近日，關于中小學校園內的食品安全問題引發熱議。借著這個機會，我們來看看“日本學校里的午餐”(School Lunch in Japan)，一個被廣為流傳的短片，介紹了日本一小學中午用餐的全過程。

“45分鐘的午餐時間也是接受教育的時間，就像學習數學或者閱讀一樣。”

School Lunch in Japan - It's Not Just About Eating!

Lunch takes on a different nature when treated as an education period, rather than a recreational one.

take on

1) 表示“承擔”，英文解釋為“If you take on a job or responsibility, especially a difficult one, you accept it.”舉個??：

No other organization was able or willing to take on the job.

沒有任何其他組織能夠或愿意承擔這項工作。

2) 表示“呈現”，英文解釋為“If something takes on a new appearance or quality, it develops that appearance or quality.”舉個??：

Believing he had only a year to live, his writing took on a feverish intensity.

他認為自己只有一年能活了，他的文字呈現出一種極度的狂熱。

The United States and Japan couldn't be more different when it comes to school lunch programs. While the U.S. is considering cutting funding to school food programs for underprivileged kids, saying there's insufficient evidence that feeding kids improves academic results, Japan places a high priority on feeding its schoolchildren healthy, homemade meals on a daily basis.

underprivileged

表示“貧困的；缺少機遇的；社會地位低下的；下層社會的”，英文解釋為“very poor, with worse living conditions, educational opportunities etc than most people in society”，如：underprivileged children 貧困兒童。

on a daily basis

表示“每天，天天”（every day/daily），這里要說的是“on a daily basis”還是“in a daily basis”？Quora中有網友給出答案：

It's "on a daily basis." The "basis" is the bottom or foundation of something, and we always use "on" with it, never "in." Some other phrases include "on a regular basis" and "on what basis."

An article in The Atlantic's City Lab blog, titled “Japan's school lunch program puts others to shame,” explores how and why this nation-wide program has been so successful. More than 10 million elementary and secondary school students in 94 percent of the country's schools are fed through this program, and the food they eat is a far cry from the greasy, reheatedcafeteria food that features prominently at American schools.

be a far cry from sth

表示“和…相去甚遠，與…大相徑庭”，英文解釋為“to be completely different from something”舉個??：

This flat is a far cry from the house they had before.

這間公寓和他們以前住的房子相去甚遠。

greasy

greasy /?ɡri?z?, -s?/ 表示“沾滿油脂的；含脂肪的；油膩的”，英文解釋為“covered with or full of fat or oil”，如：greasy food/dishes/skin/hair 油膩的食物/油乎乎的盤子/油性皮膚/油性頭發。

The Japanese meals are prepared daily?from scratch by a team of cooks who work in the school's kitchen. Often they use vegetables grown on school property that are planted and tended by classes. From an early age, the kids get used to eating healthy, well-balanced meals that would appeal to many adults.

from scratch

表示“從頭開始，從零開始”，英文解釋為“from the beginning, without using anything that already exists”舉個??：

He built the shed from scratch.

他從零開始把棚屋搭了起來。

tend

表示“照顧，照管；護理”，英文解釋為“to care for something or someone”舉個??：

He carefully tended his sunflower plants.

他精心照料他的向日葵。

What really sets Japan apart, however, is the fact that it views lunch time as an educational period, not a recreational one. Lunch is a time for teaching kids important skills about serving food, table etiquette, and cleaning up – the polar opposite of the notoriously wild, uncontrolled, and messy lunch hour in U.S. schools that must be every janitor's nightmare.

etiquette

etiquette /??t??k?t/ 表示“禮儀，禮節”，英文解釋為“the formal rules for polite behaviour in society or in a particular group”，如：table etiquette 餐桌禮儀。

polar opposite

表示“完全相反，正好相反，截然相反”，英文解釋為“something that is the complete or exact opposite of something else”。

notorious

形容詞，表示“臭名昭著的，聲名狼藉的”，英文解釋為“famous or well-known for something bad”，如：an area notorious for drugs, crime and violence 一個因毒品、犯罪和暴力而聲名狼藉的地區。

janitor

表示“（學校或大樓的）看門人，門房，管理員”，英文解釋為“someone whose job is to look after a school or other large building”。

The video illustrates shokuiki wonderfully. You see the children taking turns picking up the food cart in the kitchen, chanting a delightful “thank you” to the cooks who prepared it. They wash their hands, don proper serving outfits (smocks, hair nets, and face masks), and dole out the food to hungry, receptive classmates – roasted fish with pear sauce, mashed potatoes, vegetable soup, bread and milk. Nobody appears to complain about the food.

shokuiki

日語“食育”（shokuiki），Wikipedia的解釋為：

Shokuiku (食育) is the Japanese term for "food education". The law defines it as the "acquisition of knowledge about food and nutrition, as well as the ability to make appropriate decisions through practical experience with food, with the aim of developing people's ability to live on a healthy diet".

chant

表示“（有節奏地反復地）唱，喊叫”，英文解釋為“to repeat a word or phrase again and again”，還有另一個意思，表示“吟唱，吟誦（贊美詩）”（to sing or say a religious song or prayer in a way that involves using only one note or tone）

don

作動詞，表示“戴上（帽子）；穿上（衣服）”，英文解釋為“to put on a hat, coat etc”舉個??：

He donned his cloak and gloves.

他穿戴上他的披風和手套。

dole out

表示“發放，分發（錢、食物等）；（給多人）提供（建議）”，英文解釋為“to give something such as money, food, advice etc to more than one person”舉個??

She was doling out candies to all the kids.

她正在給所有的孩子分發糖果。

The teacher eats with the students, demonstrating good table manners and leading a discussion about the food's origins. In the video, he focuses on the mashed potatoes, which come from the school garden. He tells the class, “You will plant these in March and eat them for lunch in July.” At other times, the discussion may veer into Japanese food history or culture. After all, this is lesson time, too.

mashed potatoes

mashed potatoes 土豆泥

mashed表示“搗爛的”，英文解釋為“been pressed until is smooth”。

veer

表示“（觀點、主意、態度等）轉變，改變”，英文解釋為“If opinions, ideas, attitudes etc veer in a particular direction, they gradually change and become quite different”舉個??：

Our talk soon veered onto the subject of money.

我們的談話很快就轉到了金錢上。

All of the students come prepared for lunch with reusable chopsticks, a cloth placemat and napkin, a cup, and a toothbrush.

節選自：Treehugger

- END -

LearnAndRecord

2015年2月8日

2019年3月14日

第1496天

每天持續行動學外語