商务礼节美语第209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 barely 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 shock 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 authentic.

T: Yes, that's true. But I think it's trueall around the world. You really have to be in the food's original 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 twist.

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) . 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。