西方饮食习惯

A traditional English breakfast includes sausages, bacon, fried eggs, mushrooms, baked beans, fried tomatoes, and toast with butter. However, these days most people don‟t eat a traditional breakfast every day, or even at all. This is because it is very un healthy, and many people don‟t have time to cook. These days, most people eat a bowl of cereal (made from grains like corn, wheat and oats) with milk, or have a slice of toast with butter. In fact, in the UK the average person eats about 6 kilos of cereal every year – this is much more than most European countries. In the winter many people eat a hot cereal called …porridge‟, which is made from oats. This is especially popular in Scotland.传统的英式早餐包括香肠，培根，煎蛋，蘑菇，烤豆角，煎西红柿以及面包黄油。

但现代多数人不会每天都这么吃，或者说根本不这么吃。

一方面是因为这样的早餐不够健康，另一方面还因为很多人没时间做这样的早餐。

现在，很多人都吃一碗加了牛奶的谷物粥（各种谷物像是玉米，小麦和燕麦），或是一片摸了黄油的面包。

英国人每年人均要吃掉大约6公斤的谷物粥，这个数字远远大于许多欧洲国家。

冬天，多数英国人会吃一种燕麦做的，叫porridge 的热谷物粥，在苏格兰地区尤为流行。

Lunch is normally eaten between 12:00 pm and 2:00 pm. Because school-children and people at work are very busy, this is normally a quick meal. In fact, many parents give their children a …packed lunch‟ in a plastic …lunch-box‟. This usually consists of a sandwich (two slices of bread with a filling inside, normally cheese or meat with some lettuce) and a packet of crisps, a piece of fruit and a drink.午餐时间通常是中午12点到下午2点之间，由于孩子们要上学、大人要上班，所以这一餐通常是很快就解决的。

通常，许多家长会给孩子们用塑料午餐盒带“便当”吃，便当一般是一块三明治（两片面包中间加些馅料，通常是芝士或者肉再加些生菜），一袋薯片，一份水果和一瓶饮料。

However, on Sunday people usually have a longer and larger lunch called …Sunday lunch‟. It is a time that people like to spend with their family, and usually consists of a roast meat (like chicken, beef, lamb or pork), served with roast potatoes, Yorkshire pudding, vegetables and gravy (a thin sauce which is eaten with the meat).但一到星期天，英国人通常会慢慢享受一顿丰盛的午餐，这顿午餐就叫“Sunday lunch”周末午餐。

这一餐是人们和家人一起，吃的是烤肉（像是鸡肉，牛肉，羊羔肉或猪肉），烤土豆，约克郡布丁，蔬菜和肉汤。

Dinner is eaten in the evening. Children usually eat this earlier, at about 6:30 pm, though many adults eat later, between 7:00 and 8:00 or later. This is usually the main meal of the day, and a time for people to relax and enjoy a cooked meal with friends or family after a hard day at work. …Going out for dinner‟ to a restaurant is a very popular place to have a date, and some people see eating good food as a very romantic thing to do.正餐则是晚上吃的，孩子们一般会早点吃，6点30左右，而大人们会吃得晚一点，晚上7：00到8：00甚至更晚。

晚餐是一天当中最主要的一餐，也是人们在劳累了一天之后，放松自己与朋友或家人一起好好享受烹制美食的美好时光。

“下馆子”去餐馆则是很常见的约会地点，还有些人把享用一顿美餐当成一件异常浪漫的事情呢。

In the UK we have many different names for mealtimes, including …Breakfast‟, …Brunch‟, …Elevenses‟, …Lunch‟, …Tea‟, …Dinner‟ and …Supper‟! What people eat and when can vary greatly –in some parts of the UK, people may eat their meals at different times, and in some parts of the UK, …dinner‟ means …lunch‟, and …supper‟ means …dinner‟!在英国，一天中的几顿饭都有它们各自的名字，比如breakfast早餐，brunch早午餐，elevenses 午前茶，lunch午餐，tea下午茶，dinner（晚餐，正餐），supper晚饭。

什么时候该吃什么区别大着呢，在英国的某些地区，人们是在这几个不同的时间点吃饭，而在另一些地方，dinner 指的是lunch，supper就是dinner。

Although this may seem very confusing (and it is, even for British people!), many of the names are very old-fashioned, and not often used. …Elevenses‟ and …Tea‟ are examples of two old-fashioned snacks that are rarely eaten today. …Elevenses‟ is eaten at 11:00 am, consisting of cake o biscuits with a cup of tea or coffee. Two traditional characters from English children‟s books, Winnie the Pooh and Paddington Bear, used to always …take Elevenses‟! …Tea‟ is a very similar meal, and a British tradition, which involves snacking on cakes, with a cup of tea, and is normally eaten between 4:30 and 5:30 pm.看起来貌似复杂得很（事实正是如此，即使对于英国人来说也一样），很多叫法都早已过时，不怎么被人使用。

比如elevenses和tea，这两道茶点现在几乎没什么人享用了。

Elevenses 一般是在上午11：00，包括一杯一杯茶或咖啡就着蛋糕和饼干吃。

童话书《小熊维尼》和《帕丁顿熊》里的两位传统的小主角一直保留着吃午餐前茶点的习惯。

Tea下午茶相当于一小顿饭，按照英国传统，这一餐需要一杯茶伴着一些蛋糕佐食，时间一般是下午4：30到5：30之间。

However because people tend to have busy lifestyles in contemporary Britain, we only eat three main meals each day – called breakfast, lunch and dinner.但由于现在的英国人的生活通常很忙碌，他们一般一天只吃三顿主餐，分别叫breakfast，lunch 和dinner。

Nowadays, people usually eat breakfast between 7:00 am and 9:00 am. Breakfast is considered a very important meal, and is essential to having a good start to the day. In fact, once a year there is a weekly campaign called …Think Breakfast‟ to encourage people to eat better breakfast! The word …Breakfast‟ c omes from an old-fashioned phrase …breaking the fast‟ (a …fast‟ means not eating for a long period of time). So breakfast literally means eating again for the first time after sleeping through the night.英国人每天吃早餐的时间为早上7点到9点之间，早餐应是一天中非常重要的一餐，“一日之计在于早餐”。