Unit 7 Food
Study Focus
1. Study the difference in attitudes toward food between an American and a Chinese.
2. Practice using the “No wonder (that)…” structure.
3. Understand the author’s attitude toward Western fast food.
4. Learn how to develop a paragraph by cause and effect.
5. Read about the typical Chinese cuisines.
A Foreigner Encounters Chinese
Food Culture By David Moser
David Moser
中文名为莫大伟，1954年生于美国，1978年在俄克拉荷马大学获音乐学士学位，后来到密歇根大学攻读中国研究硕士和博士，1989年获得汉学研究中心汉学博士学位，1996至2000年担任北京外国语大学英语系教授，致力于中美跨语言、跨文化领域的研究，主攻方向为比较语言学和翻译。
encounter:
vt. 1) to meet with “遭遇，遇到（困难，危险）”；
2) to run into “意外地遇见，偶然碰到”（不用进行时）
e.g.
a. I expect to encounter many difficulties in the course of this job.
我预料在做这件工作的过程中会遇到遇到许多困难。
b. She encountered a friend on the plane.
她意外地在飞机上遇见了一个朋友。
n.（常接with）“遭遇，冲突”
an encounter with new ideas 与新思想的冲突
my encounter with a lion 我与狮子的一次遭遇
Para. 1
1. I first began to learn Chinese ten years ago from a cheerful middle-aged visiting scholar from Sichuan, who was living at the time in my apartment building in Boston.
译文：
十年前，我开始与一位来自四川、性格开朗的中年访问学者学中文。他当时就住在我波斯顿的公寓楼内。
at the time: “那时候”
e.g.
I told you at the time that I thought you were stupid.
那会儿我告诉你我认为你很蠢。
联想:
at a time “每次”;
at one time “一度,过去曾经”;
at all times “在任何时候，经常”;
at any time “随时”; at times “有时”
2. He was a great talker, and often our lessons would turn into lengthy digressions on various aspects of Chinese culture.
译文：
他非常健谈，我们的中文课经常离题，长时间去谈论中国文化的方方面面。
lengthy
adj. 很长的
e.g.
They murmured at the lengthy imprisonment
given to John.
他们对判决约翰的长期徒刑不满。
a lengthy, appended exposition of a topic or point
某一主题或观点的冗长的，附加的陈述
digression
n. 离题
e.g.
The audience cried the speaker down as soon as he started on a third digression.
当发言人第三次开始扯到题外去时，听众发出喊声，使他讲不下去。
3. The very first two Chinese characters he taught me to write were the characters in the word for “population”, renkou.
译文：
他最初教我写的两个汉字是“人口”。
very
adv. “最，极”，最高级前或first，last之前加very其加强语气的作用。
e.g.
a. The very first thing you must do is ring the police.
你必须做的第一件事是打电话给警察。
b. They arrived only at the very last moment.
他们在最后一刻才到。
c. This cake ought to be good, because I used the very best butter.
这蛋糕应该很好吃，因为我用了最好的奶油。
比较第七段中...hosted at the very seat of the American government...,
此处very (adj.)应表示“真正的，恰好的”
e.g.
He is the very man I am looking for.
他正是我要找的人。
4. I vividly remember that he pointed to the characters on the page and said, “You see, people-mouths. Since China has more than a billion people to feed, this word naturally picks out the mouth as the most important part.
译文：
我至今仍清晰地记得，当时他指着纸上的字说道：“瞧‘人口’！因为中国有十多亿人要养活，这个词就很自然地把‘口’看作最重要的部分。
vividly
adv. 生动地
e.g.
a. He had a religious experience; he recalled the experience vividly.
他生动地讲述那次经历。
b. This meeting has demonstrated vividly that the peasants have a wealth of knowledge.
这次会议生动地说明农民有丰富的知识。
5. Chinese people not only think a lot about food, they are virtually obsessed with it.
译文：
由此我们可以推论中国人的性格——食为先。
clue:
n. “线索，提示”（后接to）
e.g.
The police had no clue to his identity.
警察没有关于他身份的线索。
personality:
n. “个性，人格”
a. He has a strong personality.
他有坚强的性格。
b. Her personality, not her beauty, made her popular.
不是她的美丽而是她的性格使她受人喜爱。
far from:
“远离，远非，一点也不”（常接名词，形容词或动名词）
e.g.
a. They had rented a villa not far from the Holiday Inn.
他们租了一座离假日宾馆不远的别墅。
b. I am far from pleased with your behavior.
对你的行为我很不满意。
c. She realized this was far from the truth (being true).
她意识到这绝非事实。