听播客学英语 120 Rhubarb

 　　In this podcast, we are going to meet some words about food – some very English sorts of food. Look out for these words – rhubarb, pie, crumble¹, chutney, custard.

　　A lot of people who visit England think that English food is very strange. A lot of English people think this too. My children, for example, seem to eat nothing but pizza and pasta. And the most popular restaurants in England are often Italian or Indian or Thai – they are generally not English.

　　However, some traditional English food is very good. We keep it secret, however, because we don’t want the whole world to find out. One of our secrets is rhubarb. You can see a picture of a rhubarb plant on the website, and on your iPod screens. It has red stems² and big leaves. The stems are the bit which we eat; the leaves are actually poisonous. Because the stems are very bitter, we chop³ then into pieces and cook the pieces very slowly with lots of sugar. We then use the cooked rhubarb to make pies, or crumbles⁴, or we eat the rhubarb with custard. We also make rhubarb jam, and rhubarb chutney. There are lots of rhubarb recipes on the BBC website. Try some of them if you want to experience some uniquely English cooking.

　　I need to warn you, however, that the taste of rhubarb is something which you either love or hate. And rhubarb is said to be a laxative – that means, it makes you want to go to the toilet, so be careful how much rhubarb you eat!

　　In the 19th century, a gardener left an old chimney⁵-pot on top of one of his rhubarb plants. The rhubarb grew up through the chimney pot, looking for the light. The stems were pale pink in colour, instead of bright red. And the rhubarb which had grown in the dark had a beautiful delicate⁶ taste. This method of growing rhubarb in the dark is called “forcing”, and we can talk about “forced rhubarb”. We can buy forced rhubarb in January and February, when there are not many home-grown fruit or vegetables in the shops. Most of the forced rhubarb comes from Yorkshire in the north of England. The rhubarb grows in big sheds⁸, in the dark. The growers pick the rhubarb by hand, using candles instead of electric lights because the sheds must be kept as dark as possible. People say that if you stand in a rhubarb shed⁷, and listen carefully, you can hear the rhubarb growing.

　　At one time, there were over 200 rhubarb growers in Yorkshire. Special trains used to take the picked rhubarb to London and other big cities. But today there are only about 12 traditional rhubarb growers left. Why? Public taste has changed, and rhubarb has a very old-fashioned⁹ image. People remember the wonderful rhubarb crumble that their grandmothers used to make. But they prefer to buy imported strawberries or other fruit instead. This is very sad. So I have made this podcast hoping that it will help to revive¹⁰ interest in rhubarb. Next time you are in England, eat some rhubarb, if you dare!

1 crumble   

vi.碎裂，崩溃；vt.弄碎，摧毁

参考例句：

• Opposition more or less crumbled away.反对势力差不多都瓦解了。
• Even if the seas go dry and rocks crumble,my will will remain firm.纵然海枯石烂，意志永不动摇。

2 stems   

n.（花草的）茎( stem的名词复数 )；词干；（高脚酒杯的）脚；烟斗柄v.遏制[阻止]（液体的流动等）( stem的第三人称单数 )；封堵；遏止

参考例句：

• The present wave of strikes stems from discontent among the lower-paid. 当前的罢工浪潮起因于低工资雇员们的不满情绪。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Her interest in flowers stems from her childhood in the country. 她对花卉的兴趣产生于她在乡下度过的童年时代。 来自《简明英汉词典》

3 chop   

n.厚肉片，排骨，砍，交换，戳记，商标；vt.剁碎，砍，切，割断；vi.砍，突然转向

参考例句：

• He struck off the branch with a single chop of the ax.他一斧子就砍掉了那根树枝。
• She cut down the seedling with one chop.她一刀就把小苗砍倒了。

4 crumbles   

酥皮水果甜点( crumble的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• This cake crumbles too easily. 这种蛋糕太容易碎了。
• This bread crumbles ever so easily. 这种面包非常容易碎。

5 chimney   

n.烟囱，烟筒；玻璃罩

参考例句：

• The chimney blew out a cloud of black smoke.烟囱里喷出一团黑烟。
• His father is a chimney sweeper.他的父亲是一位扫烟囱的工人。

6 delicate   

adj.巧妙的，敏感的；易损的，娇嫩的

参考例句：

• Be careful with those wine cups — they are very delicate.当心那些酒杯—它们很容易碎。
• The delicate handicraft works will not bear rough handling.精致的手工艺品经不起粗鲁的摆弄。

7 shed   

n.车棚，小屋，脱落之物，分水岭；vt.使流出，放射，脱落，散发，摆脱；vi. 流出

参考例句：

• There are a lot of straws in the shed.棚子里有许多稻草。
• His nose told him that he was getting near the cow shed.他的嗅觉告诉他，他正走近牛棚。

8 sheds   

n.棚，库( shed的名词复数 )v.流出( shed的第三人称单数 )；流下；蜕皮；树叶脱落

参考例句：

• The firemen pulled down some nearby sheds to stop the fire spreading. 消防队员们把附近的一些棚子拉倒，不让火势蔓延。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The present sheds a backward light on the world's previous processes. 现在给我们以启迪，使我们了解过去世界的种种进程。 来自哲学部分

9 old-fashioned   

adj.旧式的，保守的，挑剔的

参考例句：

• Why do you still dress in an old-fashioned mode?你为什么还穿款式陈旧的衣服？
• Here is an old-fashioned pump for drawing water from a well.这里有一个旧式水泵可从井里抽水。

10 revive   

v.（使）复苏，（使）重振活力，恢复生机，复兴

参考例句：

• These flowers will revive in water.这些花在水中会再活。
• They managed to revive the injured driver with cardiac massage.他们通过心脏按压使受伤的司机苏醒了过来。