VOA慢速英语:Words and Their Stories: Food Expressions, Part Two

Now, the VOA Special English program WORDS AND THEIR STORIES. We received a list of expressions about food from Elenir Scardueli, a listener from Brazil.
现在，这里是美国之音慢速英语词汇掌故节目。我们收到了巴西听众Elenir Scardueli发来的关于食物的短语清单。
Today we will talk about some good things to eat. If something is new and improved, we say it is the best thing since sliced bread. In the past, bread was only sold in loaves in baked goods stores. Today, American supermarkets sell sliced bread in plastic bags. Many people thought this was easier because you did not have to cut the bread yourself. The person who makes the most money in a family is called the breadwinner.
今天我们要谈论一些好吃的东西。我们称某些新改良过的东西为“自切片面包出现以来最好的物品”。以前，面包都是在烤焙房里一整条卖的。如今，美国超市开始销售塑料袋装的切片面包。许多人认为这样更便捷——毕竟你不用自己切了。而一个家庭中挣钱最多的人就被称为“养家糊口的人(breadwinner）”。

Bread and butter issues are those that are most important to Americans and affect them directly – like jobs and health care.
面包和黄油对于美国人而言非常重要，会直接影响他们的生活——这些对他们来说就像工作和医疗保健一样。

Half a loaf is better than none means that getting part of what you want is better than getting nothing at all. If you know which side your bread is buttered on, then you know what your best interests are and will act to protect them.
半条面包总比没有好，意思是说，得到你想要的一部分比一无所获要好。如果你知道面包的哪一面涂了黄油，那就是说你知道你最大的利益是什么，并且会去保护它们。

Many Americans like their bread toasted. Toast is cooked with dry heat until it starts to turn brown. But you are in big trouble if someone tells you you’re toast.
许多美国人喜欢把面包烤成吐司。 吐司是将面包干热，直道面包颜色开始呈现棕色为止。但是如果有谁跟你说“你完了(you're toast)”，那就意味着你有大麻烦了。

If you say something is a piece of cake, it means something is really easy, like a test you take in school. Cakes are often covered with a sweet topping, called icing. Icing on the cake means something good that happens in addition to another good thing. Another expression says you can’t have your cake and eat it, too. This means you cannot have everything your way, especially if two wishes oppose each other.
如果你说某件事情是小菜一碟(a piece of cake)，那意味着你觉得那件事非常简单，好比你在学校参加一门考试。蛋糕顶端通常都有甜的装饰配料，称作糖衣。蛋糕上还有糖衣的意思就是锦上添花。另有一句俗语叫做，你无法同时持有和吃掉一个蛋糕。意思是你无法让每件事情如意，尤其是两件事情互相冲突的时候。

Hotcakes are also called pancakes. They contain flour, eggs, milk and baking powder. You cook them in a frying pan and eat them with fruit or a sweet topping.  If a new product is popular and selling well, you might say it is selling like hotcakes.
烤饼（hotcake）也称为薄饼(pancake)。它含有面粉，鸡蛋，牛奶和发酵粉。烤饼用平锅来煎，并配以水果或者甜馅料食用。如果一种新产品受欢迎且销量良好，你就可以说它“selling like hotcakes(热销)”。

But if a friend of yours did something bad, you might stop being friends with him immediately or drop him like a hotcake.
但如果你的一个朋友做了坏事，你或许会立即终止与他的朋友关系，或者绝交（drop him like a hotcake）。

Flat as a pancake describes something that is, well, really flat.
“Flat as a pancake（平坦如饼）”用来形容某种东西真的很平。

A tough cookie is not something you want to eat. It is a person who is difficult to deal with, and would do anything necessary to get what he or she wants. This person could be a sharp cookie or someone who is not easily fooled. Very often things do not go the way we planned. Instead of getting angry or sad, you might just accept it and say that’s the way the cookie crumbles.
“A tough cookie（强硬的人）”并不是某种你想吃的东西，它的意思是指某个难以应付的人，他（她）会为了得到所想的东西而不折手段。这种人可能会是“a sharp cookie（精明的人）”，他（她）很难被愚弄。事情总不如我们所愿，这个时候，你就要接受事实，说“that’s the way the cookie crumbles（人生就是如此，现实就是这样）”，而不是生气或者哀伤。

Many pies are also good to eat. If something is easy to do, you could say it is easy as pie. But if you do something wrong or bad, you might have to apologize and show you are sorry. In other words, you might have to eat humble pie.
许多馅饼也很好吃。如果某事做起来很容易，你会说它“ easy as pie （易如反掌）”。但如果你做了错事或坏事，你可能只好通过道歉来表达你的歉意。换句话说，你或许“have to eat humble pie（不得不忍气吞声）”。

If you have an idea or plan that is not really possible, someone might say it is pie in the sky. If something is really easy to do, you might say it is like taking candy from a baby. But that would not be a very nice thing to do!
如果你的主意或计划不切实际，别人可能会说它是"pie in the sky（空想，不现实的东西）”。如果某件事做起来很容易，你会说“it is like taking candy from a baby（像和娃娃抢糖吃一样轻而易举）”，然而和娃娃抢糖吃可不是什么光彩的事哦！

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