书城工具书老外最想和你聊的101个英语话题——流行文化篇
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第31章 Food and Life 饮食男女(3)

Things are changing and most British people eat meals from many different countries for example spaghetti or curry。 In fact you could even say that the British don’t eat much British food。 However the most typical thing to eat for dinner is “meat and two veg”。 This consists of a piece of meat accompanied by two different boiled vegetables。 This is covered with “gravy” which is a sauce made with the juice that was obtained when the meat was cooked。 One of the vegetables is almost always potatoes。 The British eat a lot of potatoes。

spaghetti意大利面

curry咖喱

“meat and two veg”肉和熟蔬菜

gravy肉汁/酱汁

传统的英式早餐有煎培根、香肠和煎土司,这叫做“煎食”。英国人的午餐很快就能解决,通常午餐只需三到四分钟。很多英国人吃三明治,或许因为三明治就是英国人发明的。通常人们早上在家做好三明治,然后午餐时间食用,三明治就相当于英国人的便当。晚餐是一天中的主餐,而且通常有两道菜——肉或鱼加蔬菜,之后有甜点也就是布丁。

Key words & Sentences

关键词句全知道

The British people tend to have a big breakfast before they go to work and the meal at midday is not spent with the members of the family but with workmates or schoolmates。

英国人倾向于在上班前吃一顿丰盛的早餐,午餐不是和家人一起而是和工作伙伴或者同学一起吃的。

British breakfast is richer than any other country。 This breakfast called the fry-up, because many of the food if fried: sausage, bacon, mushroom, tomato。

英式早餐全餐比其他国家的正餐还要丰富,俗称煎食,因为许多食物都是煎炸的:香肠、腌肉、蘑菇以及番茄。

Egg is the most important part in British breakfast。 Eggs usually have four kinds of cooking methods: fried, scrambled, boiled and poached。

鸡蛋是英式早餐最重要的部分,鸡蛋通常有四种烹调方法:煎、炒、煮和炖。

Drinking a blend of black tea for breakfast is indeed a longstanding British custom。 The practice of referring to such a blend as “British breakfast tea” appears to have originated not in England but America。

英国人喝早茶的习惯事实上是英国长久以来的传统。但是“英国早餐茶”这一说法却不是从英国而来的,而是从殖民地时期的美国而来。

Lunch is normally eaten between 12。30 pm and 1。30pm。

午餐通常在下午十二点半至一点半之间。

Most people finish work at five thirty。 It often takes at least an hour to get home from the school or workplace so people tend to eat their evening meal or “dinner” between 6。30pm and 8pm。

大部分人下午五点半下班。他们从学校或者上班的地方回家至少需要一个小时,所以人们一般在晚六点半至八点间食用晚餐。

Sunday lunch is usually the best meal of the week and many of the meals which are considered typically British are eaten for Sunday lunch。

周日的午餐往往是一周最好的一顿,最典型的英式餐点往往出现在周日午餐的餐桌上。

A traditional roast chicken is the favorite of Englishmen—served up frequently in 30 per cent of homes。

传统烤鸡是英国人的最爱,经常出现在百分之三十的家庭里。

British food has traditionally been based on beef, lamb, pork, chicken and fish and generally served with potatoes and one other vegetable。

英国食物传统上以牛肉、羊肉、猪肉、鸡肉以及鱼肉为基础,通常配上土豆和其他蔬菜。

Nowadays, a typical English breakfast is more likely to be a bowl of cereals, a slice of toast, orange juice and a cup of coffee。

现在,典型的英式早餐往往是一碗麦片、一片烤面包、橘子汁或者一杯咖啡。

Beef is eaten with hot white horseradish sauce, pork with sweet apple sauce and lamb with green mint sauce。

吃牛肉的时候,往往加上热的白辣根沙司,甜苹果酱猪肉和绿薄荷酱羊肉。

The most popular type of bread in Britain is sliced white bread。

在英国最受欢迎的面包是切片白面包。

When the British eat bread they always cover it with butter or margarine。

英国人吃面包的时候总喜欢加上黄油或者橘子酱。

You will almost certainly go to a fish and chip shop when you visit Britain。 It is a shop which cooks fried potatoes called chips。

