British breakfasts

BBC Learning EnglishLondon LifeBritish breakfastsAmber: Hello, I'm Amber¹, and you’re listening tobbclearningenglish.com.
　　In London Life today, we sit down to a traditional Britishbreakfast in a smart London restaurant and a ‘greasy-spooncafé’! A ‘greasy-spoon café’, or ‘caff’, is theopposite of a smart restaurant!
　　We find out what the traditional British breakfast is madeof, and why is it becoming more and more popular,especially in London, to eat breakfast in a café beforearriving at the office for a hard day’s work.
　　Our first guest is an American anthropologist². Ananthropologist studies all aspects of human culture anddevelopment. Kaori O’Connor says that strangers to Englandhave a ‘vague vision’, an unclear picture in their minds,of what the traditional British breakfast is – perhaps it’s served from silver dishes on a grand ‘sideboard’…As you listen, try to catch what Kaori lists as the threemain ingredients of the great British breakfast.
　　Kaori O’Connor‘It’s a meal that everyone outside of England has heardof, and dreams about, and we don’t know what it is, butwhen we come here, we want to eat it. And we have somevague vision of, you know, a sideboard with silver dishesand it’s just going to be the most wonderful thing onearth and I got here, and I went to a café and there wasthe bacon, eggs and chips, and Ithought – gosh, is this all there is?!’
　　Amber: Did you catch it? Kaori says she went into a Londoncafé for breakfast and there it was ‘bacon, eggs and chips’! Bacon is meat from a pig that has been salted anddried, and it is fried for a traditional English breakfast!
　　The eggs are usually fried too, and there is also usuallysome kind of bread – perhaps fried bread or even, as Kaorisaw, chips – fried potatoes!
　　So now let’s go to a smart London restaurant where chefLawrence Keogh is frying a traditional breakfast! You canhear the sizzling in the background! He explains why heeats breakfast – the egg and bacon are ‘protein’, forexample – protein is healthy. He says ‘it keeps you goingall day’. It’s‘sustenance³’, nourishment⁴, healthy food.
　　As you listen, try to catch what he says is a new trend, orfashion inLondon’s top restaurants.
　　Lawrence Keogh‘I think it’s fundamental to the start of the day. If I’
　　ve got a long day at work, I try and eat egg and bacon inthe morning because it’s protein – it keeps you going allday. Well, it’s sustenance isn’t it? You know really, wedo a lot of business meetings as well now in the morning –the place is very busy – and I think you see it acrossLondon now, there’s lots more people having businessmeetings in top restaurants and it’s getting veryfashionable to have breakfast.’
　　Amber: Did you catch it? Laurence says that more and morepeople are having ‘business meetings in top restaurantsand it’s getting very fashionable to have breakfast.’
　　Well our last stop today is a greasy-spoon café. RussellDavies is an expert on these! He’s written a book called‘Egg, Bacon, Chips and Beans: 50 Great Cafes and the StuffThat Makes Them Great’. He explains what makes a greatbreakfast in a down-market London café, or ‘caff’. Try tocatch two or three of the things he talks about.
　　Russell Davies‘I would say the café experience, you know, it’s lessthan 50% the food, as it were, there’s also theatmosphere, there’s the fact that in a decent caff, they’
　　re not going to hurry you out. There’s the smells, there’
　　s the sounds, you know - the badly-tuned radio, theeccentric art on the wall, the kind of odd condiment⁵ choice- and most cafes are so small that it’s the best place foreavesdropping and just kind of listening to the world goby.’
　　Amber: So Russell Davies says the key ingredients of agreat breakfast in a down- market London café are: theatmosphere, they won’t hurry you out, the smells, thesounds, for example, the badly-tuned radio, the unusual or‘eccentric’ art on the wall, the odd condiments⁶, forexample, tomato sauce, and the fact that you can listen toother people’s conversations!
　　Now here again is some of the language from today’sprogramme:
　　a greasy-spoon café a vague visionbacon, eggs and chips proteinsustenancethe badly-tuned radio the eccentric artthe odd condimentsMore news stories and language explanations next time atbbclearningenglish.com

1 amber   

n.琥珀；琥珀色；adj.琥珀制的

参考例句：

• Would you like an amber necklace for your birthday?你过生日想要一条琥珀项链吗？
• This is a piece of little amber stones.这是一块小小的琥珀化石。

2 anthropologist   

n.人类学家，人类学者

参考例句：

• The lecturer is an anthropologist.这位讲师是人类学家。
• The anthropologist unearthed the skull of an ancient human at the site.人类学家在这个遗址挖掘出那块古人类的颅骨。

3 sustenance   

n.食物，粮食；生活资料；生计

参考例句：

• We derive our sustenance from the land.我们从土地获取食物。
• The urban homeless are often in desperate need of sustenance.城市里无家可归的人极其需要食物来维持生命。

4 nourishment   

n.食物，营养品；营养情况

参考例句：

• Lack of proper nourishment reduces their power to resist disease.营养不良降低了他们抵抗疾病的能力。
• He ventured that plants draw part of their nourishment from the air.他大胆提出植物从空气中吸收部分养分的观点。

5 condiment   

n.调味品

参考例句：

• It has long been a precious condiment.它一直都是一种珍贵的调味料。
• Fish sauce is a traditional fermented condiment in coastal areas.鱼露是沿海地区的传统发酵调味品。

6 condiments   

n.调味品

参考例句：

• Refill and clean all salt and peppers, sugar bowls, and other condiments. 清洁并续满所有的胡椒瓶、盐瓶、糖缸及其他调料。
• Go easy on condiments, they tend to be salty. 别放太多调味品，这样往往会太咸。