By Christian Fraser, BBC reporter, Paris
The best cuisine in the world, according to France's president Nicolas Sarkozy
媒体英语会带大家一起学习BBC撰稿人在报道世界大事时常用到的单词和短语。
Background: 法国大餐将被列入联合国教科文组织非物质文化遗产代表作名录。该名录现在已收录了213 项非物质文化遗产项目，其中包括中国针灸，京剧和哥伦比亚音乐等。
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France’s submission, which sits alongside Croatian gingerbread and Azerbaijani carpet, centres mostly around the ritual itself.
How wines are paired with dishes, how the table is dressed, the precise placing of glasses for water and wine, knife blade pointing in, fork curved towards the dish, all time-honoured rituals.
One jury member said there was no major reason why France should be rejected, not even president Sarkozy's untimely assertion that when it comes to cooking, the French are the best in the world, a statement that enraged the Italians and Spaniards with whom Greece and Mexico are bidding jointly for the honour of Mediterranean diet.
There are no specific French dishes or ingredients in this entry. It centres largely on the fact the French have a tendency to talk endlessly about their food.
Glossary 词汇表 (收听发音, 请单击英语单词)
- submission申报项目
- to be paired搭配，配对
- dressed装饰
- time-honoured历史悠久的
- untimely不合时宜的
- to enrage激怒，使…愤怒
- to bid申报
- Mediterranean地中海的
- tendency趋势，倾向
- endlessly不断地，无休止地
Questions:
- 1. Give two examples of items in the Unesco list other than French dining?
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Other items include: Chinese acupuncture, the Peking Opera, Colombian music, Croatian gingerbread and Azerbaijani carpet.
- 2. Why were President Sarkozy’s comments premature?
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Because Italy, Spain, Greece and Mexico were also interested in having their cuisine included in the list.
- 3. True or false: The way a knife and fork are placed is part of the French dining ritual.
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True. The knife blade has to point in and the fork has to be curved towards the dish.
- 4. True or false: A jury member rejected the French bid to be added to the list.
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False. One jury member said that there was no reason to reject France's bid.
© MMIX