今年元宵节你吃的是“汤圆”还是“元宵”？

作者：碳包 2018-12-13 09:00

双语中文英语

元宵节就要到啦！说到元宵节，说到底最重要的还是和家人、朋友们分享那一碗汤圆了，节日的味道都浓缩在这一个个白乎乎的团子里，少了它就少了那专属的味道。但是到我们碗里来的那软趴趴的白胖子到底是“汤圆”还是“元宵”呢？

Chinese New Year festivities will finally come to an end on Saturday with the Lantern Festival. It's a time for people to enjoy delicious glutinous rice balls with their families, friends and lovers.

新春佳节在本周六随着元宵节的到来，终于是接近尾声了。对人们来说，元宵节是与家人、朋友和爱人享受美味汤圆的时刻。

Tips

1）Chinese New Year festivities

一般来说，Chinese New Year指的是春节这一天，也就是正月初一。festivity表示欢庆、庆典的意思，作为复数使用的话则可以用来指节日。所以Chinese New Year festivities我们可以用来表达“新春佳节”的意思。

2）come to an end

“来到了末尾”，也就是指“接近尾声”“结束、完结、告终”等意思了。

e.g. Flowers fade when they come to an end. 花儿开过就凋谢了。

3）glutinous rice ball

glutinous，表示“粘的，粘性的”等意思，所以也就衍生有了“糯米的”含义，因此glutinous rice指的就是糯米，而glutinous rice ball就是糯米团子了。

Yuanxiao and tangyuan are the traditional food that people eat on Lantern Festival. They are boiled glutinous rice balls with stuffing. People in north China make yuanxiao by rolling a hard stuffing in glutinous rice flour. In south China, tangyuan is prepared by placing the filling inside rice flour wrapping, similar to the making of jiaozi. Popular stuffings people usually use include fragrant mashed peanut, black sesame and mashed red bean and cane sugar.

元宵和汤圆是人们在元宵佳节吃的传统食品，煮好的、有馅儿的糯米团子。在中国北方的人们，把硬硬的馅儿放在糯米粉里翻滚做成元宵；南方的人们做汤圆则是把馅儿放在糯米粉里包起来，有点儿像包饺子。人们爱用的一些馅儿有香味浓郁的花生糊，黑芝麻，红豆沙和蔗糖。

Tips

这里有两个表示“馅儿”的用法，stuffing和filling。stuff和fill作为动词，都有“填充”的意思，fill有“填满”的倾向，stuff则是“填塞”的感觉。使用动词-ing作名词的形式，则是“填充物、填料”的含义，所以可以用来指代“馅儿”。

There is a little difference between yuanxiao and tangyuan. Yuanxiao is usually made fresh and eaten within 24 hours, while tangyuan can be frozen and kept for a longer period. People that won't bother to make handmade tangyuan can purchase it in most supermarkets.

元宵和汤圆之间有一些小的区别。元宵通常是现做，在一天里就吃了；而汤圆可以冰冻，并保存更长的期限。不想费心自己做汤圆的人则可以在大多数的超市里购买到。