Take Away English-Picnics 野餐

Do you fancy a romantic picnic?

As summertime begins in Britain, people start to feel the urge to go outside to eat. People love to have a picnic whenever the weather is good enough, especially people with children. It’s a great way to spend a sunny afternoon.

Even in the centre of London, on a sunny day, the parks are full of office workers eating their lunch outside on the grass. That might be a pretty basic picnic – a shop-bought sandwich and a bottle of water.

But if people are planning a picnic on the beach or at the park, they would probably pack a cool bag with a whole variety of home-made sandwiches, snacks, cake, fruit and soft drinks. They might have a picnic rug to sit on, and paper plates and cups. Another item which is useful is a thermos¹ flask² which keeps hot drinks like tea or coffee hot, or cold ones icy.

University students enjoy having picnics, and usually take along some kind of sports equipment, such as a Frisbee³ or ball in order to burn off some energy after lunch. British student picnics usually involve drinking beer or wine too!

For small children the idea of a teddy bear’s picnic is popular – each child brings their teddy bear along to ‘enjoy’ the fun as well.

Some people love to have a very elaborate picnic, and really go all out to make it an occasion. For a very posh picnic you’d need a proper picnic hamper⁴ to hold the food complete with china crockery, metal cutlery and real wine glasses. A picnic could be a romantic occasion, but only if it’s in a quiet attractive spot, not in a busy park with lots of children playing nearby!

In that case there might be champagne⁵ or chilled wine to drink, and gourmet⁶ picnic fare, either home-made, or bought from a local delicatessen. Crusty bread, dips, paté, and strawberries with cream for dessert make for a more sophisticated al fresco⁷ experience.

Of course, you can never reply on the British summer weather, so taking an umbrella along might be a good idea just in case!

GLOSSARY 词汇表
to feel the urge to 迫切 shop-bought 从商店买的 home-made 自制的 Frisbee 飞碟 elaborate 复杂讲究的 posh 考究的 crockery 陶(瓷)器（碗碟等） champagne 香槟酒 fare 饱餐;进食 sophisticated 复杂的	picnic 野餐 cool bag 保温袋子 thermos flask 暖水瓶 teddy bear 绒毛熊 go all out 全力以赴 hamper 有盖提篮 cutlery 餐具（刀叉等） gourmet 美味佳肴 delicatessen 熟食店 al fresco 户外的

 

1 thermos   

n.保湿瓶，热水瓶

参考例句：

• Can I borrow your thermos?我可以借用你的暖水瓶吗？
• It's handy to have the thermos here.暖瓶放在这儿好拿。

2 flask   

n.瓶，火药筒，砂箱

参考例句：

• There is some deposit in the bottom of the flask.这只烧杯的底部有些沉淀物。
• He took out a metal flask from a canvas bag.他从帆布包里拿出一个金属瓶子。

3 frisbee   

n.飞盘(塑料玩具)

参考例句：

• We always go to the park on weekends and play Frisbee.我们每个周末都会到公园玩飞盘。
• The frisbee is a light plastic disc,shaped like a plate.飞盘是一种碟形塑料盘。

4 hamper   

vt.妨碍，束缚，限制；n.(有盖的)大篮子

参考例句：

• There are some apples in a picnic hamper.在野餐用的大篮子里有许多苹果。
• The emergence of such problems seriously hamper the development of enterprises.这些问题的出现严重阻碍了企业的发展。

5 champagne   

n.香槟酒；微黄色

参考例句：

• There were two glasses of champagne on the tray.托盘里有两杯香槟酒。
• They sat there swilling champagne.他们坐在那里大喝香槟酒。

6 gourmet   

n.食物品尝家；adj.出于美食家之手的

参考例句：

• What does a gourmet writer do? 美食评论家做什么？
• A gourmet like him always eats in expensive restaurants.像他这样的美食家总是到豪华的餐馆用餐。

7 fresco   

n.壁画；vt.作壁画于

参考例句：

• This huge fresco is extremely clear and just like nature itself.It is very harmonious.这一巨幅壁画，清晰有致且又浑然天成，十分和谐。
• So it is quite necessary to study the influence of visual thinking over fresco.因此，研究视觉思维对壁画的影响和作用是十分必要的。