如果去英国几乎肯定你会去烤鱼片和炸薯条店。这种店出售炸土豆片,也叫做薯片。

The chips used to be wrapped in newspaper but now white paper is used。

薯条以前是包裹在报纸里,现在用白纸装。

Some of British main dishes have strange names like Bubble & Squeak and Toad-in-the-Hole。

一些英国的主菜有非常奇怪的名字如:泡沫&吱吱声和洞里的蛤蟆(菜名直译为洞中蟾)。

In the UK, where traditionally food has been the enemy which we cook until it is dead, the lunch hour is just that: one hour and increasingly without alcohol。

在英国,传统的做法就是把食品当成敌人打死煮熟了事。午餐通常只要一个小时,而且烈性酒也渐渐不上席了。

1et’s Talk!

开始交流吧!

Liu Mei: Good morning, Eric。 Have you had your breakfast?

刘梅:早上好,艾瑞克,你吃过早餐了吗?

Eric: No, I haven’t, Liu Mei。 Are you going to treat me today?

艾瑞克:还没有呢,刘梅,你要请我吃饭吗?

Liu Mei: Treat you? I already have had my breakfast。

刘梅:请你吃饭?我已经吃过早餐了。

Eric: Oh, so I misunderstood。 Talking to Englishmen, if you ask the question “Have you had your meal”, we will think that you are going to treat us。

艾瑞克:哦,我误会了。和英国人聊天,如果你问“你吃饭了没有”这个问题,我们往往会以为你要邀请我们吃饭呢。

Liu Mei: I see。 It is quite different from Chinese。 We say hello to others by asking “Have you had your meal”。

刘梅:原来是这样。和中国人很不同呢,我们和人打招呼就是问“吃饭了没有呢”。

Eric: Yes, we do that by asking about the weather。

艾瑞克:是啊,我们的招呼语是问天气的。

Liu Mei: So Eric, can you describe an ideal British breakfast for me?

刘梅:艾瑞克,在英国的完美早餐是怎样的?

Eric: Well let me think…for me, an ideal breakfast is what we usually call a full English fry-up。

艾瑞克:让我想想,对我而言,完美早餐就是通常所说的“煎食”。

Liu Mei: What is that?

刘梅:那是什么?

Eric: Well it refers to fried things, such as fried sausages, bacon or eggs。

艾瑞克:就是煎炸的东西,像煎香肠、咸肉或者是鸡蛋。

Liu Mei: So Eric, do you usually eat that in the morning?

刘梅:艾瑞克,这样的话,你通常早上就吃那些吗?

Eric: No, I don’t。 Two reasons, firstly it’s quite unhealthy。 And secondly I don’t have time to cook that every day。 So in the morning, I’ll probably have a bowl of cereal or maybe two slices of toast。

艾瑞克:不,我不那样。两个原因,首先那样不健康,二是我没有时间每天做早餐。所以早上我就吃一碗麦片,然后烤两片面包。

Liu Mei: Eric, what are you going to have for your lunch today?

刘梅:那你今天中午准备吃什么?

Eric: My lunch? Well, I have no idea。 Maybe I’ll go down to the canteen and have a look at today’s options。

艾瑞克:午餐?还没有想好,可能去员工餐厅看看有什么选择。

The“Bland, Standard UK Diet”

英国菜真的淡而无味?

英国的食物在江湖上的名声似乎一般,尤其是隔着英吉利海峡的法兰西常常对英国的食物冷嘲热讽。《狂爱美食》一书的作者甚至还写道“英国菜的标准就是淡而无味”。除了炸鱼薯条Fish and chips之外似乎就没有什么拿得上台面的东西。果真如此吗?事实上,权威美食杂志公布的“全世界50最佳餐厅”中,其中14间在英国,在这其中11间又在伦敦。世界各地的风味餐云集伦敦,比一场华丽的时装秀更热闹。

Get close to UK diet

走近英国菜

1英国已成为饮食之国

We eat the most ready meals in Europe。 They are unhealthy and rarely taste as good as the alternative of cooking food fresh。 People often complain that they are too busy to cook from scratch。 However, more and more people are choosing to eat healthy, fresh food, inspired by celebrity chefs who are showing us that cooking does not have to be difficult, or even time-consuming。