新视野大学英语第四册第三版课文及翻译.pdf

Unit 5 Speaking Chinese in America 在美国说中文 Once, at a dinner on the Monterey Peninsula, California, my mother whispered to me confidentially: Sau-sau (brothers wife) pretends too hard to be a polite recipient! Why bother with such nominal courtesy? In the end, she always takes everything. 有一次，在加州蒙特雷半岛上用餐时，我母亲私下悄悄地对我说： “嫂嫂想做个彬彬有礼的客人，但是装得 太厉害了！何必费劲讲究形式上的客套呢？到最后她还是什么都要。 ” My mother acted like a waixiao, an emigrant, no longer patient with old taboos and courtesies. To prove her point, she reached across the table to offer my elderly aunt from Beijing the last scallop from the garlic seafood dish, along with the flank steak and the cucumber salad. 我母亲行事像个 “外侨 ”，即一个移民国外的侨民，因为她已经不耐烦老一套的禁忌和礼数了。为了证明她 刚才的观点，她手伸过桌子，把蒜香海鲜拼盘里的最后一个扇贝，连同牛腩排及黄瓜沙拉一起，递给我从 北京来的年长舅妈。 Sau-sau frowned. Byao, zhenbyao! she cried, patting her substantial stomach. I dont want it, really I dont. 嫂嫂皱起了眉头， “不要，真不要！ ”她一边大声说一边拍着自己已经吃得很饱的肚子。我不要了，真的不 要了。 Take it! Take it! my mother scolded in Chinese, as predictably as the lunar cycles. “拿去吧！拿去吧！ ”我母亲用中文责备道。预料到她就会这样，就像月亮盈亏周期似的。 Full, Im already full, Sau-sau muttered weakly, eying the scallop. “饱了，我已经饱了， ”嫂嫂低声嘀咕着，眼睛却瞟着扇贝。 Ai! exclaimed my mother. Nobody wants it. It will only rot! “哎！ ”我母亲感叹着说， “没人愿意吃，只能让它坏掉了！ ” Sau-sau sighed, acting as if she were doing my mother a favor by taking the scrap off the tray and sparing us the trouble of wrapping the leftovers in foil. 嫂嫂叹了口气，从碟子上拿去了那个扇贝，就好像是帮了我母亲一个大忙，并省去了我们用箔纸将剩菜打 包的麻烦似的。 My mother turned to her brother, an experienced Chinese magistrate, visiting us for the first time. In America, a Chinese person could starve to death. If you dont breach the old rules of etiquette and say you want it, they wont ask you again. 我母亲转头看着她兄长 —— 一位经验丰富的中国