节目资讯
刊物:空中英语教室
日期:2014-01-30
难易度:Low
关键字:legend, helmet, characteristic, damp, mild, mutton, tom yum
Hello again.
In today's lesson we are learning all about hot pot.
According to one legend, hot pot has very exciting origins in Mongolia.
It says that mutton was cooked in helmets before a battle and that this food
provided the strength for the ruler to lead his army into battle.
Then they were able to defeat their enemies.
Perhaps this isn't true, but one thing most people agree on is that hot pot
started in Mongolia and then spread south into China.
Well, let's learn about the way hot pot changed as it spread south in the next
part of our reading.
And then, of course, we'll join Michelle in the Language Lab.
(Music).
Everyone Likes Hot Pot.
The familiar flavors.
Sichuan's damp weather resulted in the use of chili oil in this area's hot pot.
It's commonly divided into a spicy red half and a mild white half there.
Coal hot pot in Beijing stands out with its "chimney" in the middle.
Northeastern China uses a sour soup, but other countries have made their own
versions.
Thai tom yum is used for soup, and Japan's shabu-shabu cooks in a saltier soup.
OK.
(Chinese).
And that's it.
Let's continue with our lesson.
Thank you, Michelle.
Hmm.
The flavors in this section are certainly familiar:
hot and spicy, chimney in the middle, a sour soup, Thai tom yum and Japanese
shabu-shabu.
I've tried most of them.
Gabe, have you tried any of the flavors mentioned in today's article?
Well, yes.
You know, I'm not exactly sure if I've tried that tom yum before.
But I have certainly tried the hot and spicy and of course Japanese shabu-shabu.
And I think that it all tastes really good.
I do enjoy eating hot pot. And I of course enjoy eating all kinds of flavors.
And me, too.
It's also very interesting the way that foods change as they move from place to
place to different areas.
People have different tastes, so the foods change to match what the people of
that area like.
And in the case of Sichuan, they added chili oil because the weather there is so
damp.
People there believe that spicy things like chili help to heat and dry the body.
So most of the food in Sichuan is very spicy.
And I've certainly had some Sichuan food before there in China.
And it certainly is very spicy but very delicious.
It is very spicy.
But you can try ordering some Sichuan food for yourself, and you can decide just
how spicy it is.
Fortunately, if you're like me and can't handle hot pot that is super spicy,
Sichuan hot pot is usually divided into two halves.
One half is spicy and red; the other half is milder and white.
Carolyn, what would you do if you were to eat Sichuan hot pot?
I think I would cook most of my food in the milder half, Gabe, so that I don't
burn my mouth.
Uh, what about you?
Hmm, me?
Well, I think I would try a little bit of both.
I do enjoy many different flavors.
But if I had a lot of the spicy half, I would try to follow it with some nice,
cool (Chinese) or something like that.
Good idea, Gabe.
The tea can help cool your mouth down after all that spicy food and maybe help
your taste buds regain a little feeling so that you can continue to enjoy eating
your meal.
Now there are other hot pots, of course.
We learn that the Beijing hot pot stands out because it has a chimney in the
middle.
It stands out because it has a chimney in the middle.
I like that.
That makes it stand out. Do you get it?
Ah, yes, very special, very special.
OK. This is because instead of placing a fire under the pot, well, actually
there are coals inside the chimney that heat the water in the pot.
Ah, that is a very interesting way to keep the hot pot hot.
And you know, there are two people who always have something interesting to
share with us as well.
Hmm, two people?
I wonder who they might be.
Let's see what Steve and Ken have to share with us in the Information Cloud
today.
The words Sichuan and Beijing are transcriptions of Chinese characters into the
Roman alphabet called pinyin.
Pinyin was developed in the 1950s as a way to spell Chinese names in foreign
publications,
to teach children standard Chinese pronunciation and to improve overall literacy
among Chinese people.
But pinyin isn't the only Chinese phonetic system that exists.
Nor is it the first.
For that, we go back 400 years to a book written by a Jesuit missionary who
lived in Beijing named Mateo Ricci.
In his book we find the very first example of Roman letters used to spell
Chinese words.
Since that time, many romanization systems have been created.
One, the Wade-Giles system, which was developed in the 19th century, was, for
years, THE system used by the English-speaking world.
We still find remnants of Wade-Giles in certain Chinese words like Taipei,
spelled T-A-I-P-E-I.
Today, however, the romanization system favored most is pinyin.
It's been officially adopted by the UN, the U.S. Library of Congress and many
other institutions around the world.
I and thousands of foreigners like me are really, really thankful for pinyin.
It makes learning Chinese a whole lot easier.
(Chinese).
Thanks, guys.
Pinyin is certainly an interesting writing system.
It's true.
I can read and use pinyin now even though I first learned with (Chinese), but I
still enjoy using pinyin.
And I'm glad that signs are changing to match pinyin all over the place.
Well, going back to the article, we see that not only is there spicy soup in
Sichuan, but in northeastern China, they use kind of a... a sour soup.
Well, that sounds delicious as well.
And I could probably eat a little bit more of it if it's not too spicy.
Now another style is Thai tom yum, which is a combination of sour and spicy
flavors.
Hmm. Thai tom yum sounds yum yum.
It sounds very delicious and it's quite popular during the winter.
The most popular flavor of tom yum is seafood, especially shrimp.
I've noticed that a lot of Thai food has shrimp or some kind of fish in it.
Now another tasty hot pot style is called shabu-shabu.
This was actually the first type of hot pot I ever had.
Oh. Did you have it while you were in Japan, Carolyn?
Yes, I did.
I ate it with my host family when we went on a trip to the mountains.
It was colder up there even though it was summer.
And the shabu-shabu was delicious.
And as we learn in the article, shabu-shabu is a little bit saltier than some of
the other hot pot flavors.
Well, it can be, but it really depends on what you put in it.
When I ate it, it was homemade, so my host family had lots of vegetables that we
used to flavor the water before cooking the meat.
It was so much fun and delicious.
Well, do you know what I think makes shabu-shabu or hot pot delicious?
It's the sauce.
The (Chinese).
I'm not sure what it's called in English, but I love that sauce.
And I get a lot of it every time I go to hot pot.
It certainly is a joy eating hot pot.
Well, now it's time for us to enjoy a summary from our editor Linda.
So let's do that now.
Did you know that most people believe that hot pot began in Mongolia and spread
throughout China from there?
From Sichuan's spicy hot pot to Beijing's chimney hot pot to northeastern China
sour soup, every region has its specialty.
But it is still hot pot.
Today has been a really great lesson on the history of hot pot and some of the
common flavors you can enjoy.
Uh, Gabe, what's your favorite kind of hot pot?
My favorite kind?
You know, really, Carolyn, I love all kinds of hot pot.
And like I said before, the sauce really makes a difference.
So any kind of hot pot is great as long as I have my (Chinese).
Ah, so you need your satay sauce. I see.
Well, what about you, Carolyn?
What's your favorite?
Well, I think my favorite is shabu-shabu.
I really like the light flavor of the soup, and I have some really wonderful
memories from the first time I ate it.
Hmm, interesting.
Sometimes great memories are associated with a certain kind of food or food is
associated with certain memories.
Who were you eating that first hot pot with, Carolyn?
Well, it was my host family in Japan, so it was my host father and mother and my
two host sisters.
I don't think the grandmother went with us on that trip.
Interesting. Well, that is cool.
Sounds like a great memory.
Friends, what about you?
What kind of hot pot do you like?
Remember to come back tomorrow for more about hot pot here at Studio Classroom.
See you then.