桑拿英语及常用口语.doc

Sauna(桑拿) A sauna is a small room or house designed as a place to experience dry or wet heat sessions, or an establishment with one or more of these and auxiliary facilities. These facilities derive from the Finnish sauna. The word sauna is also used metaphorically to describe an unusually hot or humid environment. A sauna session can be a social affair in which the participants disrobe and sit or recline in temperatures of over 80 °C (176 °F)[citation needed]. This induces relaxation and promotes sweating. History of sauna Etymology The word sauna is an ancient Finnish word refering to the traditional Finnish bath as well as to the bathhouse itself. First saunas The oldest known saunas were pits dug in a slope in the ground and primarily used as dwellings in winter. The sauna featured a fireplace and stones were heated in fire until they were hot. Water was thrown over the hot stones to produce steam and to give a sensation of increased heat. This would raise the temperature so high that people could take off their clothes Evolution Eventually the sauna evolved to use a metal woodstove, or kiuas [?kiu.ɑs], with a chimney. Air temperatures averaged around 160-180 degrees Fahrenheit (70-80 °C) but sometimes exceeded 200 °F (90 °C) in a traditional Finnish sauna. Steam vapor, also called l?yly [?l?yly], was created by splashing water on the heated rocks. The steam and high heat caused bathers to perspire, thus flushing away impurities and toxins from the body. The Finns also used a vihta [?vihtɑ] (Western dialect, aka vasta in Eastern dialect), which is a bundle of birch twigs, to gently slap the skin and create further stimulation of the pores and cells. The Finns also used the sauna as a place to cleanse the mind, rejuvenate and refresh the spirit, and prepare the dead for burial. The sauna was (and still is) an important part of daily life, and families bathed together in the home sauna. Indeed Sauna was originally a place of mystical nature where