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.