Dialogue and Translation for Exercise 3 An American tourist (A) visiting a train engine factory in the north of China stops in at the kitchen of the factory dining hall and talks with the chef (B). A: Dà shlfu, mángzhe na? B: Bù máng, bù máng, Jìnlai zuò, wō gěi nimen chāole liāngge xiāo cài, qing nimen chángchang. A:   Wǒmen zài lìngwài yige shítáng chīguo fàn le, chide hāo bāo. B: Zài bāo yě děi chángchang, zhèi shi tángcùde, wō zhīdao nimen xīhuan chī. A: Wǒ Jide wō zài nār chīguo, duì le, shi zài Huáshèngdùnde yíge Zhōngguó fànguānrli, měicì qù wō dǒu qīng tamen zuò zhèige. B: Xīhuan chī Jiu bā ta dōu chile ba! Nī gāngcái shuōde nèige fàn-guānr shi Shànghǎi fànguānr ma? - A: Shi. Hòulái wō líkāi dōngbù Jiu zài yě méi chīguo nàme hāochlde cài le. - B: Lái, bā ta dōu xiāomièle, wān-shang wō zài gěi nimen zuò biéde. You must be very busy, chef. No, no, come in and sit down. I made a couple of little stir-fried dishes for you. Please try them. We’ve already eaten in another dining hall. We’re very full. No matter how full you are you must try them. This one is sweet and sour, I know you people like that. I remember having this somewhere. Oh yes, it was in a Chinese restaurant in Washington. Whenever I went there I used to ask them to make this. If you like it, then eat it all! Is the restaurant you Just mentioned a Shànghǎi-style restaurant? Yes. Later I left the east and never had such delicious food again. Come on, polish it off. Tonight I’ll make you some other things. A: Xièxie nín, dà shīfu. Nín bú shi zhèrde rén ba? B: Bú shi, wō shi Wúxī rén. - A: Zài Chang Jiang yīběi? - B: òu, nl gāocuò le, Chángjiàng yinán! A:   Wō fáxiàn Jiāngnán rén xihuan tiánde hé làde. Thank you. Chef, you’re not from this area, are you? No, I’m from Wúxī. North of the Yangtze River? Oh, you’ve got it wrong, south of the Yangtze! I notice that people from Jiāngnán Cthe area south of the lower reaches of the Yangtze] like sweet foods and hot foods. 'B:   Zhèi dào shi duìde. WSmen Jiāng nán rén zuò cài bú shi tiánde Jiù shi làde. - A: Nīmen shítáng měitiān yòng zhème duō cài, dōu shi cōng fújìn gǒngshè màide ma? - B: Náli?.’ Wénhuà Dà Gémìng yīqián wōmen zhèige zhìzàochàng hé biéde dà cháng yíyàng, dōu yōu zìjīde nōngchàng. càidì shenmede. Dà shítángde cài bú yòng shuō le, Jiù shi yòuéryuán háizimen chide shuī-guō shenmede yé dōu shi zìjī zhòngde. A:   Hòulái ne? B: Hòulái, Wénhuà Dà Gémìng le, nōngchàng, càidì dōu bèi gàode luànqībāzāo, chide dōngxi zhēn Jīnzhǎng, yú a, ròude bú yòng shuō le, lián cài dōu bú gòu chī le. That’s true enough. When we people from Jiāngnán cook, if it isn’t sweet then it’s hot. You use so much food here in your dining hall, do you buy it all from the neighboring communes? Oh, no! Before the Cultural Revolution our factory had its own farm, vegetable plots, and so on, as other large factories did. Of course, we grew the food used in the large dining halls, but we even grew all the fruits and things the children in the kindergartens ate. And then? Then it was the Cultural Revolution, and the farm and vegetable plots were ruined. Food was in very short supply. Fish and meats were of course tight, but there weren’t even enough vegetables . A:   Xiànzài hlo le. Now it’s better. B: Yī Jiú qī qī nián, cháng līngdào In 1977, the factory leadership hàozhāo quánchàng gōngren gaohāo appealed to all the factory’s workers shěnghuō, nōngchàng a, yúch&ng a, to improve daily living conditions, you bànqilai le, qíngxing Jiu hào-   We started the farm and the fishery duō le. Nī kàn, zènme duō cài,      again, and things were much better. *The reason for the phrasing of this sentence is that the food used in the large dining halls (that is, where the workers eat) is of relatively low quality, while the fruits and foods for the kindergarten children are of a fancier grade. The chef thus means, "We didn’t Just grow low quality foods, we even grew fancy things.’’ chàbuduō dōu shi zìjī shēngchānde, you piányi you xīnxian, duō hāo! - A: Shíjiān bù zāo le, an jìhua wōmen hái dei qù cānguān yìliāngge dìfang ne! - B: Hāo, hui tour jiàn. A:   Hui tōur jiàn. See all these vegetables, we produced almost all of them ourselves. They’re inexpensive, and fresh, too. What could be better. It’s getting late, and according to our schedule we’re supposed to visit another couple of places’. All right. See you later. See you later.