饺子

　　饺子，是一种以面为皮(wrapper)的充馅食物，它是中国北方比较传统的食物，饺子深受中国汉族人民的喜爱。

　　中国人过春节和其他节日，饺子是必不可少的。相传是我国古代名医张仲景发明的。

　　“饺子”得名的原因非常简单，“饺子”音同“交子”，是新旧交替之意，因为春节标志着新的一年的开始，人们选择吃饺子来表达他们对新年的美好祝愿。尽管时代变了，但是这一传统却保留了下来。

　　参考翻译:

　　Jiaozi, or dumpling is a kind of food stuffed with filling inside a wheat wrapper. As a quite traditional food in Northern China, it is very popular among Han Chinese.

　　Jiaozi is absolutely necessary when the Chinese people celebrate the Spring Festival and other festivals. It is said that jiaozi was invented by China's famous ancient doctor Zhang Zhongjing.

　　The reason for naming the food as “jiaozi” is very simple: because “jiaozi” is homophonous to the Chinese phrase “change of year”(交子)，which means the transition from the old to the new.

　　As the Spring Festival marks the start of a new year, people choose to eat jiaozi to express their best wishes for the New Year. This tradition has remained unbroken despite the change of times.

　　翻译点拨：

　　1. 深受中国汉族人民的喜爱:翻译为is very popular among Han Chinese,“受…喜爱”，常用be popular among...“汉族人民”，直接译为Han Chinese。

　　2.必不可少的:翻译为absolutely necessary即可，即“非常必要的”。

　　3.相传:翻译为it is said that,这个句型是个常用句型，用来表达“据说，相传”的意义。

　　4.新旧交替:可译为 the transition from the old to the new 或者 the new replaces the old。

　　5.保留了下来:可理解为“一直未变，保持不变”，故使用动词remain来表达比较合适。

　　面条

　　早在公元前200年中国人就开始食用面条，它在中国饮食中占据重要的地位，种类繁多，如鸡蛋面、米粉(rice noodles)，绿豆(mung bean )面和小麦面。

　　在中 国北方地区，小麦面条作为主食(staple food)比人米吃得多。米粉则在南方地区更普遍。

　　中国面条有不同的宽度和厚度，似通常都较长，因为中国人认为这象征着长寿，因此面条经常出现在生日庆祝活动中，被称为长寿面(longevity noodles)。

　　参考译文:

　　Noodles were eaten by the Chinese as early as 200 BC and occupy an important position in Chinese food.

　　It has many kinds, such as egg noodles, rice noodles, mung bean noodles, and wheat noodles.

　　In the northern regions of China, wheat noodles are eaten more than rice as the staple food. Rice noodles are more commonly consumed in southern China.

　　Chinese noodles are of varied width and thickness, but they are usually long because they symbolize long life for Chinese, which is why noodles are commonly served at birthday celebrations and called longevity noodles.

　　翻译点拨：

　　1. 早在公元前200年中国人就开始食用面条，它在中国饮食中占据着重要的地位，种类繁多，如鸡蛋面、米粉、绿豆面和小麦面：此长句可分译为两个句子;其中“占据着重要的地位”可译为occupy an important position。

　　2.小麦面条作为主食比大米吃得多：“主食”可译为staple food。

　　3.中国面条有不同的宽度和厚度，但通常都较长，因为中国人认为这象征着长寿, 因此面条经常出现在生日庆祝活动中，被称为长寿面：

　　后半句可译为which引导 的非限制性定语从句，修饰“这象征着长寿”，即：which is why noodles are commonly served...; “不同的宽度和厚度”可译为 varying width and thickness; “长寿面”可译为longevity noodles;需注意noodles这个词通常使用复数。