B1-Unit-11-Text-1-英汉对照(原Unit11)

1、Text OneThe All-American Slurpby Lensey Namioka1 People in different places have different lifestyles and eating habits. Ignorance of the differences may sometimes lead to cultural shocks. Read the following story and see how the author feels towards her own culture and that of the West even over tr

2、ivial matters such as table manners. 2 The first time our family was invited out to dinner in America, we disgraced ourselves while eating celery. We had immigrated to this country from China, and during our early days here we had a hard time with American table manners. 3 In China we never ate cele

3、ry raw, or any other kind of vegetable raw. We always had to disinfect the vegetables in boiling water first. When we were presented with our first relish tray, the raw celery caught us unprepared. 4 We had been invited to dinner by our neighbors, the Gleasons. After arriving at the house, we shook

4、hands with our hosts and packed ourselves into a sofa. As our family of four sat stiffly in a row, my younger brother and I stole glances at our parents for a clue as to what to do next. 5 Mrs. Gleason offered the relish tray to mother. The tray looked pretty, with its tiny red radishes, curly stick

5、s of carrots, and long, slender stalks of pale green celery. Do try some of the celery, Mrs. Lin, she said. Its from a local farmer, and its sweet.6 Mother picked up one of the green stalks, and Father followed suit. Then I picked up a stalk, and my brother did too. So there we sat, each with a stal

6、k of celery in our right hand. 7 Mrs. Gleason kept smiling. Would you like to try some of the dip, Mrs. Lin? Its my own recipe: sour cream and onion flakes, with a dash of Tabasco sauce.8 Most Chinese dont care for dairy products, and in those days I wasnt even ready to drink fresh milk. Sour cream

7、sounded perfectly revolting. Our family shook our head in unison.9 Mrs. Gleason went off with the relish tray to the other guests, and we carefully watched to see what they did. Everyone seems to eat the raw vegetables quite happily.10 Mother took a bite of her celery. Crunch. Its not bad! she whisp

8、ered.11 Father took a bite of his celery. Crunch. Yes, it is good, he said, looking surprised.12 I took a bite, and then my brother. Crunch, crunch. It was more than good; it was delicious. Raw celery has a slight sparkle, a zingy taste that you dont get in cooked celery. When Mrs. Gleason came arou

9、nd with the relish tray, we each took another stalk of celery, except my brother. He took two. 13 There was only one problem: long strings ran through the length of the stalk, and they got caught in my teeth. When I help my mother in the kitchen, I always pull the strings out before slicing celery.1

10、4 I pulled the strings out of my stalk. Z-z-zip, z-z-zip. My brother followed suit. Z-z-zip, z-z-zip, z-z-zip. To my left, my parents were taking care of their own stalks. Z-z-zip, z-z-zip, z-z-zip.15 Suddenly I realized that there was dead silence except for our zipping. Looking up, I saw that the

11、eyes of everyone in the room were on our family. Mr. and Mrs. Gleason, their daughter Meg, who was my friend, and their neighbors the Badelsthey were all staring at us as we busily pulled the strings of our celery.16 That wasnt the end of it. Mrs. Gleason announced that dinner was served and invited

12、 us to the dining table. It was lavishly covered with platters of food, but we couldnt see any chairs around the table. So we helpfully carried over some dining chairs and sat down. All the other guests just stood there.17 Mrs. Gleason bent down and whispered to us, This is a buffet dinner. You help

13、 yourselves to some food and eat it in the living room.18 Our family beat a retreat back to the sofa as if chased by enemy soldiers. For the rest of the evening, too mortified to go back to the dining table, I nursed a bit of potato salad on my plate.19 Next day Meg and I got on the school bus toget

14、her. I wasnt sure how she would feel about me after the spectacle our family made at the party. But she was just the same as usual, and the only reference she made to the party was, Hope you and your folks got enough to eat last night. You certainly didnt take very much. Mom never tries to figure ou

15、t how much food to prepare. She just puts everything on the table and hopes for the best.20 I began to relax. The Gleasons dinner party wasnt so different from a Chinese meal after all. My mother also puts everything on the table and hopes for the best. 21 Meg was the first friend I had made after w

16、e came to America. I eventually got acquainted with a few other kids in school, but Meg was still the only real friend I had. 22 My brother didnt have any problems making friends. He spent all his time with some boys who were teaching him baseball, and in no time he could speak English much faster t

17、han I couldnot better, but faster. 23 I worried more about making mistakes, and I spoke carefully, making sure I could say everything right before opening my mouth. At least I had a better accent than my parents, who never really got rid of their Chinese accent, even years later. My parents had both

