12月 21 2007
How to eat an orange, politely
BBC 新剧 Cranford (2007) 中，充满着精彩片段和金言警句。比如第一集中的 ‘suck the orange’ 事件，以后将会成为电视经典镜头。
Mary: At home, we make a little hole in our oranges, and we suck them.
Miss Deborah: …
Miss Matty: That’s the way I like to take them best. But Deborah says it is vulgar, and altogether too redolent of a ritual undertaken by, by little babies.
Miss Matty: My sister does not care for the expression ‘suck‘.
Mary: ….
Deborah: We will repair to our rooms…and consume our fruit in solitude.
当然，演员的演出比上面的文字有趣得多。其中 ‘repair to our rooms’ 这个表达方式我还没有在现代语境中看到。
在 《泰晤士报》上，还真有读者询问如何 the polite way to eat an orange。《泰晤士报》“现代礼仪”栏目的 Pilip Howard 的回答是象削苹果皮一样把皮削掉，然后切成小块。读者的回答中，有一条据说是从中国人身上看来的：
I have seen some Chinese gentlemen eating oranges at table by using a sharp knife to cut them into four segments, from top to bottom. Each segmemnt can then be picked up in one hand and eaten easily and cleanly.
