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Tasty treats 美味的餐點
AFP
Wednesday, Jul 25, 2007,Page 15
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A man displays captured mice in Yueyang, Hunan Province, China, July 10, 2007. 一名男子七月十日於湖南省岳陽市展示他所捕捉的田鼠。
PHOTO: AP
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Rats are back on the menu in southern China after traders capitalized on an outbreak of the rodents in neighboring Hunan Province, according to various state press reports.
According to a July 14 report in the Information Times from Guangzhou, trucks full of rats were seen arriving late at night and being sold to a wild animal market in the city district of Baiyun.
During the SARS epidemic, which began in southern China in 2003, authorities banned the sale of many wild animals including rats amid fear that the deadly disease could be contracted from contaminated meat.
Although the scientific community is not in agreement over whether certain animals can spread the disease, vendors in China are no longer allowed to sell wild animals.
Officials in Hunan - where floods have sparked a plague of two billion rats after water submerged their holes - denied the newspaper's undercover report.
One official quoted by the Beijing Times on July 15 dismissed the report, saying it was far too difficult to catch rats alive, while their relatively small size meant there was little meat on the bone.
But rats can make people's mouths water in southern China, and some believe that their flesh is more nutritious than pork or chicken.
A rat was fetching between 40 to 50 yuan (NT$174 to NT$217), and reports said they could be found in Guangdong's cities of Fanyu, Zhaoqing, Dongguan and Nanhai.
Earlier this year China's media also reported that civet cats were routinely finding their way back onto Guangdong dinner tables.
中國各家國營報導指出，商人利用湖南省爆發鼠患的機會，使得田鼠又出現在華南地區的菜單上。
廣州市《信息時報》七月十四日的報導，有人目睹滿載田鼠的卡車於深夜抵達，將田鼠賣到白雲區的野生動物市場。
二○○三年華南地區爆發SARS疫情時，政府官員擔心受污染的肉類會散播致命的疾病，因此禁止販賣包括田鼠等多種野生動物。
雖然科學界對哪些動物會散播疾病還沒有共識，中國小販都不准再販賣野生動物了。
湖南省因洪水淹沒鼠穴，引爆了二十億隻田鼠的鼠患，該省的官員們卻否認了上述報紙報導。
《京華時報》七月十五日引述一位官員駁斥上述報導的說法，說要活捉田鼠非常困難，而且牠們體形小，骨頭上沒什麼肉。
但田鼠還是令華南地區的居民口水直流，有人認為牠們比豬肉或雞肉更營養。
一隻田鼠要價四十至五十人民幣（合台幣一百七十四至兩百一十七元），報導說廣東省的番禺、肇慶、東莞、南海等城市都找得到。
今年稍早，中國媒體還報導麝香貓也常重回廣東居民的晚餐。
（法新社/翻譯︰張愛弟）
| TODAY'S WORDS 今日單字 |
1. outbreak n.
爆發 ( bao4 fa1)
例: Locust outbreaks can cause a lot of damage.
(蝗蟲爆發危害眾多。)
2. epidemic n.
流行病 (liu2 xing2 bing4)
例: The AIDS epidemic is devasting many countries.
(許多國家面臨愛滋病浩劫。)
3. contaminated adj.
受污染的 (shou4 wu1 ran3 de5)
例: That restaurant was closed down for serving contaminated food.
(那家餐廳因供應受污染的食物而關門大吉。)
4. plague n.
鼠疫 (shu3 yi4)
例: Rats have been known to spread plagues.
(老鼠會散播鼠疫。)
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| SAY WHAT? 說說看 |
make one's mouth water 令人口水直流
Something can make one's mouth water if it looks very tasty. The phrase is usually used to describe food, but it could be used to describe any object of one's desire, even a person.
An adjectival phrase that could be used to describe the object that makes one's mouth water is mouth-watering. For example, "Mama baked a mouth-watering cherry pie."
「make one's mouth water」即指某樣東西看起來很好吃。這個片語通常用來形容食物，但也可以用來形容人們渴望的事物，甚至形容一個人。
形容某樣東西令人口水直流的形容詞片語為「mouth-watering」。例如：「老媽烤了個令人口水直流的櫻桃派」。
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| OUT LOUD 對話練習 |
Lee: Did you hear about the rat plague in China?
Lily: Yeah, I also saw that many officials in Hunan deny that rats are being sold.
Lee: Those officials are just trying to avoid punishment for not enforcing the country's laws well enough.
Lily: I think you hit the nail on the head there.
Lee: I'm not against people eating rats, but why deny it?
李︰你聽說中國鼠患的事嗎？
莉莉︰是啊，我還知道湖南省的許多官員否認有買賣老鼠一事。
李︰那些官員只想避免因執法不力而受到懲處。
莉莉︰我想你真是說對了。
李︰我不反對人們吃老鼠，但不明白他們為什麼要否認事實呢？
hit the nail on the head 說對了，一針見血
To hit the nail on the head means to say something precisely right. For example, "Clarisse really hit the nail on the head when she said that the accident happened because of faulty driving, not faulty brakes."
「hit the nail on the head」意指某件事說得一針見血。例如︰「克蕾莉絲說意外起因是不當駕駛而非煞車失靈，她真的說對了」。 |
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