No.2



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Dialogue 1

At a Restaurant

Waiter: Good evening, madam. Good evening, sir. Would you like to sit at a table or would you prefer a booth?

Emily: A table, please.

Waiter: How about this one?

Emily: I like that small table near the window.

Waiter: Sorry, madam. It's been reserved.

Emily: Too bad. All right, this one will be fine.

Waiter: Here's the menu. What would you like to order?

Emily: You know we can't read Chinese. Can we have a look at these pictures first?

Waiter: Yes, please. Over here it's meat: pork, beef, and mutton.

Steven: (Pointing to a picture) What's this?

Waiter: It's shizitou.

Steven: shizitou?

Waiter: Oh, it's Chinese for lion's head. Actually it's meat balls braised in brown sauce1.

Steven: What an interesting name! I think we'll have a lion's head.

Waiter: Yes, sir. A lion's head.2 Anything else?

Steven: What's this?

Waiter: It's sauté pork kidney.

Emily: Oh, no. And this?

Waiter: This is sauté shredded pork in hot sauce.

Emily: Is it spicy?

Waiter: Yes, very spicy. Do you like spicy food, madam?

Emily: No, if it's very spicy.

Waiter: Do you like seafood3?

Emily:　Yes. (To Steven) Let's have seafood. (To Waiter) What do you recommend?

Waiter: The prawns are very nice. The shark's fin is excellent, too.

Emily: We'll have prawns.

Waiter: How do you like your prawns cooked? We have fried prawns and sauté sliced prawns and tomatoes.

Emily: Sauté sliced prawns and tomatoes, please.

Waiter: Any vegetables4?

Emily: What is fresh?

Waiter: Celery. Spinach. Broccoli is very fresh.

Steven: Let's have broccoli.

Waiter: Would you like anything to drink?

Steven: We'd like a bottle of Qingdao beer.

Waiter: Any noodles and pastries?

Steven: What do you have?

Waiter: We have noodles, jiaozi, and spring rolls.

Steven: Jiaozi will be nice.

Waiter: How much would you like?

Steven: One plate of it will be enough.

Waiter: That's all right. Will there be anything else?

Steven: I think that will do.

Waiter: Thank you.

Words and expressions

booth n. 隔间

reserve v. 预定

order v. 点菜

braised adj. 炖熟的, 焖熟的, 用文火炖到全熟的

brown sauce 棕色调味料(用面粉、油脂和肉汤配成)

meat balls braised in brown sauce　红烧狮子头

sauté adj. （嫩）煎的，炒的

sauté pork kidney　炒腰花

shred v. 撕碎, 切碎

sauté shredded pork in hot sauce　鱼香肉丝

spicy adj. 辣的

seafood n. 海鲜

prawn n. 对虾

shark's fin n. 鱼翅

fish belly with shrimps 虾仁鱼肚

fried prawns　干炸大虾

sauté sliced prawns and tomatoes　鲜汁虾片

celery n. 芹菜

spinach n. 菠菜

broccoli n. 花椰菜，西兰花菜

pastry n.　面粉糕饼, 馅饼皮

noodles and pastries 面点

Relevant information

1. meat balls braised in brown sauce （红烧狮子头）

　　There are differently-cooked meat balls. Here are more examples:

Steamed minced pork balls　清炖狮子头

Crab meat and minced pork balls in casserole 蟹粉狮子头

The following are names of some other Chinese dishes:

　　mandarin fish in chive oil 葱油鳜鱼

　　fried crisp fish strips 酥炸鱼条

　　sauté shrimps with tomatoes 番茄虾仁

　　braised whole prawns 生焖大虾

　　braised shark's fins with shelled shrimps 虾仁鱼翅

　　sauté squid with shrimp roe 虾子鱿鱼

　　sea slug/sea cucumber with sesame paste 麻酱海参

　　braised whole duck 红烧全鸭

　　steamed pork with rice flour 粉蒸肉　

pork fillet with sweet and sour sauce 糖醋里脊

sauté beef fillet 生煎牛柳

　　bird's nest in crystallized sugar 冰糖燕窝

　　steamed chicken with dried mushrooms 冬菇蒸鸡

　　green cabbage heart with dried mushrooms 冬菇菜心

　　sauté pea sprouts 炒豆苗

　　bean curd with fresh mushroom 蘑菇豆腐

　　toffee apple/pulling thread apple 拔丝苹果

2. Yes, sir. A lion's head.

　　The waiter or waitress needs to repeat the order.

