B1 Unit 11 Text 1 英汉对照(原Unit11).docVIP

Text One The All-American Slurp by Lensey Namioka People in different places have different lifestyles and eating habits. Ignorance of the differences may sometimes lead to cultural shocks. Read the following story and see how the author feels towards her own culture and that of the West even over trivial matters such as table manners. The first time our family was invited out to dinner in America, we disgraced ourselves while eating celery. We had immigrated to this country from China, and during our early days here we had a hard time with American table manners. In China we never ate celery raw, or any other kind of vegetable raw. We always had to disinfect the vegetables in boiling water first. When we were presented with our first relish tray, the raw celery caught us unprepared. We had been invited to dinner by our neighbors, the Gleasons. After arriving at the house, we shook hands with our hosts and packed ourselves into a sofa. As our family of four sat stiffly in a row, my younger brother and I stole glances at our parents for a clue as to what to do next. Mrs. Gleason offered the relish tray to mother. The tray looked pretty, with its tiny red radishes, curly sticks of carrots, and long, slender stalks of pale green celery. Do try some of the celery, Mrs. Lin, she said. Its from a local farmer, and its sweet. Mother picked up one of the green stalks, and Father followed suit. Then I picked up a stalk, and my brother did too. So there we sat, each with a stalk of celery in our right hand. Mrs. Gleason kept smiling. Would you like to try some of the dip, Mrs. Lin? Its my own recipe: sour cream and onion flakes, with a dash of Tabasco sauce. Most Chinese dont care for dairy products, and in those days I wasnt even ready to drink fresh milk. Sour cream sounded perfectly revolting. Our family shook our head in unison. Mrs. Gleason went off with the relish tray to the other guests, and we carefully watched to see what the