【趣谈英语】关于椒盐卷饼的传说-A Pretzel Is A Little Reward

 Pre-Listening Vocabulary

• legend: a story from long ago that may or may not be true
• monk¹: a religious leader
• concentrate: to focus on a task
• bribe²: to offer a reward in exchange for an action
• leftover³: not used or needed
• tie the knot: to get married

 

A Pretzel Is A Little Reward 椒盐卷饼—小犒赏

The legend of the pretzel dates back to about 1,400 years ago. There was once an Italian monk who was frustrated⁴ with his students. He wanted the children to memorize Bible verses and prayers, but they were having trouble concentrating. The monk decided⁵ to bribe the young students with snacks. He used leftover bread dough⁶ and twisted it into shapes that looked like arms crossed in prayer. The monk baked the snacks and gave them to his students if they worked hard. The snacks were called “pretiola”, meaning little reward in Latin. Other accounts suggest that the shape of the pretzel was meant to look like a knot. The English expression “to tie the knot” may be related to pretzels. The newlywed tradition of breaking a pretzel in half and eating it for good luck began in Switzerland in the 1600s.

1 monk   

n.和尚，僧侣，修道士

参考例句：

• The man was a monk from Emei Mountain.那人是峨眉山下来的和尚。
• Buddhist monk sat with folded palms.和尚合掌打坐。

2 bribe   

n.贿赂；v.向…行贿，买通

参考例句：

• He tried to bribe the policeman not to arrest him.他企图贿赂警察不逮捕他。
• He resolutely refused their bribe.他坚决不接受他们的贿赂。

3 leftover   

n.剩货，残留物，剩饭；adj.残余的

参考例句：

• These narrow roads are a leftover from the days of horse-drawn carriages.这些小道是从马车时代沿用下来的。
• Wonder if that bakery lets us take leftover home.不知道那家糕饼店会不会让我们把卖剩的带回家。

4 frustrated   

adj.挫败的，失意的，泄气的v.使不成功( frustrate的过去式和过去分词 )；挫败；使受挫折；令人沮丧

参考例句：

• It's very easy to get frustrated in this job. 这个工作很容易令人懊恼。
• The bad weather frustrated all our hopes of going out. 恶劣的天气破坏了我们出行的愿望。 来自《简明英汉词典》

5 decided   

adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的

参考例句：

• This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
• There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。

6 dough   

n.生面团；钱，现款

参考例句：

• She formed the dough into squares.她把生面团捏成四方块。
• The baker is kneading dough.那位面包师在揉面。