3. seafood

Seafood refers to animals from the sea that we can eat, especially shellfish, while aquatic food (水产) refers to those from the sea, river or lake. Mud eel（黄鳝）, loach（泥鳅） and frog are all aquatic food, but not seafood.

4. The following are names of some vegetables:

　　spinach　菠菜

　　lettuce　莴苣，生菜

　　rape　油菜

　　coriander　香菜，芫荽

　　crown daisy　茼蒿

　　radish　萝卜

　　winter white radish　圆长白萝卜

　　cucumber　黄瓜

　　white gourd　冬瓜

　　vegetable sponge　丝瓜

　　balsam pear/bitter gourd　苦瓜

　　chayote　佛手瓜

　　kidney bean　四季豆，芸豆

　　pea　豌豆

　　yam　山药，洋芋

　　dasheen　芋头

　　wild rice　茭白

　　lotus root　藕

Dialogue 2

A Chinese Banquet

Steven: It's a nice restaurant.

Fan: Yes, it is. Well, take a seat, please. Here comes our waitress.

Waitress: Are you ready to order now, sir?

Fan: Yes, I think we'll have shark's fin soup, Beijing Roast Duck, lightly fried prawns, sweet and sour pork ribs, steamed mandarin fish, and clear chicken soup.

Waitress: What cold dishes would you like?

Fan: Jelly fish, sliced boiled chicken, braised fresh mushrooms, and green French beans with ginger sauce.

Waitress: Anything to drink?

Fan: What would you like to drink, Steven?

Steven: May I have a glass of wine?

Fan: Sure. Would you have some wine, ladies?

Emily: Yes. I'll have a glass of wine, too.

Nancy: Well, if you don't mind, I'd prefer a glass of beer.1　　　　

Fan: That's good. I'll have beer, too. (To Waitress) We'll have a bottle of wine and two bottles of beer.

Waitress: Is that all.

Fan: Yes, that's all. Thank you.

Waitress: You're welcome.

Fan: (To the guests) Have some tea, please.

(Waitress brings cold dishes.)

Fan: Help yourselves to the cold dishes first, please.

Emily: Is this a typical Chinese banquet usually like?

Fan: Yes. A Chinese dinner usually starts with some cold dishes, which can be seafood, poultry, meat or vegetables. Then comes the shark's fin soup.2

Emily: That's interesting.

Fan: Following the shark's fin soup, there will be hot dishes. There might be chicken dish, a prawn, a duck. Then comes a clear soup, followed by a fish. When you see fish, you know that all the main dishes have been served and the dinner will finish up with staple food like rice, noodles or dumplings.

Steven: That's really a big feast.

Fan: Finally, there's some dim sum3 for dessert, then fresh fruit and a cup of hot tea to conclude the dinner.

Nancy: It sounds marvelous.

Fan: Here comes the roast duck. It's the specialty of Beijing Food. Would you like to have a taste?

Emily: It looks delicious. But how to eat it?

Nancy: Well, let me show you. Take a thin crepe, get a slice of duck and dip it in the sauce, a little bit of spring onion, then wrap them up and eat.

Emily: Hm... It's delicious.

Fan: Now, please help yourselves to whatever you like.

Words and expressions　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　

lightly fried prawns 软炸大虾

sweet and sour pork ribs 糖醋排骨

steamed mandarin fish 清蒸鳜鱼

clear chicken soup 清鸡汤

cold dish n. 凉菜

jelly fish n. 海蛰皮

sliced boiled chicken 白切鸡

braised fresh mushrooms 油焖鲜蘑

green French beans with ginger sauce 姜汁扁豆

banquet n. 宴会

poultry n. 家禽

staple food n. 主食

feast n. 筵席，宴会

dim sum n. 点心

dessert n. 餐后甜点

conclude v. 结束

specialty n. 特色菜

crepe n. 薄饼

dip v. 蘸

sauce n. 酱

spring onion n. 小葱



Relevant information

1. Well, if you don't mind, I'd prefer a glass of beer.

　　Americans are very direct people. At a dinner party or at someone's house they don't force themselves to eat or drink what they are offered. When they want something they say "yes" and when they don't they say "no." Furthermore, if they want something different from what is offered, they ask for it.

　　Suppose one arrives at someone's house and is offered beer. He doesn't want beer, so he will say: "No, thanks." If he wants something different, he will say: "No, thanks. But I'll take a bit of coffee (or tea or wine)."

2. Then comes the shark's fin soup.

　　Shark's fin soup is delicious, but it is not a must. People also have soup of other kinds.

