舌尖上的中國（Ⅱ）

湖北襄陽東風中學 周 鑫

Jntroduction

在首都北京度過一周的時間里，我們深深感受到新潮正強烈地沖擊著古老，而美食是否也受到中國這些巨變的影響呢？

We're spending the firstweek ofour month-long trip in the capital,Beijing.I was raised in Chicago,and when I first came here in the 1980s,it was just beginning to open up to the West after the dark years of the Cultural Revolution.Unrecognisable.It's like the new frontier.

Now everywhereyou look,new China smashes（猛烈碰撞）up against the old.The question for both of us,on this voyage of discovery,is to see if all this incredible pace of changes,is that going to affect food?Yeah.Good and bad.

And I'd love to experience modern Chinese cookery here and whether some of the traditions have been eroded.It's a brew that will be quite interesting to see.

China is a country ofcontradictions.Tradition and innovation sit side by side.And it's most evident here in Beijing.In the northeast corner of the country,it has been theimperialcapital for 800 years.It remains deeply proud of its traditional culture andcuisine.As it opens up to the world,it's revealing those secrets with a newculinaryconfidence.

We're beginning with thequintessentialChinese food—noodles.They're a humble everyday dish,eaten in all regions.But they have a 4,000-year-old history and today in Beijing,this ancient craft is being celebrated centre stage.It's just incredible！I think they gotthis concept from the West,the open kitchen.Yes!And it's prettyspectacular.It is.Watching them work,it is like an orchestra.

Like the guy with the big block that's just shaving noodles,he looks like he's playing the violin.Yes!

The capital is pulling in the country's best cooking talents.These noodle masters are from Shanxi Province,west of Beijing,where the art of noodle making has been passed down through the generations.They are most famous for their hand-pulled noodles,La Mian.Made from just wheat flour and water, the skill is inmanipulatingthe dough.You double it up and double again.Yeah.It's folding,folding on itself.It could be a mess.It's about balancing the elasticity before he can actually pullthe noodles.So he's stretching that.Now stretching.OK,what he's doing,he's pulling and folding it,a little bit like how children used to play cat's cradle.Cat's cradle is a lot easier!Yeah!

Wow,that's beautiful!That's what we call tung chow mein（長壽面）.Yes!

Word bank

1.contradictionn.矛盾

2.imperialadj.帝國的；皇帝的

3.cuisinen.烹飪；菜肴

4.culinaryadj.烹飪的；食物的

5.quintessentialadj.典型的；精髓的

6.spectacularadj.壯觀的；壯麗的；令人驚嘆的

7.manipulatev.操縱；控制

參考譯文

舌尖上的中國（Ⅱ）

為期一月的旅行中，我們將在首都北京度過一周的時間。我在芝加哥長大。我第一次來這兒的時候是20世紀80年代，“文革”的黑暗歲月結束后，中國剛剛對外開放，完全無法辨認了，現在煥然一新。

環顧四周新潮沖擊著古老。我們這次發現之旅帶著一個問題：美食是否也受到中國這些巨變的影響。嗯，有好有壞。

在這，我很享受現代中國的烹飪技藝。是否一些傳統已被破壞。看到這種交融是非常有趣的。

中國是一個矛盾體，傳統與革新并行，這在北京尤為明顯。位于中國的東北角，北京是800多年的都城。它依然為自己有著傳統的文化與美食而自豪。隨著北京的大門對全世界敞開，它用一種全新的烹飪技藝揭開了這些秘密。

首先將要探索中華料理的精髓——面條。它在所有的地方，都是一道樸素的家常菜,但是它在北京卻有著4，000年的歷史,現在，這個古老的手藝，依然很有名望。難以置信!我覺得他們是從西方獲得開放廚房的概念。是的，壯觀之至。確實，看他們干活好像看管弦樂演奏。

我喜歡用大砧板做刀削面的家伙，像拉小提琴似的。是的！

北京匯聚了中國頂尖烹飪天才，這些面條大師來自北京西面的山西省，做面條的功夫都是世代相傳的。他們以手拉的拉面著稱。拉面只用小麥面和水制成，技巧在于揉面，一根變兩根然后拉成多根，是的，不斷地對折。在他把面拉長之前，可能會很亂，關鍵在于均衡彈性。他在拉長它，現在變長了，現在做的就是把面拉長再折起來，有點像小孩玩翻花繩，翻花繩比這簡單多了好嗎。

好厲害，這就是我們說的長壽面。嗯。