Lesson 21 – Fast Food　快餐Kuàicān

Do you like eating fast food? How many times do you eat fast food in a week? Do you know that the Americans eat the most fast food because it is fast, convenient and inexpensive? Is fast food really cheap and is it healthy? In this lesson, we are not going to talk about the nutritional value of fast food, but rather a conversation between two friends about the fast food culture affecting their eating habits.

 

In your country, are there many fast food restaurants? Let us begin this lesson by naming the fast food restaurants you know in Chinese. Mcdonald 麦当劳Màidāngláo, Kentucky Fried Chicken 肯德基Kěndéjī, Starbuck星巴克Xīngbakè, Subway 赛百味Sài bǎiwèi, Pizza Hut必胜客Bìshèngkè and many more. Which one is your most favorite?

 

Dialogue 对话Duìhuà

 

Simplified Chinese简体jiǎntǐ

王丽:   我饿了，我们去吃快餐好吗？

张云:   去哪一家好呢？

王丽:   今天我想吃鸡肉，就去肯德基吧。

张云: 好的。

 

王丽和张云一边吃，一边谈关于快餐店

 

王丽: 我发现最近快餐店越开越多。

张云: 可不是，光我们家附近就有四家。

王丽: 现在生活节奏快，吃快餐即快又便宜，吃的人当然多了。

张云: 我到不觉得快餐很便宜。人们吃是想换换口味儿和跟上潮流。

王丽: 我喜欢吃汉堡包和热狗之类的东西。你呢？

张云: 我不怎么喜欢吃快餐，又没营养又不好吃。

王丽: 张云，你太落伍了。

 

Hanyu Pinyin 汉语拼音Hànyǔ pīnyīn

Wáng lì :        Wǒ èle, wǒmen qù chī kuàicān hǎo ma?

Zhāng yún:   Qù nǎ yījiā hǎo ne?

Wáng lì :        Jīntiān wǒ xiǎng chī jī ròu, jiù qù kěndéjī ba.

Zhāng yún:   Hǎo de.

 

Wáng lì hé zhāng yún yībiān chī, yībiān tán guānyú kuàicān diàn

 

Wáng lì:         Wǒ fāxiàn zuìjìn kuàicān diàn yuè kāi yuè duō.

Zhāng yún:   Kě bùshì, guāng wǒmen jiā fùjìn jiù yǒu sì jiā.

Wáng lì:         Xiànzài shēnghuó jiézòu kuài, chī kuàicān jí kuài yòu piányi, chī de rén dāngrán duō le.

Zhāng yún:   Wǒ dào bù juéde kuàicān hěn piányi. Rénmen chī shì xiǎng huàn huàn kǒuwèi’r hé gēn shàng cháoliú.

Wáng lì:         Wǒ xǐhuan chī hànbǎobāo hé règǒu zhī lèi de dōngxi. Nǐ ne?

Zhāng yún:   Wǒ bù zě me xǐhuan chī kuàicān, yòu méi yíngyǎng yòu bù hào chī.

Wáng lì:         Zhāng yún, nǐ tài luòwǔ le.

 

English translation英语翻译Yīngyǔ fānyì

Wang Li:        I am hungry, let’s eat fast food shall we?

Zhang Yun:   Which one shall we go?

Wang Li:        I feel like eating chicken today, let’s go to Kentucky.

Zhang Yun:   OK.

 

Wang Li and Zhang Yun talked about fast food restaurants while eating.

 

Wang Li:        I noticed that there are more and more fast food restaurants nowadays.

Zhang Yun:   Absolutely. There are four fast food restaurants just my place alone.

Wang Li:            Nowadays, the pace of life is so fast, and eating fast food is not only fast but also cheap, it is no wonder there are so many people eating fast food.

Zhang Yun:       I don’t really think fast food is cheap. People eat it because they wanted to change their taste buds and also to keep up with the trend.

Wang Li:            I like things like hamburger and hot dog. What about you?

Zhang Yun:       I don’t really fancy fast food. They are neither nutritious nor tasty.

Wang Li:            Zhang Yun. You are really outdated.

 

Word usage 词语用法Cíyǔ yòngfǎ

 

1. 可不是Kě bùshì is used when you agree to what the other person is saying. It can also be used to mean not really.

 

Example 1

A:        小明今年六岁了吧？Xiǎomíng jīnnián liù suìle ba?

Xiao Ming is six this year, right?

B         可不是，明年就得上小学一年级了。Kě bùshì, míngnián jiù de shàng xiǎoxué yī niánjíle.

Exactly, he has to attend grade one next year.

 

Example 2

他可不是一个好人，最好别和他做朋友。Tā kě bùshì yīgè hǎorén, zuì hǎo bié hé tā zuò péngyǒu.

He is not really a good person, better don’t befriend him.

 

2. 光guāng is used as an adverb in the dialogue above. It means just or only in English. Here are more examples to show the usage of this word.

 

他光吃饭不吃菜。Tā guāng chīfàn bù chī cài.

He only eats rice and not the food.

 

他光说话不做事。Tā guāng shuōhuà bù zuòshì.

He only talks and not work.

 

光guāng can also be used as an adjective to mean used up. For example, 他把钱花光了。Tā bǎ qián huā guāng le. (He has used up all his money)

 

3. 即 …… 又 ……  jí …… yòu….. Not only ……. but also ……

 

彼得是一个即聪明又乖的孩子。Bǐde shì yīgè jí cōngmíng yòu guāi de háizi.

Peter is not only smart but also a well behaved child.

 

游泳是即健康又便宜的运动。Yóuyǒng shì jí jiànkāng yòu piányi de yùndòng.

Swimming is not only a healthy but also an inexpensive sport.

 

4. 又 ….. 又….. yòu ….. yòu….. Both ….. and …….　This expresses the coexistence of two cases or situations.

 

这个西瓜又甜又大。Zhège xīguā yòu tián yòu dà.

This water melon is both sweet and big / This water melon is sweet and big.

 

小明几天没冲凉了，真是又臭又脏。Xiǎomíng jī tiān méi chōngliángle, zhēnshi yòu chòu yòu zàng.

Xiao Ming has not bathe for the last few days, he is really smelly and dirty.

 

Note that the adjectival predicate after又 cannot be modified by adverbs of degree such as 最 or 很．For example, it is incorrect to say这个西瓜又很甜又很大.

 

That is all we have for this lesson. Let us not be obsessed with fast food, but rather be obsessed with our Chinese lessons. See you again!