Background Information
Various Western holidays are becoming increasingly popular in China. Study abroad students should not be surprised to see Christmas decorations in public spaces in larger cities such as Beijing and Shanghai. Even holidays such as Halloween and Thanksgiving are slowly becoming more and more popular among young people in China. Foods from these holidays are also slowly increasing in popularity. For some, these new holidays are a sign of a globalized nation. For others, these new holidays signal a young generation less and less interested in China’s traditional festivals.
Halloween in China (Intern China)
As kids and teens dress up for Halloween, some in China are spooked (South China Morning Post)
烹饪-南瓜 Cooking – Pumpkins
Suggested Level
Context Information: Elisa is an American student, and 艾 (Ài) is a domestic Chinese student. They are discussing American Halloween traditions surrounding pumpkins.
艾: 就是在中国我们一般会把它煮就是，那个怎么叫，那个怎么煮因为我不会煮饭所以我表达就会比较困难就是我们会把它，反正煮的有点，就是很烂，很烂，就是把它煮的很软。
Elisa: (laughing) 哦，在水里煮。
艾: 就是，是水里吗？
Elisa: 哦 (laughing)。
艾: 我觉得有点油。
Elisa: 哦。
艾: 应该有在水里1，但是，应该是吧。
Elisa: Ok，ok。我们会烤那个，把瓜子放在烤箱2。
艾: 那个呃-烤箱里，然后——
Elisa: 对然后，会——
艾: 你们会吃它的那个肉吗，果肉？
Elisa: 我们——
艾: 如果平时做饭会吃那个吗？
Elisa: 会吃我很喜欢吃南瓜汤。
艾: 啊。
Elisa: 对。
艾: 你们会用南瓜做菜吗？
Elisa: 对会。我很喜欢南瓜派，可是我觉得刻南瓜的那个南瓜是3，不是专门吃的南瓜。
艾: 就是为了装饰，为了好看。
Elisa: 对，因为我妈妈一次想想试着4。
艾: 煮它吗？
Elisa: 对对，可是没有做好因为有太多水所以我觉得这样的，像5专门刻的南瓜不不适合做吃的。
艾: 哦。我突然想起来一件事情，没有这事南瓜的话题。
Elisa: (laughing)
艾: 先应该继续这个话题所以，所以你妈妈觉得那个，它煮起来跟普通的南瓜是太干还是——
Elisa: 我觉得太湿6。
艾: 湿？
Elisa: 因为它煮了像，一天还是特有很多水7。
艾: 我觉得可能太新鲜 (laughing)。
Elisa: 哦，(laughing) 可能是——
艾: 我一直以为所有的南瓜都是一样的。
Elisa: 我也，我知道很多像有小的然后有很大的。
艾:我以为都是一样的。
Elisa: 哦。
艾: 一看就知道我不去不去市场餐厅买菜。
Elisa: (laughing) 我也我也不太知道。
艾: 所以在我的世界里他们长得都一样。
Elisa: 哦 (laughing)。
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1. This sentence should read 应该有油在水里 (yīnggāi yǒu yóu zài shuǐ lǐ) ‘there should be oil in the water’. Elisa most likely accidentally omitted 油 (yóu) ‘oil’.
2. Elisa probably stopped short of saying 放在烤箱里 (fàngzài kǎoxiāng lǐ) ‘put it inside the oven’.
3. Elisa probably accidentally said 是 (shì) ‘to be’ rather than 不是 (búshì) ‘to not be’.
4. While 艾 probably understands what Elisa means, her phrasing might sound a bit strange to a native speaker. Rather than 想想试着 (xiǎngxiǎng shìzhe), she should remove one of the 想’s and make sure that 着 is followed by a verb (such as 做 [zuò] ‘to do’). This sentence should read something like 因为我妈妈有一次想试着做.
5. Throughout this dialogue, Elisa uses 像 (xiàng) ‘to appear similar to’ as a filler word similar to ‘like’ in English. However, most Chinese speakers would not use 像 in this way.
6. Elisa means to say that boiling this type of pumpkin would be too watery. 湿 (shī) means something like ‘humid’ and might not make sense in this context. Rather, Elisa could say 水分太多 (shuǐfèn tài duō) ‘the moisture content is too high’.
7. Using 特 (tè) ‘especially’ here might should be omitted. This sentence should read 有很多水 (yǒu hěn duō shuǐ) ‘there’s too much water’.
Vocabulary
- 煮 (zhǔ) Boiled; to boil
- 表达 (biǎodá) To express
- 困难 (kùnnán) Difficult
- 反正 (fǎnzhēng) In any case
- 烂 (làn) To rot
- 软 (ruǎn) Soft
- 油 (yóu) Oil
- 烤 (kǎo) Roasted; to roast
- 瓜子 (guāzǐ) Melon seeds
- 烤箱 (kǎoxiāng) Oven; stove
- 果肉 (guǒròu) Pulp
- 南瓜 (nánguā) Pumpkin
- 派 (pài) Pie
- 刻 (kè) To carve
- 专门 (zhuānmén) Specialized
- 装饰 (zhuāngshì) To decorate
- 适合 (shìhé) To suit; to fit
- 干 (gān) Dry
- 湿 (shī) Humid; damp
- 新鲜 (xīnxián) Fresh