来，尝尝我们的…… / Please try one of these ...
容易混淆的两个词 我有个外国朋友，很多年前曾在台湾学习过一年级的中文课程，她讲了一个这样的故事：她的中文女老师曾在班上讲过古代中国皇帝的生活方式。 由于是初级课程，老师用英语讲课。 她谈到，皇帝有在皇宫里养小妾（concubine）的习俗。 她对学生说：“皇帝有很多美丽的黄瓜（cucumber），但最宠爱其中一个。” 学生们花了好一阵子才明白，皇帝其实不是古怪的蔬菜恋物狂。 还有一个故事，是关于北京的一个导游的，他犯了同样的错误，但方向相反。 70年代中期，在一个为一批左翼外国游客举行的告别宴会上，这位年青的导游给坐在他旁边的一位男性游客献上一盘黄瓜，说：“来，尝尝我们的美味小妾。” 那位游客以为，这个建议不是在测试他的人品，就是一个陷阱，他坚决拒绝了这个建议，并大声宣布：我永远不会找一个中国小妾！ |
English as a Second Language : Two Words Easily Confused
A foreign friend who took a first-year Chinese language course in Taiwan many years ago tells the story of his Chinese teacher telling her class about the lifestyles of the Chinese emperors in ancient times. Because it was beginning level Chinese class, the teacher was speaking in English. She was talking about the emperors’ habit of keeping concubines at the Imperial court. She told her students “The emperor had many beautiful cucumbers, but only one favorite. ” It took the students awhile to realize that this was not some bizarre vegetable fetish. There is also the story about a young tour guide in Beijing who made the same mistake, in reverse. At a farewell banquet for a group of leftwing foreign visitors in the mid-70s, the young tour guide offered the male traveler sitting next to him a plate of cucumbers and said: “Here, try one of our delicious concubines.” The tourist, thinking this offer might be intended as a test of his character or some form of entrapment, emphatically declined and loudly declared he would never take a Chinese concubine. |
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