介绍:
Xiaohua: Hello and welcome to RoundTable’s Word of the Week. Now today Brian and I are going to talk about something food-related.
Brian: That’s right. We’re talking about all the different ways to describe how good your food tastes because in Chinese you often say it’s literally “good eat” or “good taste” or whatever. For a lot of people, they’ll check the dictionary and say, “Oh, it’s delicious.” That’s a very common phrase and it’s not incorrect but the most common one, you just say, “Oh wow, that was good” or “Man, that food tastes so good.” It’s just kind of like Chinese there and it is actually a little more common than saying delicious.
Xiaohua: 我们中国人在说什么东西好吃的时候，基本就说”好吃”、”真好吃。”但是呢，其实在英语里面 “Delicious”这个词并不是我们想象中的那么常用，而用最简单的 “good,” “That’s good food,” or “That tastes so good,” 倒反而是一种更加常用的用法。
Brian: Exactly. And then we also get “appetizing” there. For this, you don’t actually have to use that much after you’ve tasted the food. It’s more like you walk into a room, especially if you have appetizers, but even with dinner or whatever you see on the table especially, you get the sights, and you get the smells there, and you’re like, “Man, that food looks so appetizing. I just want to get a piece of that. Can I start eating now?”
Xiaohua: “Appetizing” 直接的翻译是说 “开胃的” 、”促进食欲的”。但是这个词经常使用在当我们看到卖相很好的食物的时候说的，而不是在吃进食物之后表达它有多么好吃的时候说的。We don’t want to make the mistake of gobbling something up and then say “appetizing”.
Brian: That would come often as a little weird, and then another one that I personally like quite a bit is “scrumptious”, “simply scrumptious.” I feel like maybe this you might have seen this in one of those Willy Wonka movies over there, but it’s a little bit funny ‘cause it’s kind of formal but if you use it in kind of a humorous or light-hearted situation, such as “Ah! Simply scrumptious! I must have some more of that.” or you’re kind of being mock-formal and that kind of thing. But it’s definitely a compliment to whoever’s made that food for you.
Xiaohua: “Scrumptious” 虽然也是在书面场合用到的词，但是当你对朋友的厨艺赞赏到 “scrumptious” 的时候，他可是会非常高兴的啊。
Brian: Yes, and of course, even besides these different words here, there’re a lot of different phrases we use in English where we use these different flavors to describe something that isn’t food. For example, “a sweet tooth.” Lots of people, especially Americans, have “a sweet tooth.” That means you really like foods that are sweet, and often have a lot of sugars.
Xiaohua: That’s right. 下面来讲一下跟酸甜苦辣各种味道相关的一些英文中的习语。 “A sweet tooth,” 那就是非常喜欢吃甜食。
Brian: Also, we’ve got another one – “short and sweet”, or often “keep it short and sweet”, that you want to keep it nice and not too long.
Xiaohua: “Short and sweet” 其实就是简明扼要的意思。I wish all the speeches in these Chinese meetings can be short and sweet.
Brian: Ah, that would be nice there, but meetings are sometimes important. Also, we’ve got “sweet talk.” A lot of people have probably been “sweet-talked” at some point. They want a favor and they come up and like, “Oh, I love your outfit there. That’s just so good, and you’re looking so good today. By the way, I have this little thing, and I think it would be really good for you.” If someone’s going like that, they’re sweet-talking you.
Xiaohua: “Sweet talk’”是甜言蜜语， 而且不是平常所说的恭维大家。经常在 “sweet talk’”后面还有一些等着你要干的活，或者等着你要帮的忙。
Brian: Exactly, exactly. Then, we have some other flavors here, of course, like “sour,” “sour grapes,” which I think in my personal experience, it’s been more like you say “Oh, don’t be a bag of sour grapes” or whatever. You’re just kind of criticizing things and being negative without much of a use or reason.
Xiaohua: “Sour grapes.” “酸葡萄。”这个字好像中文和英文的意思差不多。就是说，自己得不到什么样的东西，但是你也别老去抱怨别人。
Brian: And then even besides “sour,” of course we also have “bitter.” And “bitter” is actually an interesting thing because it’s an important flavor in Chinese cuisine, but in Western, and certainly in American cuisine, it almost never comes up. So it’s a cultural difference. But we have things like “to the bitter end,” “to the very end,” all the way through whether it’s good or bad.” And often if it is “bitter,” it’s grueling, it’s long, and it’s hard work. You just have to go through all the way with it to the very end.
Xiaohua: “To the bitter end” 这个词是说坚持到最后，一直到最后的意思。
Brian: Yes, and besides that, we also have “spicy,” which is again, also something that’s a little more common in Chinese food than in certainly American food there, but it does come up, and it does come up in language quite a lot too. For example, “to spice things up,” to make it more interesting, or we often have to go for “sexy” as a common popular word for that. So instead of keeping things boring, doing the same thing everyday, you change something, add a little spice, and then spice things up there.
Xiaohua: “Spice things up”基本上就是说让生活变得更有意思一些，或者是让这个party变得更热辣一些。
Brian: And lastly, we have “the spice of life” or “variety is the spice of life,” meaning that you don’t want to do the same thing everyday so you add variety, and that is the spice of life.
Xiaohua: “Spice of life” 也有点像是生活的调味剂的意思。 And that wraps up this edition of RoundTable’s Word of the Week.