3. dim sum

　　The following are some sorts of dim sum:

　　sweet mashed bean crisp cake 豆沙酥饼

　　steamed mashed bean dumpling 豆沙包子

　　meat gravy dumpling steamed in basket 小笼汤面饺

　　boiled sweet glutinous rice flour dumpling 甜汤圆

　　spring roll 春卷

　　steamed meat and stuffed rice open dumpling 鲜肉烧麦　　

Dialogue 3

An American Dinner

Emily: You've done so much for us. We should be pleased if you could have dinner with us.

Xiao: Please don't say that. I haven't done anything. As a matter of fact, you've taught me a lot about the English language and Western culture.

Emily: Anyway, we do hope you can have dinner with us.

Xiao: Well, that's very kind of you. I'd be glad to come.1

Emily: It would give us great pleasure to take you out to eat.2 You choose. Any kind of food you'd like.

Xiao: Do you mean "any kind of food"? How about some American food? But not too expensive.

Nancy: OK. We'll go to a nice little place where you can get some plain, old-fashioned American cooking.3

Xiao: Great! I'll be looking forward to it.

(In a restaurant, after the waitress has brought them menus)

Steven: What are we going to have?

Xiao: I have no idea.

Steven: You can order "à la carte" or "dinner".

Xiao: What does that mean?

Steven: "A la carte" means you order each dish separately and pay the price listed next to it on the menu. "Dinner" means for a set price you get your choice of soup or juice, one entrée with potato and vegetable, salad, bread and butter and sometimes coffee and sometimes even dessert. And you pay the price listed next to the entrée or main course.

Xiao: Oh, I see. Like the chicken dinner is 28 yuan.

Steven: Right.

Xiao: May I have roast beef dinner?

Steven: Sure.

Xiao: (To Waitress) A roast beef dinner.

Waitress: Juice or soup?

Xiao: What soup do you have?

Waitress: Today we have chicken noodle4, tomato5 and clam chowder.

Xiao: Chicken noodle sounds good.

Waitress: OK. What kind of dressing on your salad?

Xiao: What do you have?

Waitress: French, Russian, Italian cheese or oil and vinegar.

Xiao: Oil and vinegar will be fine.

Waitress: You want baked, mashed or French?

Xiao: What does that mean?

Waitress: It means baked potato, mashed potato or French fries.

Xiao: Mashed potato will be good.

Waitress: Peas, carrots or cauliflower?

Xiao: Cauliflower.

Waitress: Something to drink?

Xiao: A cup of tea, please.

Waitress: You want it now or after dinner?

Xiao: After dinner.

Waitress: (To Emily) What's yours?

Emily: I'll have...

Words and expressions

plain adj. 简单的，平常的

old-fashioned adj. 老式的

à la carte 按菜单点菜

set price n. 固定价格

entrée n. 主菜，正菜

roast beef n. 烤牛肉

clam n. 蛤

chowder n. 杂脍(一种用鲜鱼与咸肉,洋葱等煨成的食品)

dressing n. 调味品

vinegar n. 醋

bake v. 烤

mash v. 捣碎

mashed potato n. 土豆泥

French fries n. 炸薯条

cauliflower n. 菜花，花椰菜

Relevant information

1. Well, that's very kind of you. I'd be glad to come.

　　This is the right way to accept an invitation. You may also say:

Thank you. That would be very nice.

2. It would give us great pleasure to take you out to eat.

　　This means that the Johnsons will pay the bill.

　　In Western societies, it is polite to be clear about who is paying when agreeing on eating out; lack of clarity usually causes loss of face in this situation. If you've made an agreement to go out to eat with someone, you should be clear who's going to pay.

　　If you want to invite someone out for lunch you must also make yourself clear by saying, perhaps, "I'd like to take you to lunch tomorrow at Sunny Restaurant", or "Let's have lunch together tomorrow at Rock Coffee Shop. It's on me."

　　If someone suggests you have dinner with him/her you might simply say something like this: "I'm afraid it'll have to be some place inexpensive as I have very little money." The other person may say: "O.K., I'll meet you at Pizza Hut." This means that you "go Dutch" ---- each person pays for his own meal.

3. We'll go to a nice little place where you can get some plain, old-fashioned American cooking.

　　Nowadays it is possible to have exotic（异国情调的） foods in big cities in China.

4. chicken noodle

　　"Chicken noodle" here means chicken noodle soup.

5. tomato

　　"Tomato" here means tomato soup.
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