第七部份：Dialogues /monologues:

　　1、 Cooking at table side has always been part of traditional haute cuisine, or art of cooking.

　　注意的詞語(yǔ)：art of cooking:烹飪術(shù)，例：art of defense: 武術(shù)。

　　2、 I’m a very cook.

　　翻譯為：我是一個(gè)絕對(duì)的廚師。

　　3、 Stir the mixture until it leaves sides of the bowl.

　　翻譯為：與碗邊脫離，即不沾碗邊。引申義：就是要求充分?jǐn)噭?

　　4、 Roll the crust mixture into a round shape.

　　注意的詞語(yǔ)：roll into: 卷成, 使合為一體。

　　翻譯為：將外面的蛋糕皮混合物卷成一團(tuán)。

　　5、 Yes, the apple pie is ready to serve.

　　注意的詞語(yǔ)：be ready to: 預(yù)備, 即將

　　翻譯為：是的，蘋果派可以預(yù)備用了。

　　練習(xí):

　　What should be more French than an outdoor market on a sunny Sunday morning? The air is filled with vital fragrances from the fruits and vegetables piled high in the greengrocers’ creative layouts. A trace of the Atlantic blows off the shellfish on the fishmonger’s bed of ice.

　　This, you think, is the very essence of France, until read those little signs that tell you the tomatoes (which are really pretty tasteless) come from Moroccan hothouses, the grapes from South Africa, and the kiwis from Chile.

　　For generations, the French have prided themselves on their distinctiveness. Nothing has stood for France’s sense of exceptionalism more famously than its cooking. Gallic talent, taste and techniques have been exported all over the world. And therein lies part of the problem. From the Thames to Tokyo, non-French cooks have cracked the codes of the best French cuisine. Meanwhile, what was mediocre elsewhere has been imported. (Believe it or not, one restaurant associate with a famous Paris chef serves steak with a sauce that’s indistinguishable from the stuff on a Big Mac.) The result: many tourists—as well as the French themselves—no longer see what’s so special about French cooking.

　　The decline goes well beyond recent surveys that show growing complaints about mediocre quality and high prices. More and more restaurants-owners say that government tax and economic policies are limiting their profits, and thereby hurting their capacity to invest and hire more staff. They have got stuck in the red tape for which France is infamous—not to mention regulations from Brussels that affect everything from sales taxes to the bacteria in the Brie cheese. Many warn that expanding the European Union to the east will hurt small French farmers, who remain the backbone of traditional cuisine—and, hence French identity: Unfortunately for the French, there are few reassuring answers to these questions.

　　France’s problem isn’t the lack of creativity, but rather an unfavorable political environmentfor creativity. If you’re choked by bureaucracy and taxes, as so much of France is, “there is not much you can do,” says Raymond Blanc, born in the Jura region of France and chef of the two-star hotel-restaurant Manoir aux Quat’saisons. “I can open a business in England in five days. In France it would take three months.” The manoir aux Quat’saisons, by the way, is in Oxford, Britain, France’s ancient rival. And, when it comes to cooking, a future one as well.

　　參考譯文:

　　還有什么比晴朗的周日上午的露天市場(chǎng)更具法國(guó)風(fēng)情呢?空氣中滿是水果和蔬菜的香味，這些水果和蔬菜被商販們擺放得極具創(chuàng)意。魚販子們冰床上的新產(chǎn)品還帶著大西洋的痕跡。

　　你可能會(huì)認(rèn)為這就是法國(guó)的精髓所在，直到你看到那些小標(biāo)簽上標(biāo)明西紅柿(真的很難吃)是摩洛哥的溫室里培養(yǎng)出來(lái)的，葡萄是從南非出產(chǎn)的，而獼猴桃的產(chǎn)地則是智利。

　　對(duì)于幾代法國(guó)人來(lái)說(shuō)，他們都為自己的獨(dú)特而感到驕傲。沒(méi)有什么比烹飪更能代表法國(guó)的優(yōu)越性。法國(guó)人的烹飪天賦、品味以及技術(shù)已經(jīng)遍及世界各地，但是卻存在著問(wèn)題。從泰晤士到東京，非法國(guó)本土廚師已經(jīng)破解出了最高水平法式烹飪的秘訣。與此同時(shí)，其他地方平庸的烹飪技藝被引入法國(guó)。(信不信由你，一家號(hào)稱有巴黎名廚的餐館做牛排用的醬料與做巨無(wú)霸所用的醬料別無(wú)兩樣。)其結(jié)果是：許多游客——連同法國(guó)人自己——根本就看不出法國(guó)烹飪到底有什么特別。

　　這種衰落與最近一項(xiàng)調(diào)查吻合。這項(xiàng)調(diào)查顯示人們對(duì)法式烹飪的平庸及高價(jià)的抱怨在不斷增加。越來(lái)越多的餐館老板聲稱政府的稅收和經(jīng)濟(jì)政策使他們的利潤(rùn)減少，因而削弱了他們進(jìn)一步投資或者雇用更多員工的能力。他們陷入繁文縟節(jié)使得法國(guó)聲名狼籍——更不用提布魯塞爾的那些條條框框，從銷售稅到布里干酪里的細(xì)菌含量，這些條條框框的影響遠(yuǎn)處不在。許多人警告說(shuō)，歐盟東擴(kuò)會(huì)損害法國(guó)小農(nóng)場(chǎng)主的利益，而這些人是法國(guó)傳統(tǒng)烹飪的支柱——因此出現(xiàn)了法國(guó)的身份問(wèn)題。讓法國(guó)人感到不幸的是，對(duì)于這些問(wèn)題，至今沒(méi)有找到讓人放心的解決辦法。

　　法國(guó)的問(wèn)題并不在于缺少創(chuàng)造性，而是政治環(huán)境不利于創(chuàng)造性的發(fā)展。如果官僚作風(fēng)和稅收壓得你透不過(guò)氣來(lái)，就像法國(guó)一樣，“你根本就沒(méi)辦法有所作為�！比鹈傻�.布朗說(shuō)道，他出生在法國(guó)的釹拉地區(qū)，現(xiàn)在是一家叫做四季莊園的二星級(jí)賓館的主廚�！霸�英國(guó)，我能在五天之內(nèi)開(kāi)店，而在法國(guó)則要花上三個(gè)月時(shí)間。”順便說(shuō)一句，四季莊園開(kāi)在英國(guó)的牛津，法國(guó)的老對(duì)手那里。在烹飪方面，英國(guó)在未來(lái)仍將是法國(guó)的競(jìng)爭(zhēng)對(duì)手。