And I’m Sam, and I’m having a boiled egg for lunch today… I’ll just sprinkle some salt on top – there!
我是山姆，今天午餐要吃一个煮鸡蛋......我会在上面撒一些盐 —— 那里！
Rob(罗伯)
Oh, you’ve spilled some salt on the floor, Sam! Quick, throw some over your left shoulder.
哦，你把盐洒在地板上了，山姆！快，把一些扔到你的左肩上。
Sam(山姆)
Throw salt over my shoulder?! What are you talking about, Rob?
把盐扔在我的肩膀上？！你在说什么，罗伯？
Rob(罗伯)
It’s bad luck to spill salt!
撒盐倒霉！
Sam(山姆)
Oh dear! It looks like Rob believes in superstitions - old beliefs which are based on magic and mystery rather than science. Many superstitions are connected to food, as we’ll discover in this programme.
Right - like throwing salt over your shoulder to stop bad luck.
对 - 就像在你的肩膀上撒盐以阻止厄运。
Sam(山姆)
Oh come on, Rob! You don’t really believe that, do you?
哦，来吧，罗伯！你真的不相信，是吗？
Rob(罗伯)
Well, lots of people do believe food superstitions, including otherwise rational, scientific people. For example, have you ever blown out the candles on a birthday cake and made a wish? Or thrown rice over the bride and groom at a wedding?
Yes to both of those. Maybe I’m more superstitious than I thought!
对这两个都是肯定的。也许我比我想象的更迷信！
Rob(罗伯)
Well, before we find out, it’s time for a quiz question about another famous food festival – Halloween.
好吧，在我们发现之前，是时候对另一个著名的美食节 —— 万圣节进行测验了。
Sam(山姆)
That’s when people carve scary faces into pumpkins to frighten away evil spirits.
那时，人们在南瓜上雕刻可怕的面孔以吓跑邪灵。
Rob(罗伯)
Yes. Right. The tradition of carving pumpkins, or Jack o’ Lanterns as they’re called in the United States, started out as a Celtic festival in Ireland - but it was the Americans who started using pumpkins. So what vegetable did the Irish originally use to scare away ghosts? Was it: a) turnips? b) potatoes? or c) squash?
OK, Sam, we’ll find out the right answer later on. What’s for sure is that cultures from around the world have been connecting food and magic for thousands of years, and over time it’s created some strange beliefs.
Here’s food historian Tasha Marks describing one unusual superstition to BBC World Service programme, The Food Chain:
以下是食物历史学家塔莎·马克斯对BBC世界服务节目《食物链》描述的一种不寻常的迷信：
Tasha Marks(塔莎·马克斯)
When you have superstitions and they sort of mix with science and health and medicine… and one of the examples of that would be something like garlic which… we all know garlic wards off vampires but it’s also been thought to ward off the ‘evil eye’, and if you come across the term, the ‘evil eye’, it’s a sort of blanket term that sort of applies to any bad luck.
Tasha says that garlic is believed to ward off vampires, meaning to repel or stop someone from harming you.
塔莎说，大蒜被认为可以抵御吸血鬼，意思是击退或阻止某人伤害你。
Sam(山姆)
According to this superstition, garlic also keeps away the evil eye – bad luck or magical spells with the power to cause bad things to happen.
根据这种迷信，大蒜还可以驱除邪恶的眼睛 —— 厄运或具有导致坏事发生的力量的魔法咒语。
Rob(罗伯)
Tasha describes the ‘evil eye’ as a blanket term for any bad luck. Just as a real blanket covers the different parts of your body, a blanket term is a phrase that’s used to describe many examples of related things.
Here she is talking with BBC World Service’s, The Food Chain, about a tradition connected with the Hindu New Year. Can you spot the different tastes she mentions?
Some of the traditions give you a little bit of a lesson, like every new year, and st not 1 January, not the Gregorian calendar New Year, but the Hindu calendar New Year, we would always be given… it’s a kind of a chutney which is made of all the five tastes: so you have sour, you have sweet, you have something bitter in it and your mum would always give it to you saying that this is what the rest of the year is going to be – you’ll have happiness, you’ll have challenges, you’ll have a little sadness, you’ll have bitterness in your life, which I think is a very nice tradition – it prepares you for everything in life.
At Hindu New Year, mothers give their children a special chutney – a mixture of fruit, spices, sugar and vinegar. Did you spot the chutney’s flavours, Sam?
Mothers tell their children that the coming year, like the chutney, will have its own flavours, both good and bad.
母亲告诉她们的孩子，来年就像酸辣酱一样，会有自己的味道，有好有坏。
Sam(山姆)
That’s why Jonty says that traditions can teach (you) a lesson – they show you what you should or shouldn't do in the future, as a result of experience.
Garlic is supposed to ward off, or keep away, dangers like the evil eye - bad luck or harmful magic.
大蒜应该可以抵御或远离邪恶之眼等危险 —— 厄运或有害的魔法。
Sam(山姆)
The evil eye is an example of a blanket term – a phrase used to describe many examples of related things.
邪恶之眼是一个笼统术语的一个例子 —— 一个用来描述许多相关事物的例子的短语。
Rob(罗伯)
One Indian superstition involves chutney – a food mixing many flavours.
印度的一种迷信涉及酸辣酱 —— 一种混合了多种口味的食物。
Sam(山姆)
These traditions can teach you a lesson - show you how to act in the future based on your past experience.
这些传统可以教你一个教训 —— 告诉你如何根据你过去的经验在未来采取行动。
Rob(罗伯)
Right. Well, that’s all for this programme. Good luck with your language learning! Sam And if you’ve enjoyed this topical discussion and want to learn how to use the vocabulary found in headlines, why not try out our News Review podcast? Bye for now!
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