商务礼节美语第179期:Food 美食(上)

　　美国驻中国员工Tiffany 跟中国同事Kelly聊天儿。
Kelly Yan: So Tiffany, you've been workingwith us here in China for a few months now. Are you still feeling cultureshock?
Tiffany Scolini: Yes, a bit. But it's muchbetter than the first few weeks. Back then I was really a fish out of water.
K: Remember the first time I took you toeat real Chinese food? You barely² touched anything!
T: I know! I was scared! A lot of the foodhere is very different from back home. And the Chinese restaurants I've been toin America are very different from here.
Tiffany来中国几个月，文化上还是有些不习惯，Iam still feeling culture shock¹ a little bit. 不过，跟刚开始比已经强多了。刚来那会儿，Iwas really a fish out of water. 就象离了水的鱼，意思是跟环境格格不入，特别不自在。Kelly第一次带Tiffany去中国餐馆吃饭，Tiffany几乎没动筷子，因为这儿的中餐馆跟美国的中餐馆差别太大了。
K: Yeah. We Chinese like to joke aboutAmerican Chinese food. It's really not very authentic³.
T: Yes, that's true. But I think it's trueall around the world. You really have to be in the food's original⁴ country totruly experience it. My family is Italian and in Italy they thinkAmerican-Italian food is awful!
K: Oh, but I love pizza!
T: Me, too! But the pizza in Italy isn'tanything like American pizza. In the U.S. we like to borrow the general idea ofa food, and then we give it an American twist⁵.
吃中国饭去中国，吃意大利菜去意大利，这样才能吃到最正宗的，authentic, a-u-t-h-e-n-t-i-c, authentic. 在美国，虽然什么都能吃得到，但是美国人喜欢把别人的菜拿来，give it an American twist，加入美国自己的特色。
K: I remember when I was in the States I orderedfish one time. When the dish arrived I was surprised to see just a little chunkof meat. I thought "Where is the head and tail?"
T: (laughs) Oh...yes. In the States wealmost never leave the head and tail on a fish! Americans are kind of squeamishwhen it comes to dead animals. We would never - not in a million years - leavethe head on a chicken!
K: Yeah, that's right! I never saw achicken head when I was there.
Kelly回忆说，她在美国点鱼，结果上来的只是一盘鱼肉。原来，美国人不吃鱼头和鱼尾。Tiffany解释说，Americans are kind of squeamish when it comes to dead animals，美国人对杀生非常敏感。Squeamish意思是容易受惊的，神经质的。Americans would never--not in a million years - leave the head on achicken. 美国人绝不会把鸡头留在盘子里。这里说的not in a million years, 一百万年都不会，是强调的意思。Tiffany对中国菜还有哪些印象呢？我们下次继续听。

1 shock   

vt./vi.（使）震惊；震动；n.休克；打击；震惊

参考例句：

• The news gave us a shock.这消息使我们震惊。
• Her death was a shock to him.她的死对他是个打击。

2 barely   

adv.仅仅，几乎没有，几乎不

参考例句：

• The male bird is barely distinguishable from the female.雄鸟和雌鸟几乎无法辨别。
• He took barely enough money to keep the children in bread.他赚很少的钱仅够孩子们勉强糊口。

3 authentic   

a.真的，真正的；可靠的，可信的，有根据的

参考例句：

• This is an authentic news report. We can depend on it. 这是篇可靠的新闻报道, 我们相信它。
• Autumn is also the authentic season of renewal. 秋天才是真正的除旧布新的季节。

4 original   

adj.最初的，原始的；有独创性的

参考例句：

• This is a translation.The original is in French. 这是译文。原文是法文。
• The plan of the work is original with the author.这篇作品的构思是作者个人的独创。

5 twist   

n.一扭，扭曲，曲折，歪曲，螺旋状，手法；vt.拧，扭曲，捻，编织，使扭转，缠绕，盘绕

参考例句：

• Too much force will twist the key.用力过猛会把钥匙扭弯。
• Pull the wire tight and then twist the ends round.把金属线拉紧，然后把两头捻紧.