可口可乐

原文：

Today, Coca-Cola ranks as the single most popular soft drink in the world. But Coca-Cola was invented in a drugstore. John Pemberton, a pharmacist in Columbus, Georgia, originally invented an alcoholic “French wine coca”, but due to temperance legislation in 1886 he modified it to create a non-alcoholic Coca-Cola. The public loved it, believing that the carbonated water was a health tonic. Pemberton, however, did not end up making much money from his fizzy beverage. Asa Candler, an American tycoon, accumulated a small fortune after buying a portion of the Coca-Cola Company from the inventor. He advertised it in newspapers and even gave away free-drink coupons to aggressively promote the drink. The company was later sold to Atlanta businessman Ernest Woodruff, but it was Woodruff’s sons who would have the greatest influence on Coca-Cola’s rise to global dominance.

译文：

今天，可口可乐是世界上最受欢迎的软饮料。但是可口可乐是在一家药店里发明的。John Pemberton是乔治亚州哥伦布市的一名药剂师，他最初发明了一种含酒精的“法国葡萄酒可口可乐”，但由于1886年禁酒法的规定，他将其修改为一种不含酒精的可口可乐。公众喜欢它，认为碳酸水是一种健康补品。然而，彭伯顿最终并没有从他的碳酸饮料中赚到多少钱。美国大亨阿萨·坎德勒从这位发明家手中买下可口可乐公司的部分股份，积累了一笔小财富。他在报纸上做广告，甚至赠送免费饮料券，大力推广这种饮料。可口可乐后来被卖给了亚特兰大商人欧内斯特·伍德拉夫(Ernest Woodruff)，但伍德拉夫的儿子们对可口可乐崛起为全球霸主的影响最大。