Eating is always something that the Chinese look forward to and so cooking family meals is seen as a worthwhile activity. For women, however, it is also a time-consuming chore requiring them to spend up to three or four hours a day in the kitchen. One rule about family meals is that they should always be frugal.
对于中国人来说，吃饭是一件值得期待的事情，随之，烹饪也成为每一个中国家庭生活中必不可少的一部分。然而对女人们来说，这也是一项很花时间的家务。因为这导致她们每天需要在厨房中度过三到四小时。中国家庭首要用餐原则是节俭。
A Chinese meal consists of two parts: the fan (rice) and cai (accompanying meat or vegetable dishes). Of the two, the fan part is more important, for a meal is not thought to be a meal if there is no rice. The cai is there merely to flavour the rice.
一顿中餐包括两部分：饭和菜。而这两者之中饭更为重要，若没有米饭的话则不能称为饭。菜通常是为饭增添滋味的。
（小编吐槽：“fan”和“cai”。真乃神翻译！）
Midday and evening meals are much the same, although a family is more likely to be able to eat together in the evening. Ideally a family meal should consist of the fan, three or four cai dishes and one or two soups. To give variety and balance to the meal, the cai should include a dish containing meat (pork or poultry), a dish with fish or seafood and a fresh vegetable dish. Many rural families cannot afford such variety except on special occasions and they rely on cheaper cai such as salted fish, bean curd or pickled vegetables. Many families eat meat less than once a week.
午餐和晚餐差不多，尽管每个家庭通常只能在晚上聚在一起吃饭。一顿理想的中餐应该包含米饭，三、四样菜和一两份汤。为了使饭的样式更丰富、营养更均衡，菜通常是由一份肉（猪肉或禽类），一份鱼或海鲜和一份蔬菜组成。许多农村家庭只能在一些专门的地方买到这些菜，因而他们只能吃一些便宜的菜如咸鱼、豆腐乳或酱菜。许多家庭一周都吃不到一次肉。
Each diner has a pair of chopsticks, a bowl, a flat-bottomed spoon (for soup), and perhaps, a saucer. Rice is served from the common pot to each person"s bowl - it is very difficult to eat rice from a plate using chopsticks. The cai dishes and the soups are placed together at the centre of the table within everyone"s reach. There is no main course and no dessert. Soup is taken almost as a beverage. Since the cai have already been cut into bite-sized pieces, knives are not needed, indeed, it seems wrong to see a knife on the meal table.
每位用餐者都有一双筷子，一个碗，一只平底勺（用来喝汤）或者再加一个茶托。饭会先盛在一个公用的锅里然后在分给其他人，这是因为用筷子很难吃盛在盘子里的饭。饭桌上，菜和汤放在大家都可以够得着的地方。在中国是没有主菜和饭后甜点一说，通常，汤就相当于一餐中的饮料。由于每份菜事先已经切得很小，因此吃得时候不再需要刀了。的确，在中国的餐桌上使用刀显得有点不合适。
（小编吐槽:原来我们每天都能吃到的肉不是肉。原来咸鱼、豆腐乳和酱菜，这是需要大多数人专门采购的菜，是便宜的菜。难道我们吃得都是韩国人的菜？）
Throughout the meal, each person uses chopsticks to transfer mouthfuls of cai to his or her rice bowl. It is bad-mannered to pile cai on one"s rice. The fact that family members are sharing cai from common dishes is thought to help create a feeling of family togetherness.在整个用餐过程中，每个人都用筷子把菜夹到自己的碗里。但是把菜堆到饭上是不礼貌的。中国人认为家庭成员从同一个盘子中分享菜被认为是家庭团圆的象征。
（小编吐槽：原来还有这一说，作为一个土生土长的中国人，我都不知道啊！原来我好客的外公每次夹很多菜放到客人的碗里都是不礼貌的啊！）
Since a family meal is a communal activity- an occasion for family harmony and unity, it is very wrong to express anger at table. It is good manners to eat more fan than cai and others at the table should not be able to tell which cai is your favourite. It is rude to bite or suck your chopsticks and even worse to delve through the cai in an attempt to find "a good bit". Although it is quite acceptable to lift one"s bowl and "shovel’ the contents into one’s mouth with chopsticks, it is wrong to couch the bowl in one"s hand for that is the action of a beggar. It is impolite not to finish every grain of rice in your bowl, for it is remembered that each grain was produced by the hard effort of the farmer.
由于家庭聚餐是让家人共同相聚，预示着家庭和谐和团圆的事情，因而在餐桌上生气是不好的。在餐桌上，比较礼貌的做法是饭吃得比菜多并且不评论哪道菜是最爱的菜。咬或着吸筷子、在菜里挑最好的都是粗鲁的。尽管端起碗然后把饭菜大口吞下尚可接受。但是，把碗放在地上就是不对的，因为这是一个乞丐的动作。剩饭也是不礼貌的，因为每一粒米都是农民伯伯辛苦劳动得来的，值得珍惜。
（小编吐槽：原来在刚过去的拜年的餐桌上，我们都是不礼貌的。因为拜年家的主人极力劝我们多吃菜少吃饭是不礼貌的，而且我们夸了烧饭人菜烧的好吃，也是不礼貌的！还有，谁没事蹲下来把碗放地上啊！）
注：英文来源自网络，译文由新加坡学者服务中心、新加坡教育网独家创作并发布，未经允许，不得擅自转载本人的全部或部分内容（包括但不局限于文字、图片等）。转发须注明来源，否则将追究其法律责任！
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