18、 studied English in school before coming to America, but what they had studied was mostly written English, not spoken. 24 Fathers approach to English was a scientific one. Since Chinese verbs have no tense, he was fascinated by the way English verbs changed form according to whether they were in the

19、 present, past imperfect, perfect, pluperfect, future, or future perfect tense. He was always making diagrams of verbs and their inflections, and he looked for opportunities to show off his mastery of the pluperfect and future perfect tenses, his two favorites. I shall have finished my project by Mo

20、nday, he would say smugly. 25 Mothers approach was to memorize lists of polite phrases that would cover all possible social situations. She was constantly muttering things like Im fine, thank you. And you? Once she accidentally stepped on someones foot, and hurriedly blurted, Oh, thats quite all rig

21、ht! Embarrassed by her slip, she resolved to do better next time. So when someone stepped on her foot, she cried, Youre welcome!26 In our own different ways , we made progress in learning English. 27 The day came when my parents announced that they wanted to give a dinner party. We had invited Chine

22、se friends to eat with us before, but this dinner was going to be different. In addition, we were going to invite the Gleasons. 28 Gee, I can hardly wait to have dinner at your house, Meg said to me. I just love Chinese food.29 That was a relief. Mother was a good cook, but I wasnt sure if people wh

23、o ate sour cream would also eat chicken gizzards stewed in soy sauce. 30 Mother decided not to take a chance with chicken gizzards. Since we had western guests, she set the table with large dinner plates, which we never used in Chinese meals. In fact we didnt use individual plates at all, but picked

24、 up food from the platters in the middle of the table and brought it directly to our rice bowls. Following the practice of Chinese-American restaurants, Mother also placed large serving spoons on the platters. 31 The dinner started well. Mrs. Gleason exclaimed at the beautifully arranged dishes of f

25、ood: the colorful candied fruit in the sweet-and-sour pork dish, the noodle-thin shreds of chicken meat stir-fried with tiny peas, and the glistening pink prawns in a ginger sauce. 32 At first I was too busy enjoying my food to notice how the guests were doing. But soon I remembered my duties. Somet

26、imes guests were too polite to help themselves and you had to serve them with more food. 33 I glanced at Meg, to see if she needed more food, and my eyes nearly popped out at the sight of her plate. It was piled with food: the sweet-and-sour meat pushed right against the chicken shreds, and the chic

27、ken sauce ran into the prawns. She had been taking food from a second dish before she finished eating her helping from the first! 34 Horrified, I turned to look at Mr. Gleason. He was chasing a pea around his plate. Several times he got it to the edge, but when he tried to pick it up with his chopst

28、icks, it rolled back toward the center of the plate again. Finally he put down his chopsticks and picked up the pea with his fingers. He really did! A grown man! 35 All of us, our family and the Chinese guests, stopped eating to watch the activities of the Gleasons. I wanted to giggle. Then I caught

29、 my mothers eyes on me. She frowned and shook her head slightly, and I understood the message: the Gleasons were not used to Chinese ways, and they were just coping the best they could. For some reason I thought of celery strings. 36 When the main courses were finished, Mother brought out a platter

30、of fruit. I hope you werent expecting a sweet dessert, she said. Since the Chinese dont eat dessert, I didnt think to prepare any.37 Oh, I couldnt possibly eat dessert! cried Mrs. Gleason. Im simply stuffed! Meg had different ideas. When the table was cleared, she announced that she and I were going

31、 for a walk. I dont know about you, but I feel like dessert, she told me, when we were outside. Come on, theres a Dairy Queen down the street. I could use a big chocolate milkshake!38 Although I didnt really want anything more to eat, I insisted on paying for the milkshakes. After all I was still ho

32、stess. 39 Meg got her large chocolate milkshake and I had a small one. Even so, she was finishing hers while I was only half done. Toward the end she pulled hard on her straws and went shloop, shloop. 40 Do you always slurp when you eat a milkshake? I asked, before I could stop myself. 41 Meg grinne

33、d. Sure. All Americans slurp.课文一全美习俗伦赛娜米奥卡1 不同的地方有不同的生活方式和饮食习惯。不了解这些不同，有时会导致文化上的误会。读下面这则故事，了解一下作者在诸如餐桌礼仪这样的日常小事上对本国文化和西方文化的看法。2 到美国后，我们一家人第一次应邀出席晚宴，就在吃芹菜时出了洋相。我们是从中国移民到美国的，刚到这里的那段日子里，我们深感棘手的一个问题，便是美国的餐桌礼仪。3 在中国，我们从不生吃芹菜，也不生吃其他任何蔬菜。我们总是先用沸水给蔬菜消毒。主人呈上第一道美味时，摆在我们面前的生芹菜着实让我们措手不及。4 邀请我们共进晚餐的是我们的邻居，格林森一家。

