歪果仁怎么看中国的三伏天儿

20160722ou 一中两外锵锵三人行 今日话题：歪果仁怎么看中国的三伏天儿 LW: We’re getting into the final stretch of summer. We’ve had some pretty scary rain over the past two days, but it seems to be that we’re heating up once again in Beijing. Yoyo, take it away. WY: Okay, so as you said, we are heating up, and probably will face the hottest days of summer in Beijing as well. It is traditionally regarded as the hottest part of the year, and we call it ‘Sanfu Tian’ in Chinese. This is according to the Chinese lunar calendar. Interestingly, different cultures describe these days in different ways. In China we call it ‘Sanfu’, but in English, these days are often referred to as the ‘dog days’ of summer. It refers to the ancient observation by Egyptians, Greeks and Romans as the Dog Star Sirius rose at sunrise at this time of year, while in Chinese culture it is widely known as ‘Sanfu’ which refers to three periods of intense natural heat that can be observed at this time of year. And a fun fact is that the right half of the character ‘fu’ which also means dog, ‘quan’, in Chinese. So ‘dog days’ indeed! NL: Well you’ve just educated me on an English expression; I didn’t know it was anything to do with stars or the Romans. LW: I had no idea. NL: I thought it was just because it was too hot for dogs at that time of the year. LW: Although, you know, I’m looking at the weather forecast, it doesn’t look too bad over the week. I feel like the worst is behind us, surely? Because we got up to, like, high thirties, forties. Nick was struggling, I saw him. People were having a hard time of it. NL: I’m not built for this kind of climate. LW: Yes, no, it’s, no, he’s a very deeply English man. He’s not ready for this kind of heat. But, yeah, like, 30, 33, 26, 27, 29, 32. I mean, that’s very, very manageable compared to what we’ve experienced in the past, isn’t it? But are there any traditions attached to this? Are there any, kind of, rites or rituals that go in, attached to Sanfu? WY: Oh, yes. Talking about the ritual, and sometimes we must mention is the Chinese food. In Chinese culture it is believed that Sanfu helps cure diseases that you picked up during cold seasons. LW: Oh, wow. So you sweat out all the badness in you, is that something? WY: Exactly. LW: So what sort of foods are you looking to eat? WY: People are encouraged to take in vegetables that contain high amounts of Vitamin B, like lotus root and cucumbers, as well as the cooling fruits like watermelon and pineapple. LW: Now you see, that’s what I meant when I said a lot of these things are quite intuitive, because I would argue that in most places around the world, in the summer, that would form part of a large part of people’s diets, just because that’s the fruit, or that’s in season, or that’s just, you know, what people do. WY: In Chinese we also say, you should eat the food in season. LW: Yeah, that’s what people tend to do around the world, as well.