Hello. This is 6 Minute English from BBC Learning English. I'm Phil. And I'm Beth.
大家好。这是BBC六分钟英语。我是Phil。我是Beth。
Love it or hate it, there's no doubt fast food is popular. Are you a fast food fan, Beth?
不管你喜欢还是讨厌,快餐无疑很受欢迎。你是快餐迷吗,Beth?
Erm, not really, no. I think sometimes it can be quite convenient, obviously because it's quick, but not really.
其实不是。我认为有时快餐很方便,显然是因为它很快,但事实并非如此。
Well, whatever you think about them, fast food brands like KFC, Domino's and, of course the big one, McDonald's, are incredibly successful.
无论你怎么看,像肯德基、达美乐,当然还有最大的麦当劳这样的快餐品牌都非常成功。
In this programme, we'll be discussing the global spread of fast food from its beginnings in 1950s America. As usual, we'll be learning some useful new words and phrases.
在这个节目中,我们将讨论快餐在20世纪50年代从美国开始向全球传播。像往常一样,我们将学习一些有用的新单词和短语。
But first, I have a question for you, Beth. Roughly how many fast food restaurants are there in the UK? Is it: a) 4,000? b) 42,000? or, c) four million? I'm going to go for b) 42,000.
但首先,我有一个问题要问你,Beth。英国大约有多少家快餐店?是:a)4000家?b)42000家?还是c)四百万家?我选择b)42000。
OK, well later on we'll find out the answer. In the United States, cheap and easy food like hamburgers, French fries and milkshakes have been popular since the 1950s.
好的,稍后我们会揭晓答案。在美国,汉堡包、炸薯条和奶昔等便宜又简单的食物自20世纪50年代以来一直很受欢迎。
Listen as Adam Chandler, author of the book Drive-Thru Dreams, which traces the history of American fast food, tells BBC World Service programme, The Food Chain, how it all got started:
听听亚当·钱德勒(Adam Chandler)讲述这一切是如何开始的,他是Drive-Thru Dreams一书的作者,这本书追溯了美国快餐的历史:
At the heart of the story of fast food is a very 'anyone can do this' sense.
快餐故事的核心是一种“任何人都可以做到”的感觉。
A lot of the company founders didn't have a college degree, who didn't have a high school degree in a lot of instances, didn't come from money, were oftentimes just people who were ready to plug themselves into a system that would work for them.
许多快餐公司创始人没有大学学位,在很多情况下没有高中学位,不是有钱人,往往只是愿意加入一个适合他们的系统的人。
And it did. It made opportunity very, very easy in a time when that was a new part of the American experience.
事实确实如此。在当时,机会是美国经验的一个新组成部分,快餐让机会变得非常非常容易。
So it was the American dream in a very small way, that became the American dream in a very big way.
美国梦从很小的方面变成了很大的方面。
The rise of fast food reflected the rise of American economic power after the Second World War.
快餐的兴起反映了二战后美国经济实力的崛起。
When Adam says that this lies at the heart of the story, he means it's the most important part of the story.
当亚当说这是故事的核心时,他的意思是这是故事中最重要的部分。
In the 1950s, when the famous brands we know today were just beginning, anyone with a can-do attitude could sell fast food.
在20世纪50年代,当我们今天所知道的著名快餐品牌刚刚起步时,任何有积极进取心的人都可以销售快餐。
A can-do attitude describes someone who is confident and determined to fix problems and achieve results.
积极进取的态度描述了一个有信心并决心解决问题并取得成果的人。
Which is exactly what happened at successful restaurants like Kentucky Fried Chicken and McDonald's.
这正是肯德基和麦当劳等成功餐厅所发生的事情。
For many, these fast food brands symbolised The American dream - the idea that anyone in the United States can achieve success through hard work and determination.
对于许多人来说,这些快餐品牌象征着美国梦——即美国任何人都可以通过努力工作和决心取得成功。
The success of KFC, McDonald's and the rest wasn't limited to America. Nowadays, you can visit two McDonald's on opposite sides of the planet and eat exactly the same meal.
