unit 5 Section A 语言点及翻译

An effective description of a diet sometimes brings to mind a vivid and deeply involved

experience about food for readers. It should stick to a clear structure, provide enough details

about the extraordinary traits of the diet and use effective language to convey the author's

emotion. The following passage about home cooking is taken from Home Cooking: A Writer in the

Kitchen by Laurie Colwin, a famous American food writer.

Home Cooking

Laurie Colwin

Part one: para. 1-2 Lead in: My love for home cooking and home-made food

1 Unlike some people, who love to go out, I love to stay home. This may be caused by laziness,

anxiety or xenophobia 对陌生人的恐惧, and in the days when my friends were happily traveling

to Bolivia and Nepal, I was ashamed to admit that what I liked best was hanging around the house.宅在家

2 I am probably not much fun as a traveler, ( I am not a very interesting person when

traveling ...)either. My idea of a good time abroad is to visit someone's house and hang out,

poking into their cupboards if they will let me. One summer I spent some time in a farmhouse on

the island of Minorca. This was my idea of bliss(great joy): a vacation at home (even if it wasn't

my home). I could wake up in the morning, make the coffee and wander outside to pick apricots

杏子for breakfast. I could wander around the markets figuring out that night's dinner.（A the

markets, I could wander around，finding out what to buy and cook for that night’s dinner. ) In

foreign countries I am drawn into grocery shops, supermarkets and kitchen supply houses. I

explain this by reminding my friends that, as I was taught in my Introduction to Anthropology人类学, it is not just the Great Works of mankind that make a culture. It is the daily things, like what

people eat and how they serve it.

Part two: para. 3-4 ：My experience of a best dinner

3 I love to eat out, but even more, I love to eat in. The best dinner party I ever went to was a

black-tie affair 宾客需穿半正式礼服的宴会，男士戴黑领结，穿小礼服 to celebrate a book,

catered提供饮食及服务 by the author's sister. When we sat down in our long dresses and

tuxedos, （男士）无尾晚礼服 my heart failed.（ When we sat down very formally dressed, I felt

disappointed.） What sort of fancy something or other were we going to get? I remembered the

sad story told to me by a colleague who went to a white-tie dinner正式宴会and received, for the

main course主菜, one half of a flounder fillet半片比目鱼.

4 When the food appeared at this party, I could scarcely contain my delight. It was home food!

The most delicious kind: a savory beef stew with olives and buttered noodles, 可口的橄榄炖牛肉，黄油面条， a plain green salad with a wonderful dressing清爽的蔬菜沙拉，沙拉酱棒极了,

and some runny cheese and chocolate mousse for dessert.甜点是松软的奶酪和巧克力慕斯。

Heaven!

Part three: para. 5: Traditions

5 When people enter the kitchen, they often drag their childhood in with them.

I was brought up on English children's books, in which teatime and cottage life play an important

role. These formed my earliest idea of comfort: a tea table in a cozy （comfortable）cottage. As an

adult I have reinforced （emphasize）these childhood notions by reading English cookbooks as if

they were novels and rereading such classics as Consuming Passions by Philippa Pullar, The

Englishman's Food by Drummond and Wilbraham, as well as Food in England and Lost Country

Life by Dorothy Hartley.

Part four: para. 6-9: Food safety

6 The thing about homebodies“宅男宅女” is that they can usually be found at home. I usually

am, and I like to feed people. Since I am a writer by profession, it was inevitable that I would be

inclined to write about food.

7 My books abound in （exist in large quantity 富于）recipes for chicken. Nowadays, almost

everyone I know has either given up red meat or restricts it severely. Furthermore, I began to cook

for myself at a time when beef prices skyrocketed and people on tiny salaries simply ceased to

think about it. But chicken was and still is cheap.

8 I myself prefer an organic chicken. They are not easy to find, but they are worth looking for.

Organic eggs from free-range放养的 chickens really and truly do taste better than anything you

will find in the supermarket. These are available at health food stores and farmers' markets. These

days most people have cut down on 减少 eggs, but the few eggs you do eat ought to taste like

eggs. As far as meat is concerned, if you have a source for organic beef or veal小牛肉, go for it.

Not only is it tastier (and frequently leaner), but you also do not have to worry about feeding

anabolic steroids类固醇激素 to friends and loved ones.

9 It is a depressing fact of life that we must now be so vigilant （alert）about what we eat. Not