中华文化英文讲系列：吃吃喝喝的那些事儿.docVIP

中华文化英文讲系列：吃吃喝喝的那些事儿 　　上一期我们讲到“民以食为天”的变迁，展现了中国人几千年来对食物的态度变化。古代，天灾人祸导致物质匮乏，人们食不果腹，把食物看得跟天一样重要。当今，物质极大丰富，人们渐渐把“吃”作为娱乐甚至一种精神追求。在物质匮乏的古代，“民以食为天”的“食”主要指“主食”，那时候没有蔬菜、水果等“副食”的概念。随着社会的发展，蔬菜、瓜果、各式菜肴或异域美食日渐丰富，但普通老百姓的日常饮食结构还多是主食。主食给中国人的日常生活打上了深深的烙印。今天我们就来谈谈主食的故事。 　　关于主食在中国人日常饮食结构中的地位，大家可以参考下面这段表达。 　　The long medieval years witnessed a shortage of food that resulted from natural and man-made disasters. Frequent suffering from hunger made people value food as their primal want. For commoners， “food” was only referred to as “staple food.” Any food other than that， such as delicate vegetables， fresh fruits and well-known delicacies， was the privilege of high officials and nobles. Staple food has gained a high status in traditional Chinese food culture. 　　中国历史上最早的主食作物 　　我们今天谈到主食，可能大家首先想到的是分别由水稻和小麦加工而成的大米和面粉。但是从历史上来看，中华文明最早的发源地黄河流域最初的主食却并不是它们。原始社会，人们最初靠采集树上的野果填饱肚子，后来逐渐学会捕鱼和打猎。随着人口的增加，可供捕猎的鱼虾、野兽、禽鸟数量减少，不能再满足生活需要，人们经常过着食不果腹的日子。传说这时出现了炎帝，也叫“神农氏”，他发明了农业生产的工具，还教会人们种植一种叫做“黍”的作物，它的果实可以作为粮食。今天看来，“黍”就是小米。在当时，“黍”被大量种植，成为黄河流域的主食，这既有当地气候的因素，也有当时现实的特点。较之秦岭、淮河以南的传统“中国南方”地区，黄河流域雨水偏少，气候偏旱，而“黍”恰好具有“抗旱”的特性。同时，“黍”的产量比较大，果实可以长时间保存。这些特性解决了被饥饿困扰的人们的主要问题。人们感念炎帝对民众的贡献，因此，在历史上，中国人将炎帝和另外一位传奇部落首领“黄帝”并称为中华民族的祖先。 　　在给外国朋友介绍相关历史时，可以参考下面这段表达。 　　Chinese people at present refer to staple food as rice and wheat with little awareness that the earliest staple food in China， in the region along the Yellow River， was neither of these. Our ancestors at first lived on fruits growing in the wild， and then learnt to fish and hunt. With the growth of population， the number of fish and game that could be caught for food decreased dramatically. 　　The lack of food had long worried people until there appeared a legendary ruler called Yandi （Emperor Yan）， also known as the Saint of Agriculture （Shennong）. He made key contributions in agriculture by inventing a tool， the plough， to turn the soil and by teaching people to plant a crop called millet. The growing of millet gained great popularity because of both climate and co