5 . In the West you can order any Chinese food with only 10 words of Chinese (the numbers 0 to 9) as everything on a Chinese takeaway menu is numbered! However, most takeaway staff in the West speak English and Cantonese, not Mandarin, so efforts to be cross-cultural tend to fall flat. In China, by contrast, ordering food can be a real cultural experience, and there are no English speaking staff to help often or even English menus, and certainly no numbers.
When arriving in a restaurant, after sitting down at the table, and a pot of tea has been served, the next thing that will arrive is the menu. If the menu has pictures, you are in luck as this offers an easy way to order. Just point to what you want and say yi fen. In northern China ‘one portion’ is pronounced yi fenr. You could also do the same if you see someone else eating something you would like by pointing at their food. However, although people will usually excuse you for being foreign, this is a little impolite and strange.
Some Chinese menus, particularly in big restaurants or those that have a Western theme, have English menus. This is the ideal situation, but be ware-sometimes the English is incorrect factually, quite apart from the Chinglish and spelling mistakes. In English menu restaurants the staff will still often not be able to speak English, so you will still have to point at the menu and say yi fen as above. If you have a phrase book with you or an ability to remember Chinese characters, then you could point to the Chinese for the food you want.
Typically one more dish is ordered than there are people eating, but this often leaves food spare. The Chinese custom is always to order too much to show generosity and hospitality. A dish per person is usually enough. There is a Chinese superstition about the number 4, as it sounds like the word for death in Chinese, so four dishes are seldom ordered. Largely such customs are ignored now apart from on special occasions, and Westerners would certainly not be expected to follow them.
1. What does the underlined phrase “fall flat” in paragraph 1 probably mean?
| A．Meet expected goal. | B．Work out well . | C．Break into pieces. | D．Come to nothing. |
2. Which is the last choice for a foreigner to order food?
| A．Pointing to the food pictures in the menu. |
| B．Pointing at some else’ food on anther table. |
| C．Referring to a phrase book he carries about . |
| D．Remembering Chinese characters carefully. |
3. Why does Chinese always order more food than needed?
| A．To show the host’s hospitality. | B．To avoid the unpopular numbers. |
| C．To praise a chef’s satisfying work. | D．To stress the excellence of the food. |
4. Which can be a suitable title for the text?
| A．A Real Culture Experience in China. | B．How to Remember Chinese Characters. |
| C．A Well Designed Page about Chinese Food. | D．How to Order Food in Restaurants in China. |