34、进门之后，我们先与主人握了手，然后便挤坐在一张沙发上。我们一家四口挤在一张沙发上，我和弟弟偷偷瞟着父母，想知道下一步该怎样做。5 格林森夫人把盘子端给了母亲。盘子非常漂亮，上面摆着红红的小萝卜，弯弯的胡萝卜，还有那细细长长的淡绿色芹菜。“一定要尝尝芹菜，林太太，”她说：“这是从当地一个农场主那里来，味道很不错。”6 妈妈拿起一根，爸爸随即效仿，然后我和弟弟也都拿起一根来。就这样，我们全家人坐在沙发上，每个人右手都拿着一根芹菜。 7 格林森夫人一直满面笑容:“林太太，你想尝尝蘸料吗？这是我自己设计的配方：酸奶油和洋葱片，加了一点塔巴斯可酱油。”8 大多数中国人是不喜欢吃奶制品的，而且当时我连鲜牛

35、奶都不爱喝。酸奶油听上去很让人反胃，所以我们一家人一致摇了摇头。9 格林森夫人端着餐盘向其他客人走去，我们仔细地看别人怎样做，可每个人似乎都在津津有味地享用着这些生蔬菜。10 妈妈咬了一口芹菜，咯吱一声，“还可以，”她低声说。11 爸爸也咬了一口，咯吱，“是不错，”他说，满脸惊奇。12 我和弟弟咯吱咯吱地咬着，味道不仅不错，简直是美味可口。生芹菜微微发亮，味道与熟芹菜截然不同。格林森夫人端着餐盘走过来，我们每个人又都要了一根芹菜，弟弟除外他要了两根。13 只有一个问题需要解决：芹菜里面有长长的细丝，塞在我的牙缝里。以前在家帮妈妈做饭时，我总是在切芹菜前把里面的丝抽掉。14 我把丝从芹菜里抽掉，

36、嗤，嗤，弟弟也学我一样，嗤，嗤，嗤。在我的左首，我的父母也在忙乎着，嗤，嗤，嗤。15 突然间，我意识到周围一片静寂，只有我们发出的嗤嗤声。我抬起头，看见屋子里每个人都在盯着我们一家人。格林森夫妇，他们的女儿麦格，也就是我的朋友，还有他们的邻居巴戴尔一家他们都盯着我们一家四口忙着给芹菜抽丝。16 可这还不算完。格林森夫人说晚餐准备好了，请我们到餐桌旁去。桌子上摆满了一盘又一盘的丰盛食品，但桌子旁没摆椅子。于是我们主动帮忙，搬来了几把椅子，然后坐了下来。这时其他的客人们仍然站在那里。17 格林森夫人俯下身来，对我们低声说：“今晚是自助晚餐，你们可以随便选，然后到客厅去吃。”18 象被敌兵追赶似的，

37、我们一家人又撤回到了沙发上。剩下的时间里，由于羞于再回到餐桌旁，我整晚都只守着盘子里那一点点土豆沙拉。19 第二天，我和麦格一同乘校车去学校。我们一家人在晚宴上洋相百出，我不知道她现在会怎样看我。可是她和往常完全一样，唯一提到晚餐的话是：“我希望你们昨晚都吃饱了，你吃的真是不多。妈妈从来不注意该准备多少吃的，她只是把东西都摆在桌子上，然后就万事大吉了。”20 我松了一口气，其实格林森家的晚宴与中国的无甚区别。我妈妈也总是把所有菜都摆在桌上，然后万事大吉。21 麦格是我在美国交的第一个朋友，后来我与学校里其他的孩子也熟识了起来，但是麦格一直是我唯一的真朋友。 22 弟弟在交朋友方面很顺利。他整天与那些教他打棒球的孩子们呆在一起。很快，他的英语说得比我快多了，不过只是比我快，并不比我好。23 我说英语时很怕出错，因此总是小心翼翼，确信无误后才张嘴。至少我的发音比父母要强，他们的中国口音甚至多年后也没有改掉。父母在来美国之前，都在学校里学过英语，可是他们学的多是书面语，而不是口语。 24 爸爸学习英语颇具科学性。汉语中动词没有时态，因此他对英语动词的种种时态转换形式大为着迷：现在式、过去进行式、完成式、过去完成式、将来式及将来完成式。他总是把动词及其变化绘制成表，然后便寻找机会炫耀他的两个最爱过去完成时和将来完成时。他会自鸣得意地说：“到