BBQ: Definitely a Guy Thing

BBQ: Definitely a Guy Thing

A three-day weekend, plenty of sunshine heading our way, and, zippity-doo-dah, out roll the barbeque grills², manned, by and large, by men. It is with that 1)gender-non-neutral hypothesis in mind, that we now explore the male-dominated backyard practice in this audio 2)collage³ from the State of Maine.

Man: Grilling⁴ is really meant to be done by a man with a beer in his hand. 

Man: I’m a “3)Weber man.” 

Man: I like the fire.

Woman: Men…love…grills!

Man: This is like a 4)primal⁵ thing.

Man: … especially if it drips down a little bit and catches on fire…

Man: Everybody’s experienced barbeque smoke following you around the barbeque as

you move around.

Woman: Our grill¹ is huge.

Man: We have a very traditional “Weber” charcoal-fired grill.

Man: I think as low as you can get is a 5)propane grill with an automatic starter.

Woman: I just have to hit the button and it starts, and life is good.

Man: You put all this effort into getting a good 6)brontosaurus steak and you don’t want it ruined, you know, by somebody who hasn’t been paying attention or is worrying about the kids. 

Woman: All of the women I know, no one enjoys grilling.

Man: It’s not that women can’t cook on a grill. I think they can but they just don’t have

 much interest in it.

Woman: I really like fish on the grill. I like vegetables…

Man: That’s not what a grill is meant for.

Woman: You know, we get together with friends and all the guys are standing⁷ around the

 grill.

Woman: And, before you know it, like two hours have passed.

Man: That’s all part of grilling.

Woman: So you have to have a, sort of the…the woman 7)interloper who goes out and makes sure that things are still moving along.

Man: My attention span’s not that good when I’m grilling.

Woman: … comes in burned,

Man: Yeah, I burn things a lot.

Woman: … 8)charred. I could be eating by now.

Man: I figure, that you put that grate down on that fire and you leave it there for a little while and there ain’t nothin’ livin’ there that isn’t going to be living in the meat anyway.

Woman: Yeah, that has to be scraped off.

Woman: And it doesn’t matter what he’s cooking, he uses more pots and pans and dishes than you can possibly imagine. 

Man: I like the blood to run a little bit. 

Man: And if I time it all right, mine’s done about the time hers has turned to shoe leather, which is how she likes it.

Man: I can always tell, you know. “So did you take it off when it was pink?”  “Oh, yeah, it
was pink!” 

Man: Medium rare on the edges and, towards the middle, it’s a little more rare. If I had my way, I’d just basically eat meat. Yeah. I’d let the guys cook the meat, around the campfire, in front of the cave.

Man: Yup.  It’s a guy thing!

Woman: It’s definitely a guy thing.

注释：
1) gender-non-neutral hypothesis 非性别中立，这个拗口的说法最常见的表达就是gender-biased（“性别偏见”），但biased一词有明显的贬义，所以这里是以一种幽默的方式来表达作者并不是没有偏见的。
2) collage [ kE5lB:V ] n. （互不相干事物的）杂烩
3) Weber  美国的一个著名的烧烤炉品牌
4) primal [5praimEl] a. 最初的，原始的
5) propane [ 5prEupein ] n. 丙烷
6) brontosaurus [brRntE5sC:rEs] n. 雷龙，是一种头小，颈细，身体庞大的恐龙，brontosaurus steak是指很大块的牛排。
7) interloper [5intElEupE] n. 闯入者，（为图私利）干涉他人事务者
8) char⁶ [tFB:] v. 烧焦

烧烤，非男人莫属？

一个阳光明媚的三天长周末假期就要到了，哼着小曲把烧烤炉拉出来，这时忙得不亦乐乎的，大多是男人。带着这种具有“非性别中立”揣测的想法，我们来听听缅因州人七嘴八舌话烧烤，从而一探这项由男性主宰的家庭娱乐活动的究竟。

