英文自修41：食为天

本系列内容英文原文取自BBC Thought for the Day节目网站，朋友们也可以下载节目录音收听。

本篇译者：Young，沪上某名牌大学英语专业学生

审读、定稿、图片、背景图文：武太白

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Thought for the Day 20140314 Rev Dr Sam Wells

There’re two ways to sell food. One says, ‘Stack ’em high and sell ’em cheap.’ The other says, ‘We make you feel fresh and healthy.’ Morrison’s  英国的威廉•莫里斯超市 just announced it’s going to try to do both. It’s a challenge every supermarket chain is facing right now. 

有两种食品销售模式，一种是“大量囤积，低价销售。”另一种是“给您新鲜和健康的体验。” 莫里斯超市宣告这两种都要试试。这是现在每一个连锁超市面临的挑战。


 

This isn’t just another stray line on the business bulletin. Why? Because food isn’t just one industry among many. Food is the most important industry of them all. Eating is the way beyond all others that we take our place as human beings in relation to one another, in relation to other creatures, and in relation to the earth. Eating food together is the single most important way we discover who we are.

这并不是商业公告中的随便一笔。为什么呢？因为食品工业并不仅仅是众多工业中的一个，而且是最重要的一个。饮食超越其他所有方式，使我们区别于彼此，区别于其他生物，甚至区别于地球，找到自己作为人类的位置。一起进餐是我们发现自己是谁的一个最重要的方式。

To eat well doesn’t mean to have a full plate, to follow a recipe book, or even to scour the market stalls for in-season vegetables. To eat well means to be in harmony with the myriad chain of producers and suppliers that bring food to our kitchen, to be in communion with the variety of living things that furnish our plate, to be at peace with our own bodies, and to be in sympathy with the human beings who sit alongside us at our table. 

吃得好并不意味着吃满满一盘饭菜、照食谱吃，甚或为买时令蔬菜寻遍市场摊位，而是指与供给厨房食物的生产商和供应商的种种关系链保持和谐，与盘中之物交流，自身获得宁静，与一同用餐的人产生共鸣。
 

So when a supermarket says it wants to be fresh and cheap, to be high quality and big discount, it’s reflecting back to us, the customers, the paradox of our desires. We want to be in control of our bodily needs, we want eating to be just a function to be managed: so we demand cheap food that we can gobble down while we rush to the next urgent thing that’s worth more of our time, our attention, and our household budget. But deep down we know that when we’re truly at peace, there’s nothing more satisfying or more renewing than sharing a table with friend or family, and eating a meal that’s healthy for the planet, healthy for the stomach, and healthy for the relationship of the people gathered. 

因此超市追求新鲜便宜，质优价廉，正反映出我们自身种种矛盾的欲望。我们想要控制身体的需要，想要把吃仅仅作为一项功能加以管理，因此我们需要便宜的食物，以便狼吞虎咽吃完，匆忙赶去做那些“值得”更多时间、精力和家庭预算的紧要事情。可是在内心深处，我们知道当自己真正获得平静时，没有什么能比和亲友共享一桌饭菜，吃一顿对地球有益、不伤肠胃、增进人际关系的饭更有满足感、更有新意了。

On the night before he died Jesus gave one recommendation to those who wanted to cherish his memory. He said, ‘Eat together.’ Because in eating together we have to buy food – and in buying food we take our place in a local, national, and global economy. We have to prepare food – and that reveals the real economy of our household. We have to clean up afterwards – and that tests and renews how the relationships really work. Food isn’t just about vitamins and starch. It’s about the pattern of relationships and values that make up our lives. The way we eat reveals the way we live. If we’re eating well, the chances are we’re living well.

耶稣受难前一天，他给那些要铭记他教诲的人一条建议。他说，一起进餐吧。一起进餐必然要买食材，在此过程中，我们找到自己在地区、国家和全球经济中的位置。一起进餐必然要烹煮饭菜，这恰能揭示我们真正的家庭经济。一起进餐必然要饭后收拾，这考验并重建人际关系。食物并不只是维他命和淀粉的事。它关乎构成我们生活的人际关系和价值观的模式。饮食方式揭示了我们的生活方式。吃得好，我们就有可能生活得好。