【英语趣味课堂】家常饭-Home Cooking

Buddhi: So, Edwin, now that you're here, do you usually cook for yourself or you eat outside?

 

Edwin: I usually eat outside because I'm a very terrible cook. I could potentially burn salads.

 

Buddhi: So, back at home, how was it done? You guys cook at home. I mean your mom.

 

Edwin: My mom usually cooked. Because of my Chinese ethnicity, she usually cooks Chinese food, cause Australian food is pretty boring, so she cooks ... usually cooks Chinese food.

 

Buddhi: I remember back in my country, we also do a lot of Chinese food, and they did turn out to be quite spicy¹. Is it spicy as well? Or maybe, it's because in Sri Lanka, we use the spicy stuff. Or what would you say?

 

Edwin: Well, some Chinese food is spicy. It just depends on which part of China it comes from. My parents are from Hong Kong, and Hong Kong food usually is not spicy, so yeah, I don't really like spicy food ... too spicy food, so yeah, my mom usually cooks really just bland² food.

 

Buddhi: So, you guys always just eat Chinese food, or do you eat Australian food as well.

 

Edwin: We rarely eat Australian food. My parents are pretty conservative when it comes to food, so yeah, they pretty much stick with Chinese food.

 

Buddhi: If you do eat any Australian food, what kind of foods do you eat?

 

Edwin: I guess the most common one would be the meat pie. A lot of kids eat it in high school during lunch with tomato sauce, but something that's really interesting ... an interesting Australian dish would be the kangaroo.

 

Buddhi: OK.

 

Edwin: Yeah, I've had that a couple times. It tastes really good. You can call it a delicacy³ I guess, but we don't always eat it every day. Have you tried kangaroo?

 

Buddhi: Never. Never.

 

Edwin: Would you like to try?

 

Buddhi: I'll say yes, cause I like to try new foods, but I don't all kinds of meat. I just eat chicken only, so yeah, but I'll try cause you recommend it.

 

重点词汇：

 

Learn Vocabulary from the Lesson

potentially

 

I could potentially burn salads.

 

"Potentially" means things that are possible or the ability exists for them to happen in the future.

 

Rebecca is a potentially great tennis player, if she just practiced more.

Elllo has the potential to be the number one English listening site on the web.

pretty

 

Australian food is pretty boring.

 

In this case "pretty" modifies the word boring to mean quite boring, a reasonably high degree of boring.

 

I find fishing from the bank pretty boring, just sitting and watching the water for hours.

Old castles in Europe are pretty interesting because they have so much history behind them.

conservative

 

My parents are pretty conservative when it comes to food.

 

Conservative here means to not take risks or be adventurous⁴. Notice the word "pretty" has again been used to modify conservative giving it more emphasis.

 

The Republican party in America is considered conservative in its politics.

At a conservative estimate, about 1 billion people in the world are illiterate⁵.

stick with

 

My parents pretty much stick with Chinese food.

 

"To stick" with something means to stay with it and not change to something else. Here again "pretty" modifies the "stick with" so that the meaning is "My parents mostly eat Chinese food."

 

Studying any new language is difficult, but if you stick with it long enough, you will get better.

At university I had a chance to change from English to psychology⁶, but I decided⁷ to stick with the language unit.

a couple times

 

I've had that a couple times.

 

"Couple" literally⁸ means 2, but in this case could mean 2 or 3.

 

I had a couple of colds last winter because we had so much rain.

Give me a couple of ice creams for Tom and Jerry.

1 spicy   

adj.加香料的；辛辣的，有风味的

参考例句：

• The soup tasted mildly spicy.汤尝起来略有点辣。
• Very spicy food doesn't suit her stomach.太辣的东西她吃了胃不舒服。

2 bland   

adj.淡而无味的，温和的，无刺激性的

参考例句：

• He eats bland food because of his stomach trouble.他因胃病而吃清淡的食物。
• This soup is too bland for me.这汤我喝起来偏淡。

3 delicacy   

n.精致，细微，微妙，精良；美味，佳肴

参考例句：

• We admired the delicacy of the craftsmanship.我们佩服工艺师精巧的手艺。
• He sensed the delicacy of the situation.他感觉到了形势的微妙。

4 adventurous   

adj.爱冒险的；惊心动魄的，惊险的，刺激的　

参考例句：

• I was filled with envy at their adventurous lifestyle.我很羨慕他们敢于冒险的生活方式。
• He was predestined to lead an adventurous life.他注定要过冒险的生活。

5 illiterate   

adj.文盲的；无知的；n.文盲

参考例句：

• There are still many illiterate people in our country.在我国还有许多文盲。
• I was an illiterate in the old society,but now I can read.我这个旧社会的文盲，今天也认字了。

6 psychology   

n.心理，心理学，心理状态

参考例句：

• She has a background in child psychology.她受过儿童心理学的教育。
• He studied philosophy and psychology at Cambridge.他在剑桥大学学习哲学和心理学。

7 decided   

adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的

参考例句：

• This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
• There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。

8 literally   

adv.照字面意义，逐字地；确实

参考例句：

• He translated the passage literally.他逐字逐句地翻译这段文字。
• Sometimes she would not sit down till she was literally faint.有时候，她不走到真正要昏厥了，决不肯坐下来。