男：烤肉本来就该是男人做的事，而且他手里还得拿着瓶啤酒。

男：我是“烧烤专家”。

男：我喜欢火。

女：男人……钟情于……烧烤！

男：这就像是一种本能。

男：尤其是在一点油脂滴了下去，火苗高串的时候……

男：每个人都有过这种体会：烧烤的时候，你走到哪儿，烧烤的油烟就跟到哪儿，挥之不去。

女：我们的烧烤炉非常大。

男：我们有一个非常老式的韦伯牌木炭烤炉。

男：我认为你怎么也得弄一个配有自动点火器，用丙烷作燃料的烧烤炉。

女：我只需要摁一下按钮，火就着了。生活是如此美好。

男：你费了老大一番功夫去准备一大块美味牛排，你可不想让它毁在一个注意力不集中或是惦记着孩子的人手里。

女：我认识的所有女人里，没一个觉得烧烤有乐趣可言。

男：并不是说女人不会用烧烤炉烤食物，我想她们也会，只是没有什么兴趣罢了。

女：我很喜欢用烧烤炉烤鱼，烤蔬菜……

男：烧烤炉可不是用来干那个的。

女：你知道，我们和朋友聚会的时候，所有的男人都站在烧烤炉的周围。

女：然后，不知不觉的，两个小时就这样过去了。

男：那本来就是烧烤的乐趣所在。

女：所以就非得有那么些个管家婆式的女人，跑进跑出，确保一切都还正常。

男：我在烧烤的时候，注意力就有限了。

女：烤焦了。

男：对，我常常会把食物烤过火了。

女：都焦透了。如果我自己来的话，现在已经吃上了。

男：我看呢，你只要把烤架放在火上，让它烧一会儿，上面就没有什么细菌了，至少不会比肉里面的细菌多。

女：是的，那东西得刮掉。

女：不论要煮什么或怎么个煮法，他都会用上一大堆锅碗瓢盆，多得你不敢想象。

男：我喜欢肉上面带点血丝。

男：如果我没算错时间，等我烤好的时候，她的已经烤得像鞋面一样硬了，她就喜欢把肉烤成那个样子。

男：我总能知道是怎么回事。“你是不是在它还是淡红色的时候就取下来了？”“啊，是的，还是在淡红色的时候！”

男：牛排的边上要五分熟，往中间要生嫩点。要是让我由着自己的性子，我基本上只吃肉就够了。对，我会让伙计们围着篝火，在山洞前烤肉吃。

男：不错，这是男人的事！

女：这绝对是男人的事。

 

 

 

1 grill   

n.烤架，铁格子，烤肉；v.烧，烤，严加盘问

参考例句：

• Put it under the grill for a minute to brown the top.放在烤架下烤一分钟把上面烤成金黄色。
• I'll grill you some mutton.我来给你烤一些羊肉吃。

2 grills   

n.烤架( grill的名词复数 )；（一盘）烤肉；格板；烧烤餐馆v.烧烤( grill的第三人称单数 )；拷问，盘问

参考例句：

• Backyard barbecue grills could be proscribed. 里弄烤肉店会被勒令停业的。 来自辞典例句
• Both side inlets have horizontal grills and incorporate impressive fog lamps. 两侧进气口的水平烤架并纳入令人印象深刻的雾灯。 来自互联网

3 collage   

n.拼贴画；v.拼贴；把……创作成拼贴画

参考例句：

• A collage of coloured paper covers a table top.一副彩纸拼贴画盖在桌面上。
• He has used a mixture of mosaic,collage and felt-tip pen.他混合使用了马赛克、拼贴画和毡头笔。

4 grilling   

v.烧烤( grill的现在分词 )；拷问，盘问

参考例句：

• The minister faced a tough grilling at today's press conference. 部长在今天的记者招待会上受到了严厉的盘问。
• He's grilling out there in the midday sun. 他在外面让中午火辣辣的太阳炙烤着。 来自《简明英汉词典》

5 primal   

adj.原始的；最重要的

参考例句：

• Jealousy is a primal emotion.嫉妒是最原始的情感。
• Money was a primal necessity to them.对于他们，钱是主要的需要。

6 char   

v.烧焦；使...燃烧成焦炭

参考例句：

• Without a drenching rain,the forest fire will char everything.如果没有一场透地雨，森林大火将烧尽一切。
• The immediate batch will require deodorization to char the protein material to facilitate removal in bleaching.脱臭烧焦的蛋白质原料易在脱色中去除。

7 standing   

n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的

参考例句：

• After the earthquake only a few houses were left standing.地震过后只有几幢房屋还立着。
• They're standing out against any change in the law.他们坚决反对对法律做任何修改。