Tonic water (or Indian tonic water) is a fizzy soft drink flavoured with quinine. The drink gains its name from the medicinal effects of this slightly bitter flavouring.
The quinine was added to the drink as a prophylactic against malaria, since it was originally intended for consumption in tropical areas of India and Africa where that disease is endemic.
Tonic water originally contained only carbonated water and quinine, and it contained a large amount of the latter. However, most tonic water today contains a medically insignificant amount of quinine, and is thus used for its flavor only. It is consequently less bitter, and is also usually sweetened. Some manufacturers also produce diet tonic water.
Tonic water is often used as a mixer for alcoholic spirits, especially gin (the mixture commonly known as a gin and tonic).
Tonic water with lemon or lime flavor added is known as bitter lemon or bitter lime, respectively. Such soft drinks are more popular in Europe than in the United States.
Tonic water will glow under ultraviolet light, due to the quinine in it.
Brands of tonic water:
文字
tonic water,奎宁水,现在广叫汤利水
Generic terms for carbonated soft drinks vary widely in the United States. Probably the two most common words competing for precedence are soda, used in the northeast United States, and pop, used from the Midwest westward. In the South all soft drinks, regardless of the flavor or brand name, are referred to as cold drinks. Speakers in Boston and its environs have a term of their own: tonic. Such a variety of regional equivalents is unusual for a product for which advertising is so aggressive and universal; usually advertising has the effect of squeezing out regional variants. On the other hand, because there are so many types and flavors of soft drinks, perhaps no single generic word has ever emerged to challenge the regionalisms.
在美国，含碳软饮料的名称各地截然不同。其中有两个词正竞争着统治地位，一个是用于美国东北部的soda, ， 另一个是用于中西部以西的pop 。 在美国南部，所有的软饮料，不管味道或品牌如何，都统统叫作cold drinks 。 波士顿及其周围地区有其自己的名称：tonic 。 对于一种广告做得满天飞的产品来说，这种各地区名字不同的情况十分不寻常；因为广告通常有减弱方言的作用。另一方面，由于软饮料有如比多的种类和风格，所以可能还没有哪一个泛称能够取代这么多地方变体
