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South Korean women shun traditional kimchi 南韓女性不醃泡菜了

Another time-hallowed tradition is dying out in South Korea with 65 percent of women confessing they do not know how to make kimchi, according to a survey.

The famed national dish made of fermented and spiced vegetables even has a museum devoted to it. And there are plans to send it into space along with the nation's first astronaut next April.

But the survey of 7,138 women by online shopping site Auction found that 65 percent cannot make it, the Korea Times reported. Of those who can make their own kimchi, 63 percent did not because of high vegetable prices.

"It is pretty surprising considering how important this staple food is to Koreans, but the survey demonstrates the latest trend," marketing strategist Kim Jong-Yong told the paper.

Kim, who works for the leading packaged kimchi maker, said housewives are turning to the ready-made product partly because of high vegetable prices.

Experts quoted by the paper said the advent of kimchi refrigerators is another reason women favor the mass-produced item.

The dish was traditionally prepared at home, then stored in jars in the ground during the winter months.

"Since people are getting used to conveniently storing kimchi instead of digging up the ground, they're wanting to go convenient all the way," said a spokesman for the fridge manufacturer. (afp)

又有一項由來已久的習俗正在漸漸失傳。根據一項研究顯示，韓國有百分之六十五的女性承認不知如何醃製泡菜。

這道出名的傳統菜餚，是在蔬菜中加入香料後發酵而成的。韓國人甚至成立了泡菜博物館專門推廣泡菜。目前韓國也正在研究明年四月，要如何將泡菜和韓國首位太空人一起送上外太空。

《韓國時報》報導，一項透過線上購物網「Auction」的調查，抽樣七千一百三十八位韓國女性，研究結果卻發現其中有六成五的女性不會做泡菜。會做的女性中，也有六成三的人表示她們之所以不自己動手做，是因為菜價太高了。

「泡菜一向是韓國最出名的主食，因此這份調查的結果尤其令人感到意外，」市場分析師金忠勇（音譯）受訪時表示。

金忠勇任職於韓國最大的包裝泡菜公司，他表示現今的家庭主婦大多用部份現成的食品來因應高菜價。

這則報導中引述專家看法，認為泡菜儲藏冷藏庫的出現，是婦女轉而購買市面上大量製造的販售泡菜的另一項原因。

傳統上，韓國人在冬天在家自己醃製泡菜，然後裝在瓶中，埋在地下保存。

「因為人們已經逐漸習慣了市面販售的便利泡菜，就不在家裡挖洞儲存泡菜了。人們總是會選擇比較方便的生活方式，」一個冰箱製造廠發言人表示。

（法新社／翻譯：袁星塵

TODAY'S WORDS 今日單字 1. kimchi n. 泡菜 (pao4 cai4) 例: I love eating my grandma's kimchi. (我超愛吃我奶奶自己醃的泡菜。) 2. fermented adj. 發酵的 (fa1 xiao4 de5) 例: I often have fermented tofu with my morning congee. (我早餐常吃稀飯配豆腐乳。) 3. ready-made adj. 現成的 (xian4 cheng2 de5) 例: Ready-made meals are convienent, but not always so healthy. (現成餐包非常方便，可是常吃並不太健康。) 4. mass-produced adj. 大量生產的 (da4 liang4 sheng1 chan3 de5) 例: This painting is nothing but a mass-produced rip-off! (這幅畫作只是一個大量複製的贗品罷了。)

SAY WHAT? 說說看 time hallowed　由來已久的 If something is time hallowed it means that it is a long running respected tradition. Another way of expressing this is time honored. Hallowed means that something is venerated or sacred. Halloween is derived from the expression "All Hallow's Eve." Eve refers to the day before, like Christmas Eve. All Hallows is an old-fashioned way of saying All Saints. All Saints, or All Hallows Day (a Christian festival) falls on the first of November, hence All Hallows Eve, or Halloween falls on Oct. 31. 如果說某事物是「time hallowed」，就表示這是一個由來已久的寶貴習俗。「time honored」也代表一樣的意思。 「Hallowed」表示某事相當得尊重、神聖的。事實上，「Halloween」這個單字就是源自「All Hallow's Eve」這個說法，Eve表示重要節慶的前一晚，例如Christmas Eve表示聖誕節前的平安夜。以前人們習慣用All Hallows表示所有的聖者，現在我們通常說All Saints。萬聖日(All Saint's Day或All Hallows' Day）是一個基督教的節慶，訂在每年十一月一日。 所以我們現在習慣過的十月三十一日其實是萬聖夜。

OUT LOUD 對話練習 Claire: My goodness! Many women in South Korea don't know how to make their own national dish. What a shame! Ian: You are joking, right? Claire: No, it's sad that traditions like that die out. Ian: Well, when was the last time that you made clam chowder? Cajun chicken? Or even home-fries? Claire: It's hardly the same is it? Ian: I think it is, it's just a reflection of modern life and women's changing role in society. 克萊兒：天哪！竟然有很多韓國女人不知道怎麼醃製韓國最出名的泡菜，真是丟臉！ 伊安：你在開玩笑吧！ 克萊兒：真的啊，像這種這麼優良的傳統要失傳了真是讓人失落。 伊安：那妳上次做巧達湯、紐奧良炸雞，或自己炸薯條又是什麼時候呢？ 克萊兒：這根本不一樣啊，不是嗎？ 伊安：我不這麼認為，我覺得這種現象只是現代生活中女性角色的轉換下的結果。 my goodness　天哪 My goodness is a mild exclamation of surprise, shock or awe. A similar expression is goodness me! 「My goodness」是一種較溫和的表示驚訝、震驚或敬畏的說法。要表示這種意思，你也可以說「goodness me」！

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