【趣谈英语】一些意大利面的种类-“Spaghetti” Means Little Strings（在线收听）

 Pre-Listening Vocabulary

• pasta: a staple Italian dish, shapes made from flour, water, and sometimes egg
• retain: to keep
• translation: the process of changing a word into a different language
• reed: a tall thin grass that grows in a marshy area
• spiral: a twisted shape
• figure out: to investigate and come up with an answer
• turn off: to cause someone to dislike a thing or person

“Spaghetti” Means Little Strings

There are hundreds of kinds of pasta. Some of the well-known types of pasta, such as “spaghetti” and “cannelloni”, have retained their Italian names and are used in English-speaking countries. The translation of these words into English is “little strings” and “large reeds”. Other types of pasta have English names, such as “bow tie pasta” (farfalle) and “elbow macaroni” (maccheroni). You can actually learn a lot of language by studying the names of pasta. For example, tortelleni means “little pies”, while linguine means “little tongues”. “Gemelli” is an S-shaped pasta twisted up to form a spiral. The Italian word for this pasta translates to “twins” in English. Next time you order “vermicelli”, inspect the shape to see if you can figure out what this word translates to in English. Don’t be surprised if it turns you off your dinner.