Waitress: Hello, welcome to Zhi Wei Guan. How can I help you?
服务员：您好，欢迎来到知味观！请问我能为您做些什么？
Peter: Thank you. My friend and I want to try some local cuisine. What do you recommend?
彼得：谢谢！我和朋友想品尝下当地的菜肴。您有什么推荐的吗？
Waitress: How about fish broth to start with? It mainly includes fish, shredded ham, mushrooms, and bamboo shoots.
服务员：先点一个鱼羹怎么样？里面主要有鱼肉、火腿丝、香菇丝、竹笋等。
Peter: Sounds great. We would like to try this soup. How about the main dishes? Anything special?
彼得：听起来很不错，那就点这个羹。主菜有哪些？有什么特色菜吗？
Waitress: I would recommend the beggars' chicken, fried shrimps with Longjing green tea, Dongpo pork and some vegetables. These would be enough for you and your friend to share.
服务员：我会推荐叫化鸡、龙井虾仁、东坡肉和一些蔬菜。这几样就足够了。
Peter: Shrimp and pork are easy to understand, but what is beggars' chicken?
彼得：虾和鱼我都明白，什么是叫化鸡？
Waitress: Simply speaking, it is said that an ancient beggar wrapped the chicken in lotus leaves and covered it with mud before roasting it in the bonfire. With the aroma of lotus leaves, this dish tastes crispy on the outside and tender inside.
服务员：简单来说，相传有个乞丐用荷叶将整只鸡包起来，糊上泥，再放到火里烤。这样一来，鸡肉里就有了荷叶的香味，而且外表酥脆，肉质很嫩。
Peter: Interesting. We would like to try these dishes then.
彼得：挺有意思，那就试试这几个菜吧。
Waitress: One more thing, would you like to have rice or noodles?
服务员：另外，你们想吃米饭还是面条？
Peter: Rice for me and noodles for my friend, please.
彼得：给我来份米饭，我的朋友喜欢吃面条。
Waitress: It may take a while, enjoy the green tea first.
服务员：稍等，你们先喝点绿茶吧。
Peter: We understand. Thank you so much.
彼得：好的，谢谢！
Waitress: My pleasure.
服务员：不用客气！
接待外宾就餐时，餐厅工作人员需要了解最基本的问候用语，如：How can I help you?（我能为您能做点什么？），类似的用语还有：What can I do for you?/Is there anything I can do for you?
外宾习惯的点餐顺序：starter（开胃菜），以汤类和色拉为主；main courses（主菜），肉类和蔬菜等；dessert（甜点），蛋糕或布丁等。在中餐馆服务外宾的话，建议可以按照外宾习惯的顺序推荐菜肴，然后再建议搭配staple food（主食）就餐，如rice/noodles（米饭或面条）。
常见菜肴或食材的英文表达：fish broth（鱼羹）、soup（汤类）、shrimp/prawn（虾）、pork（猪肉）、mutton（羊肉）、beef（牛肉）、lettuce（生菜）、bok choy（白菜）、cucumber（黄瓜）、eggplant（茄子）。
中餐很多菜名都蕴含了文化典故，直译往往会令人难以理解，通常可以简要介绍典故来源，也可用主要食材和烹饪方法来用英文介绍菜肴。如对话中的“叫化鸡”就采用了简单叙述的处理方法。当然，也可解释为“roasted chicken wrapped by lotus leaves（用荷叶包裹起来烤出来的鸡肉）”。
本期文本由浙江旅游职业学院曹健老师提供
