英语访谈对话 501 Kiwi Food

 　　Todd: So, Mark, when people think of Americans they often think of the hot dog and when they think of Japan they think of sushi. What are the foods that people associate with New Zealand?

　　Mark: According to a lot of the Japanese students that I know who have gone to study in New Zealand or have a home stay programme over there, they normally¹ come back speaking about 3 New Zealand foods. The first one is probably fish and chips, which is a traditional or unofficial traditional Friday night meal. At the end of a long week mum and dad will say, “Lets go and get some ‘greezies’”: deep fried² battered³ fish, potato fritters or hot dogs and fried chips. They used to be wrapped in newspaper but now for health reasons you’ve got to have plain white paper.

　　Todd: Oh, no kidding.

　　Mark: Yeah, but the fish and chips dinner on Friday night is a bit of a tradition.

　　Todd: Oh, ok what else besides fish and chips?

　　Mark: The other one would be something called a pavlova which is similar to a large meringue cake, very rich, very very sweet, made with egg white and lots of sugar with lots of whipped⁴ cream and fresh fruit on top. Kiwis and Australians often argue over who invented it but I’m sure kiwis did!

　　Todd: Pavlova, uh?Is this like a snack you eat in the afternoon?

　　Mark: No, it’s a dessert, it’s the size of a cake. It would be a dessert cake.

　　Todd: Is this something people make themselves or buy in the store?

　　Mark: The best ones I think are home made. The third food is vegemite, which is a breakfast spread, a yeast⁵ based breakfast spread. Lots of non-New Zealanders who don’t know it think that it looks like chocolate spread, and then they put in on their toast or bread in the morning, but it actually has a very unique taste and it’s nothing at all like chocolate!

　　Todd: So is it bitter? Is it sweet? Is it sour?

　　Mark: It’s got a very yeasty flavour but its quite hard to describe, but its another one of those New Zealand traditions.

　　Todd: You say its made from yeast so what are the main ingredients⁶?

　　Mark: It’s a yeast based extract⁷ so its very healthy for you: lots of minerals, and all kiwi kids should grow up on it.

　　Todd: Ok, sounds interesting – I’ll have to give it a try.

1 normally   

adv.正常地，通常地

参考例句：

• I normally do all my shopping on Saturdays.我通常在星期六买东西。
• My pulse beats normally.我脉搏正常。

2 fried   

adj.油煎的；油炒的

参考例句：

• I ate everything fried.所有油炸的我都吃。
• I prefer fried peanuts.我选择炸花生。

3 battered   

adj.磨损的；v.连续猛击；磨损

参考例句：

• He drove up in a battered old car.他开着一辆又老又破的旧车。
• The world was brutally battered but it survived.这个世界遭受了惨重的创伤,但它还是生存下来了。

4 whipped   

adj. 受到鞭打的 动词whip的过去式和过去分词

参考例句：

• a dollop of whipped cream 一团搅打的奶油
• a non-dairy whipped topping 打好的非奶制糕点配料

5 yeast   

n.酵母；酵母片；泡沫；v.发酵；起泡沫

参考例句：

• Yeast can be used in making beer and bread.酵母可用于酿啤酒和发面包。
• The yeast began to work.酵母开始发酵。

6 ingredients   

n.（混合物的）组成部分( ingredient的名词复数 )；（烹调的）原料；（构成）要素；因素

参考例句：

• All ingredients are readily available from your local store. 所有的原料都可以方便地从你当地的商店买到。
• We never use second quality ingredients to build building. 我们决不使用次等材料用于建筑。 来自《简明英汉词典》

7 extract   

vt.取出，提取，获得，摘录；n.摘录，提出物

参考例句：

• The article was a choice extract from her writings.这篇文章是从她的著作中摘录出来的精粹。
• We can extract oil from olive.我们可以从橄榄中榨油。