【英语趣味课堂】新加坡的饮食-Diet in Singapore

Clare: Hello this is Clare from the United States, I am talking with Mike from Singapore about obesity¹ and diet in our countries. America is famous for well infamous² for being one of the fattest countries in the world. Mike you said that in Singapore diet is something of an issue as well, can you please explain?

Mike: Right, well we have all the usual burger joints³, Pizza Place, all the fast food basically in Singapore are also and because a lot of us are busy working so naturally this food actually seem like a good idea because it saves us a lot of time and if you're working in a city like Singapore, during lunchtime, you don't have time to basically queue with everybody for food and stuff ... so, fast food are actually good alternative to get your lunch. And on top of that, we have what we call, in Chinese we call it "kopitian". What it means is "coffee shop" in English and these coffee shops they don't serve, they serve coffee also but a lot of it is actually local delicacies⁴, and Singaporean food are famous for being delicious but very, very high in cholesterol⁵.

 

Clare: Well can you give me an example of a dish?

 

Mike: OK, one of the famous dish is actually originated from I think Malaysia or Indonesia. It's called "Nasi Lemak". Nasi Lemak is Malay for "rice". What this food ... what Nasi Lemak is actually it consists of fish, which is fried fish and fried egg with coconut⁶ rice and ...

 

Clare: What is coconut rice? I've never heard of that.

 

Mike: Coconut rice is actually normal rice cooked with, I think, coconut milk, if I'm not wrong and so rice gives off a very, very nice fragrance⁷ and we just call it coconut rice. And this coconut rice is, as you can imagine, very very high in cholesterol and ...

 

Clare: Right, and sugar too

 

Mike: Right. So Nasi Lemak is one fine example. Another example is probably "char⁸ kway teow". Char Kway Teow is actually a Tawainese word for fried noodles. So this char kway teow is basically Chinese rice noodles with some fish cakes and with a lot of chilly⁹ and bean sprouts¹⁰ and they use a lot of ... I think it's black sauce, Chinese black sauce. Actually I'm not really sure what's the American equivalent. So, just like Nasi Lemat previously¹¹, this char kway teow is also very, very high in ...

 

Clare: In cholesterol.

 

Mike: Right.

 

Clare: Although it sounds really, really good. I ate before coming here but I'm hungry again!

 

Mike: And I think most of the delicious food are high in cholesterol.

 

Clare: Because frying makes everything taste better.

1 obesity   

n.肥胖，肥大

参考例句：

• One effect of overeating may be obesity.吃得过多能导致肥胖。
• Sugar and fat can more easily lead to obesity than some other foods.糖和脂肪比其他食物更容易导致肥胖。

2 infamous   

adj.声名狼藉的，臭名昭著的，邪恶的

参考例句：

• He was infamous for his anti-feminist attitudes.他因反对女性主义而声名狼藉。
• I was shocked by her infamous behaviour.她的无耻行径令我震惊。

3 joints   

接头( joint的名词复数 )； 关节； 公共场所（尤指价格低廉的饮食和娱乐场所） （非正式）； 一块烤肉 （英式英语）

参考例句：

• Expansion joints of various kinds are fitted on gas mains. 各种各样的伸缩接头被安装在煤气的总管道上了。
• Expansion joints of various kinds are fitted on steam pipes. 各种各样的伸缩接头被安装在蒸气管道上了。

4 delicacies   

n.棘手( delicacy的名词复数 )；精致；精美的食物；周到

参考例句：

• Its flesh has exceptional delicacies. 它的肉异常鲜美。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
• After these delicacies, the trappers were ready for their feast. 在享用了这些美食之后，狩猎者开始其大餐。 来自英汉非文学 - 民俗

5 cholesterol   

n.（U）胆固醇

参考例句：

• There is cholesterol in the cell of body.人体细胞里有胆固醇。
• They are determining the serum-protein and cholesterol levels.他们正在测定血清蛋白和胆固醇的浓度。

6 coconut   

n.椰子

参考例句：

• The husk of this coconut is particularly strong.椰子的外壳很明显非常坚固。
• The falling coconut gave him a terrific bang on the head.那只掉下的椰子砰地击中他的脑袋。

7 fragrance   

n.芬芳，香味，香气

参考例句：

• The apple blossoms filled the air with their fragrance.苹果花使空气充满香味。
• The fragrance of lavender filled the room.房间里充满了薰衣草的香味。

8 char   

v.烧焦；使...燃烧成焦炭

参考例句：

• Without a drenching rain,the forest fire will char everything.如果没有一场透地雨，森林大火将烧尽一切。
• The immediate batch will require deodorization to char the protein material to facilitate removal in bleaching.脱臭烧焦的蛋白质原料易在脱色中去除。

9 chilly   

adj.凉快的，寒冷的

参考例句：

• I feel chilly without a coat.我由于没有穿大衣而感到凉飕飕的。
• I grew chilly when the fire went out.炉火熄灭后，寒气逼人。

10 sprouts   

n.新芽，嫩枝( sprout的名词复数 )v.发芽( sprout的第三人称单数 )；抽芽；出现；（使）涌现出

参考例句：

• The wheat sprouts grew perceptibly after the rain. 下了一场雨，麦苗立刻见长。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
• The sprouts have pushed up the earth. 嫩芽把土顶起来了。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

11 previously   

adv.以前，先前（地）

参考例句：

• The bicycle tyre blew out at a previously damaged point.自行车胎在以前损坏过的地方又爆开了。
• Let me digress for a moment and explain what had happened previously.让我岔开一会儿，解释原先发生了什么。