美國(guó)駐中國(guó)員工Tiffany 跟中國(guó)同事Kelly聊天兒。
Kelly Yan: So Tiffany, you've been working with us here in China for a few months now. Are you still feeling culture shock?
Tiffany Scolini: Yes, a bit. But it's much better than the first few weeks. Back then I was really a fish out of water.
K: Remember the first time I took you to eat real Chinese food? You barely touched anything!
T: I know! I was scared! A lot of the food here is very different from back home. And the Chinese restaurants I've been to in America are very different from here.
Tiffany來(lái)中國(guó)幾個(gè)月,文化上還是有些不習(xí)慣,I am still feeling culture shock a little bit. 不過(guò),跟剛開(kāi)始比已經(jīng)強(qiáng)多了。剛來(lái)那會(huì)兒,I was really a fish out of water. 就象離了水的魚(yú),意思是跟環(huán)境格格不入,特別不自在。Kelly第一次帶Tiffany去中國(guó)餐館吃飯,Tiffany幾乎沒(méi)動(dòng)筷子,因?yàn)檫@兒的中餐館跟美國(guó)的中餐館差別太大了。
K: Yeah. We Chinese like to joke about American Chinese food. It's really not very authentic.
T: Yes, that's true. But I think it's true all around the world. You really have to be in the food's original country to truly experience it. My family is Italian and in Italy they think American-Italian food is awful!
K: Oh, but I love pizza!
T: Me, too! But the pizza in Italy isn't anything like American pizza. In the U.S. we like to borrow the general idea of a food, and then we give it an American twist.
吃中國(guó)飯去中國(guó),吃意大利菜去意大利,這樣才能吃到最正宗的,authentic, a-u-t-h-e-n-t-i-c, authentic. 在美國(guó),雖然什么都能吃得到,但是美國(guó)人喜歡把別人的菜拿來(lái),give it an American twist,加入美國(guó)自己的特色。
K: I remember when I was in the States I ordered fish one time. When the dish arrived I was surprised to see just a little chunk of meat. I thought "Where is the head and tail?"
T: (laughs) Oh...yes. In the States we almost never leave the head and tail on a fish! Americans are kind of squeamish when it comes to dead animals. We would never - not in a million years - leave the head on a chicken!
K: Yeah, that's right! I never saw a chicken head when I was there.
Kelly回憶說(shuō),她在美國(guó)點(diǎn)魚(yú),結(jié)果上來(lái)的只是一盤(pán)魚(yú)肉。原來(lái),美國(guó)人不吃魚(yú)頭和魚(yú)尾。Tiffany解釋說(shuō),Americans are kind of squeamish when it comes to dead animals,美國(guó)人對(duì)殺生非常敏感。 Squeamish意思是容易受驚的,神經(jīng)質(zhì)的。Americans would never--not in a million years - leave the head on a chicken. 美國(guó)人絕不會(huì)把雞頭留在盤(pán)子里。這里說(shuō)的not in a million years, 一百萬(wàn)年都不會(huì),是強(qiáng)調(diào)的意思。Tiffany對(duì)中國(guó)菜還有哪些印象呢?我們下次繼續(xù)聽(tīng)。