本身就擁有悠久的歷史。如今在愛爾蘭，有一些酒吧的歷史就要追溯到17世紀。
As Chinese restaurants abroad differ significantly from restaurants in China, Irish pubs outside Ireland are very different to their counterparts in Ireland. Some say that this is due to the management lacking the requisite Celtic spirit to be able to forge a real Irish bar. The fact that many Irish theme bars are run by Irish people discounts that theory. More than likely, it is because the customers an Irish bar aims for are not actually Irish. The bar has to appeal to foreign perceptions of what an Irish bar should be. Regardless of which, Irish theme bars are lucrative businesses that are very popular with drinkers from a wide range of cultures.
正如海外的中國餐館與中國國內的餐館相去甚遠一樣，海外的愛爾蘭酒館與愛爾蘭本土的酒館也是截然不同的。一些人說，這是因爲酒吧在管理上缺少經營真正愛爾蘭酒吧所必需的凱爾特人精神。可大多數愛爾蘭主題酒吧就是由愛爾蘭人經營的，這一事實便反駁了以上的這個理論。很有可能的是，那是因爲這些愛爾蘭酒吧的營業對象並不是針對真正的愛爾蘭人。外國人對真正愛爾蘭酒吧的樣子有其自己的認識，而這些酒吧就必須去迎合這種認識。無論是哪種原因，愛爾蘭主題酒吧的經營是利潤可觀的，在各種文化背景的人當中都廣受歡迎。
