 |
| 烧烤，家常饭还是野餐 |
|
|
|
|
Barbecue, potluck or picnic?
A: Hi! I need a hand.
B: Oh, that's Ok. No problem!
A: You're the first one. Paul isn't usually early!
B: Well, he really thought we should get here before his boss arrives. Is Mr. Alexander here yet?
A: No, no, he said he'd be here around noon, and Paul says his boss is never late. Where is Paul?
C: Yes, where is he? He should have given you a hand with that.
B: He's getting the sodas from the car. There he is, see him?
D: It's a perfect day for a picnic, isn't it?
A: It sure is! There isn't a cloud in the sky, and the breeze is keeping it nice and cool.
R: And what are the differences between a barbecue, a potluck and a picnic? How would you answer that?
E: Well, actually, I think if you ask a hundred people you would have a hundred answers. Because for me, a picnic means you take a blanket and you put it on the ground, and you have a basket or some bags of food, and you put it on the food on the blanket and sit on the blanket and you eat it.
R: Yeah, outside, somewhere maybe you hike in the country or somewhere like that.
E: Yeah.
R: IT's funny. We have this discussion at my house because I like to go on a picnic like that. Maybe on my bile, or maybe with a backpack of food, but my husband likes to drive a car, full of the food, go up to a scenic stopping point, but eat at a table. He doesn't like that blanket part, he likes a picnic table.
R: So there are different forms of picnics, and last time you joined us, we had a barbecue, and that's a little different because you actually prepare the food there you're grilling on the barbecue of grill. Whereas, a lot of picnics you just bring cold sandwiches or cold food you prepare at home.
E: Actually, it's someting that has no definition. There is no definition for the word "picnic", but usually it means you are not eating at home. If you eat at home, inside the home, it's not a picnic ,but again, your children might say, "Oh, Mon, we want to have a pichic in our room." So they might take a blanket and put it on the floor and have a picnic in their room.
R: And what makes it a potluck? "Potluck" is a funny word, Elyn and I were just discussing it, we thought where do they come up with this? And our guess is from maybe native American culture or early American culture, where they cooked the food at pots and everyone brought the food together, and the lucky part is what?
E: The lucky part is when you open the pot and you discover "Oh, what did they bring?" The lucky part is:"Is it good to eat or not, do you have good luck or not?" Is it "haochi" or "buhaochi".
R: So that's where you get the expression "potluck", because everybody brings the food together and everybody helps. They help serve it, they help set it up, and they help clean it. I recently went to one at my children's school. And there were so many people, a thousand people that they ask people to bring certain foods. Everyone from alphabet letter "A" through "K" for one food; "K" through "M" brought another, and "M" through "Z" brought some other kinds of food. And when you got there, many tables of potluck dishes. And you look around and see if you were lucky, if there is anyting good.
E: And if you have a situation like that, everyone always says "Can you lend a hand?" or "We need helping hands."
E: And a hand in this case isn't really your hands, but it means a person. A hand is a helper, so it means "Can you lend me your hand?" "Can you give me your hand?"
R: You might even hear it used as a noun calling a person a hand, a farmhand is a helping person not the farmer who owns the farm, but the person who works for him is a hand.
.CCTV.
|
|
