吃吃喝喝的那些事儿

李晶

中国人历来重视“吃”。“吃喝”在中华文化中所占据的地位不亚于哲学、艺术等任何一个领域。中国有句古话叫“民以食为天”，非常形象地反映了中国人对待饮食的态度。用当代的流行语来说中国是一个“吃货的民族”，这不为过。如果和老外谈论起中国“吃喝”方面的内容，该如何用英语表达呢？尤其是“民以食为天”和“吃货”该怎么表达呢？

“民以食为天”的英译

我们先来看看“民以食为天”该如何表达吧。在英汉两种语言转换中，很多话语都没有完全一一对应，这一点在文化领域的交流中尤为明显。在不同的文化语境中，相同的抽象语义所用的隐喻意象可能不同。就说“民以食为天”这句话，它其实跟“天”没多大关系，只是为了表达对于“食”这件事，中国人看得跟“天”一样重要。换句话说，就是通过“天”这个意象形象地说明“食”对人们生存和发展的必要性。那么，我们在翻译中就不能直译为：“People regard food as the sky.”这是要闹笑话的，英美人士听了一定会呆萌地看着你，不明就里。此时我们不如将这句话所表达的抽象含义明白无误地表达出来，译为：“Food is the first necessity of the people.”这个翻译基本把“食物是人的第一所需”这个意思表达出来了。

但是这个翻译并不完美，没有体现出这句俗语背后的内涵。“民以食为天”这句话有其深刻的文化渊源。大家知道，中国古代是农业社会，食品的来源直接或间接来自土地。在科技水平不高的古代，由于天灾频繁，普通民众鲜有食物充盈的时候，这句俗语更体现了人们对食品的渴望。这样一来， first、necessity就不能完全表达这一深刻的含义。那么，我们来看两个和first、necessity类似的词：primal和want。我们看看Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English对primal和want这两个词的解释。词典对primal的解释是：“primal feelings or actions seem to belong to a part of peoples character that is ancient and animal-like.”这里的ancient和animal-like最符合这句俗语的语境。对于食物的需求自古有之，也是所有动物的基本需求。词典对want的解释是：“a situation in which you do not have enough food， money， clothes， etc.”对于want，解释里特意列出了food这种语境，而且要注意这种用法的want是不可数名词。因此，我们可以把这句俗语译为：“Food is peoples primal want.”译文既简明扼要，又表达了比较丰富的历史文化渊源。由此可见，在向外国人介绍中国传统文化时，不能仅局限于对个体意义的解读，仅仅做字面的翻译，还要在语义对等的基础上考虑历史、文化等语用因素，结合语境准确体现中华文化丰富的内涵。

在中国古代，人们经常遇到因天灾人祸而造成的饥荒。为了维持生存，中国人找到了很多食物来源，水底的莲藕、山里的蘑菇、地下的春笋、渔猎获得的鱼虾和野味都能制作成可口的饭菜。中国人能把获得的食物充分利用，特别是动物内脏。西方人往往对动物内脏嗤之以鼻，无论从口味和营养上都认为其不宜食用。中国古代人民却把这些当年王公贵族和富人丢弃的下水制作成了有名的菜肴或传统小吃，这些菜肴逐渐在普通民众中流行起来。

在给外国朋友介绍有关中国古代“吃喝”的内容时，可以参考下面这段表达。

As the old Chinese saying goes， that “food is peoples primal want.” This illustrates the high position of eating and drinking in peoples everyday life. The saying， however， comes from ancient peoples yearning for enough food to keep from starvation. In ancient China， people depended on farmland for food， which was greatly affected by climate and weather. The frequent natural disasters led to low crop yields， which made life miserable and tough.

Chinas various geographical features and climate zones have made it possible for Chinese people to make a living from the abundance of food which it is possibe to produce. Besides growing grains， they also collect lotus roots， pick a variety of mushrooms， dig for bamboo shoots， catch fish and hunt for meat. Unlike Westerners， Chinese people make full use of the food they get， especially the animals. In ancient times， poor people could not afford to eat meat， thus they cooked the innards （内脏） that the noble and rich people had thrown away. The innards， such as the liver or tripe （猪肚；牛肚）， which Westerners sniff at for reasons of both taste and nutrition， are prepared into famous dishes or traditional snacks， popular with ordinary people.

“吃货”的英译

接下来，我们再看看“吃货”这个词如何用英语表达。其实这个词的译法比较多，比如foodie、gourmet、epicure，笔者个人倾向于gourmet和epicure两个词，不主张用foodie。《柯林斯高阶英汉双解学习词典》对于foodie这个词的解释是：“Foodies are people who enjoy cooking and eating different kinds of food.”Foodie的解释里多了一个enjoy cooking，而我们平时所说的“吃货”大多是自己不动手，只是喜爱品尝各种美食，尤其是比较新鲜、奇怪的美食。这样epicure就最恰当不过了，《柯林斯高阶英汉双解学习词典》对它的解释是：“An epicure is someone who enjoys eating food that is of very good quality， especially unusual or rare food.”Gourmet的解释也很符合“吃货”的特点：“A gourmet is someone who enjoys good food， and who knows a lot about food and wine.”

中国早已远离了那个饥荒频繁、为吃发愁的年代。不再为“饿肚子”忧虑的中国人开始把品尝食物作为一种享受，从而造就了一个“全民吃货”的社会。在中国，并非每个人都会烹饪菜肴，做出一桌美味可口的饭菜，但是任何一个人都能对他所吃过的食物品头论足。如果说“民以食为天”在以前更多体现的是人们因饥荒为了填饱肚子而形成的对食物的渴求，现在的“民以食为天”更多的是一种追求生活品位、人人争当“吃货”的时尚。

上述有关中国当代“吃喝”的内容可以用英文表达如下。

The times when food was always in shortage have gone away. People in China， not having to worry about hunger or starvation， enthusiastically take tasting and savoring food as an enjoyment， which creates an all-people epicure society. Not everyone can cook， but everyone can comment on the food they eat and offer you detailed and sophisticated evaluations and advice for eating well in China.

If we say that the old saying “food is peoples primal want” was once more related to peoples hunger for food itself and satisfying the stomach， it is now more related to a fashion of being a gourmet and satisfying the sense of taste.

跟老外从“民以食为天”聊起我们的“吃喝”，是不是由衷升腾起一种民族自豪感？“吃喝”作为一个缩影也见证了一个民族从灾难深重到伟大复兴的历史。我们如果能从这一句中国古语谈起，跟老外聊起它的“前世今生”，一定会让外国朋友对我们的国家和人民刮目相看。

中华文化走出去，你我皆有点滴贡献。中国“正能量”传海外，你我皆担匹夫之责。