肯德基、麦当劳等快餐品牌的成功并不局限于美国。如今,你可以在地球两端的两家麦当劳吃到一模一样的饭菜。
But not every country opened its arms in welcome – the tiny island of Iceland for one. Andie Sophia Fontaine, who used to work in McDonald's, now edits The Iceland Review.
但并非每个国家都张开双臂欢迎麦当劳——冰岛就是其中之一。曾在麦当劳工作过的Andie Sophia Fontaine现在是《冰岛评论》的编辑。
Here, she tells BBC World Service programme, The Food Chain, how McDonald's got a frosty reception when it started selling burgers in Iceland's capital, Reykjavik.
她向BBC国际服务节目《食物链》讲述了麦当劳在冰岛首都雷克雅未克开始销售汉堡时受到的冷遇。
There's been a long-standing burger culture in Iceland. They have their own take on the hamburger wherein they'll use lettuce, and raw cucumbers, and a type of fry sauce - that's called a shalpuborgari, or a shop burger, and that's been around for ages.
冰岛的汉堡文化由来已久。他们对汉堡有自己的看法,他们会使用生菜、生黄瓜和一种油炸酱——这种酱被称为shalpuborgari,或shop burger,这种酱已经存在很久了。
Yeah, so McDonald's - they struggled to try to maintain a market. The final nail in the coffin was the global financial crisis in 2008/2009.
麦当劳努力维持市场。2008/2009年的全球金融危机为麦当劳敲响了丧钟。
Iceland already had a long-standing tradition of eating burgers – a tradition that had existed for a long time.
冰岛长期以来一直有吃汉堡的传统——这一传统已经存在了很长时间。
For example, the shalpuborgari, or shop burger, was a take on – or variation of – the American hamburger.
例如,shalpuborgari,即shop burger,是对美国汉堡的一种演绎——或变体。
McDonald's weren't as successful in Iceland as they'd been elsewhere. And the global financial crash of 2008 was the final nail in the coffin, an event which caused the failure of something that had already started to go wrong.
麦当劳在冰岛并不像在其他地方那么成功。2008年的全球金融危机是压垮麦当劳的最后一根稻草,这一事件导致已经开始出现问题的事物失败。
To this day there are no McDonald's in Iceland, unlike Britain, which reminds me of your question, Phil.
直到今天,冰岛还没有麦当劳,不像英国,这让我想起了你的问题,Phil。
Yes. I asked you how many fast food restaurants there are in Britain. I asked you if there were 4,000, 42,000 or four million. And of course, the answer is 42,000 so you were right, well done!
是的。我问你英国有多少家快餐店。我问你有4000家、42000家还是400万家。当然,答案是42000家,所以你是对的,做得好!
OK, let's recap the vocabulary we've learned, starting with at the heart of, meaning the most important part, or the cause, of something.
好的,让我们回顾一下我们学过的词汇,从at the heart of开始,意思是某事最重要的部分或原因。
If you say that someone has a can-do attitude, you mean they are confident to take action, fix problems and deal with new challenges.
如果你说someone has a can-do attitude,意思是他们有信心采取行动,解决问题并应对新挑战。
The American dream is the belief that everyone in the USA has the opportunity to be successful and happy if they work hard.
The American dream是相信只要努力工作,美国的每个人都有机会获得成功和幸福。
The adjective, long-standing means having existed for a long time. A take on something means a variation, or new way of presenting it.
形容词long-standing表示已经存在了很长时间。A take on something表示一种变化,或者一种新的呈现方式。
And finally, the idiom, the final nail in the coffin, refers to an event that causes the final end of something that had already started to fail.
最后,习语the final nail in the coffin指的是导致已经开始失败的事情最终结束的事件。
Once again, our six minutes are up, but why not head over to the BBC Learning English website where you'll find a worksheet and quiz especially for this programme. See you there soon! Goodbye!
六分钟又到了,但为什么不去BBC Learning English网站,在那里你可以找到专门为这个节目准备的活页练习题和测验。很快在那里见!再见!