大象传媒

Caroline with her boyfriend Adrian

Chinese Takeaway in Wales

Chinese cuisine is very popular in this part of the country. It is treated as different and exotic 外来的,异乎寻常的 as Italian cuisine to people from China. After I had another Chinese takeaway experience recently, I actually was surprised by how delicious 美味的,可口的 the Chinese food was.

I wrote about my experience of ordering fish and chips in a Chinese takeaway last time.

But that was only one side of the story. Yesterday when my friend’s mother ordered a Chinese takeaway for her birthday, I was absolutely stunned 十分吃惊的,印象非常深刻的. The set meal 套餐 included prawn and garden bean fried rice, sweet and sour meaty ribs, chestnut melon chicken, bean shoot with delicate duck slices, and fried chicken balls with sweet and sour dipping sauce. Not only that, the quantity 数量,份量 was huge.

The meal set was supposed to be for four people, but we four only managed to finish half of it.

Delicious  I actually was surprised by how delicious(美味的,可口的) the Chinese food was.   Caroline

At the dinner table my friend’s father asked me what I thought of British-style Chinese food. I had to say that I liked it very much indeed, though it still puzzled 使迷惑,使困恼 me how fish and chips went into Chinese restaurants here in the first place, especially some of them simply named themselves 'Fish and Chips Takeaway.' Isn’t it strange?

English Tea

Anyway, talking about food culture difference, another thing worth mentioning is tea. Statistics 数据统计 on wiki show that in England people drink tea more than coffee. I remember the first evening when my friend’s parents picked us up from the airport, on the way back we dropped in to a cafeteria 咖啡馆 and they ordered tea for themselves and me. That time I thought maybe they did it especially for me.

But actually, for British people, as born British drinking tea has always been part of their lives. And the types of tea around are amazingly diverse. Take the funeral wake 葬礼守灵 I went to last month for example, at the tea table you could find up to eight or nine types of tea available: ginger lemon tea, aroma tea, brown tea, varied kinds of flower tea (chrysanthemum, rose, vanilla, to name just a few),etc. Dip the tea bag into a delicate porcelain cup 精美的瓷器杯子, add water from kettle, add some milk if you suspect the bitterness of the tea, and a couple of seconds later a cup of delicious tea was ready.

A Healthy Habit  Drinking tea, unlike coffee, is proven a healthy habit to keep.   Caroline

Now though I still don’t drink tea as frequently as my friend’s parents, but gradually I start to appreciate the enjoyment of a cup of tea after breakfast in the morning. It is a refreshing 恢复精力的 way to start every new day, helping you rid of dopiness and slowness 昏昏沉沉与倦怠 to be ready for another day of hard work. And on top of that, drinking tea, unlike coffee, is proven a healthy habit to keep. Now I wonder who wouldn’t want a cup of tea.

Your Comments 你的评论 and Caroline's Replies 作者的回复

Hello Caroline,
Will you plan to be a tutor for a long time ? Or will you plan to develop your career on teaching? Would you like to teach others? If you like, will open a training school to teach people Chinese? Meantime, you can spread our Chinese mind and culture. How do you think of this?
Bessy, China

Dear Bessy,

Thanks for leaving your comment. I don’t have any settled plan yet at the moment. Coming to Cornwall made me lose my advantage of being bilingual, as Mandarin is simply not in high demand. So I don’t think I will go for Mandarin teaching long, as it is simply not my forte. For the same sake, it is unlikely I will open a training school in future. But having said all this, I still enjoy tutoring my students Mandarin, it is always satisfying to see their language skill improving week by week.
Caroline

Hello, Caroline! I want to know how you get along with the British people around you. Do they treat you just like their countrymen or else? Besides, do you feel any culture shock in England? I'm looking forward to hearing more about your experiences in Britain and your views on the differences between Chinese and British lives. Thanks and best regards.
Thomas, Chongqing

Dear Thomas,

Thanks for your reply. I get on very well with people around me. Overall people here are quite friendly and polite. For example, they know how to queue properly and they don’t push you about in a bus or a train. I don’t have any culture shock, which was probably because I had been working with western people for quite a while before I came to England. I look forward to sharing my experience with you as well.
Caroline

I envy you so much for you are such a strong girl. Do you have any difficult living abroad?
Masie, Dongguan

Dear Masie,

I don’t think you need to envy me about the fact I live in England. I just happen to live abroad, which really is not a big deal. I have some difficulties living here. Things such as I can’t travel around as freely as I want can bother me now and again, because I can’t drive yet and the fact the public transportation system here is simply not as well-covered as that in China. But like what the dear Mr. Bennet in Pride and Prejudice said: Don’t despair, it’ll pass... I think I shall be fine, as long as I always choose to do something about situations that are not satisfying.
Caroline

Congratulations for Caroline starting a new life.
Tony (country unknown)

Dear Tony,

Thanks a lot for your congratulation. Do you share the same view as me in that our life is comprised by different stages, and each stage is complete in its own sense? For example, now looking back, I find that my university life, my life in Shanghai, and now my life in Cornwall are all distinct and unique in their own sense. Each stage is like a blank new page, on which it is you who need to fill the content in. Well, I hope I haven’t done very badly on my page up so far.
Caroline

Hello, Caroline,I am a postgraduate student in York University, MA in TESOL. I just want to know how can I improve my translation ability? Cause I want to be a translor in the future after my graduation..thank you so much.
Sophie, York, UK

Dear Sophie

It’s nice to hear from you. I think to improve your translation ability you need to practise and read as much as you can. When I did the horoscope website translation for an American company last year, I tried to get myself familiar with horoscope terminology by extensive reading before I started the project. Good luck.
Caroline

Hi Caroline, I'm an English translator in China. First of all, I appreciate your work in UK very much. you are happy as being with your lover although you have leaved far away from your hometown. Wish you wonderful time in Cornwall!
Anon, China

Dear Anon,

Thanks a lot for your comment. I hope you have enjoyed your translator experience in China, I certainly did. Cornwall is a nice place to live, lots of open view and beaches. I hope that you can come to visit me one of these days.
Caroline

Do you have a question or comment for Caroline? We will publish all your comments and questions on this pages.

你想问 Caroline 什么问题吗？我们将把你的评论或问题在此表页发表

Send her a question by filling in the form at the top of the page or email us at chinaelt@bbc.co.uk

请填写上面的问题反馈表或发邮件给我们 chinaelt@bbc.co.uk

Warning!
There may be some grammatical mistakes in the Blog, but we have not corrected these as we prefer to let participants use their own words.

文章中可能含有某些语法错误，这是因为这些撰稿者的母语不是英语。我们没有刻意纠正，因为我们希望采用作者的原话。