1221周五Ask树华：美国人为啥喜欢聊政治呢？

微信：JoshShuhua

Andy

Hi, Josh! What have you been up to these days? Today, I’ve got a very funny question for you, and you know, maybe this last Ask 树华 of this season in 2018. Thanks for your whole year’s instruction and sharing!

哈喽，树华！你最近都在干嘛？今天我有个很搞笑的问题想问你，今年2018最后的Ask树华。谢谢你这一年的教育与分享！

OK! Are you ready? Let’s go!
好的！准备好了吗？走起！

Well, suppose we were here in an American restaurant – a fast food restaurant, more specifically - and the waiter or waitress provides you with the following three: burger, sandwich, and hoagie. So, what’s the difference between these three, and which one is your favorite? Thank you!

那么，假如我们在一个美国的餐厅–一个快餐厅，具体来说–然后服务员给你三个选择：汉堡，三明治，和英雄三明治。所以，这三个有什么区别，而且你喜欢哪个？

Thanks, Andy!

谢谢，Andy!

Ok, first of all, what kind of restaurant is this? What a ridiculous menu! Burger, sandwich, and hoagie. That’s it? How have you not closed already?

好的，首先，这是什么样的餐厅？菜单那么神奇！汉堡、三明治、和英雄三明治。就这么多吗？你怎么还没关门呢？

OK. Well, first of all, the difference between burgers, sandwiches, and hoagies. Let’s start with sandwiches. Any food that is between two pieces of bread is a sandwich. Period. Burgers are sandwiches. Hoagies are sandwiches. Paninis are sandwiches. Cubanos are sandwiches. BLTs are sandwiches. There are lots of different kinds of sandwiches.

那么，首先，咱们说一下汉堡、三明治、和英雄三明治的区别。从三明治开始吧。任何在两块面包中间的食物都是三明治。就这么简单。汉堡是三明治、英雄三明治是三明治、帕尼尼是三明治、古巴家伙是三明治、BLT是三明治。三明治分很多种。

Burgers are round sandwiches with a big patty of ground beef. That’s a hamburger. If someone tells you, “This is a chicken hamburger!” that person is an idiot. I don’t care if Chinese KFC says it has 鸡肉汉堡. In English, if it’s not a sandwich with a big patty of ground beef on it’s not a hamburger. End of story.

汉堡是中间夹着牛肉饼的圆形三明治。那就是个汉堡。如果别人告诉你“这是个肌肉汉堡！”那么那个人是个傻子。中国的肯德基爱怎么说我不管，反正英语中，如果没有牛肉饼的话，就不是汉堡。这件事说完了。

Hoagies are long sandwiches. The bread is long and round, like a tube. That’s the only difference between a hoagie and another kind of sandwich – it’s long and round. Some people call them hoagies, some people call them subways or subs, some people call them other things. In fact, the restaurant Subway赛百味is called that because all of their sandwiches are sub sandwiches.

英雄三明治是长长的三明治。它的面包又长又圆，跟个管子一样。那就是英雄三明治和其他三明治之间的区别：就是长长圆圆的。有的人叫它们hoagie，有的人叫它们“地铁三明治”或者sub，有的人有其他的叫法。其实，赛百味那个餐厅的名字就来自subway三明治这个说法，因为他们所有三明治都是地铁三明治。

So if a waiter or waitress said, “Would you like a burger, a sandwich, or a hoagie?” I would say, “Shut up. Why are you a waiter if you don’t know anything about sandwiches? Anyway, I’m trying to lose weight, so just give me a salad.”

所以如果服务员说“你想要汉堡、三明治、或者英雄三明治？”我会说，“闭嘴。你这么不懂三明治怎么能做服务员呢？反正我减肥了，给我来个沙拉吧。”

Agoda

Hi, Josh! I have a question. Um, do American people talk about politics every day?

哈喽，树华！我有个问题。啊，美国人每天都聊政治吗？

Hi, Agoda! Yeah, lately, lots of Americans talk about politics almost every day. Ever since about 2004, Americans have been talking about politics more and more. Since 2016, Americans have been talking about politics a lot. I just checked online, and a lot of websites say that many Americans are finding ways to keep from talking to people outside of their home or their job, just because they feel that they will have to talk about politics, and people might become impolite.

哈喽，啊沟达！嗯，最近很多美国人都是天天了聊政治。从大概2004开始，美国人越来越习惯聊政治的事情。从2016年，美国人习惯一直聊政治。我刚才网上查了一下，发现有些报告说很多美国人就是在找办法避开除了家里和办公室里的人，就是因为他们害怕跟别人聊政治，就容易变得很不舒服、不文明。

To Americans, talking about politics often feels like talking about our deepest beliefs. Gay marriage, immigration, education, charity, economic fairness; all of these are political issues. For some people, like immigrants or gays, these issues can be very, very, very personal. That’s why it’s so easy for people to get angry or upset when talking about politics. A lot of families have rules like, “No talking about politics during dinner!” or “No talking about politics at Thanksgiving!” because that’s the only way to keep things peaceful.

对美国人来说，聊政治就等于聊自己最基础的想法和原则。同性婚姻、移民、教育、公益、经济公平；这些都是政治问题。对一些人，包括同性恋或者移民，这些话题是非常非常敏感。那是很多人聊政治就容易生气的原因。很多家庭有一些规定，比如说“吃完饭的时候不许聊政治”或者“感恩节时不许聊政治”，就是因为这是唯一保持和谐的办法。

I’m really worried about this, to be honest. People need to be able to get along with each other in order for society to be peaceful. Right now, too many news stations and newspapers can make a lot of money by making people excited about politics, so they keep trying to make Americans more and more passionate about their own politics. I firmly believe that’s bad for society. That’s one of the reasons why I don’t talk about politics here on my show. I want to keep it chill, comfortable, and peaceful for everybody.

心里话，这个情况让我很担心。人跟人之间需要和谐，社会才能和谐。现在，太多电视新闻和报纸可以通过刺激人民而挣大钱，所以它们不断地让美国人越来越想竞争政治的事情。我坚信这样对社会不好，那就是我在自己的节目里不聊政治。我想为所有人保持一个轻松的、舒服的、和谐的环境。

Agoda

Another question: what do you think of organic food? It’s a hot topic in America. Thank you!

还有一个问题：你对有机食物有什么想法？在美国是个热门话题。谢谢！

That’s a good question, but the answer is that I don’t often think about organic food. The last time I was living in the USA, I was in graduate school, so I didn’t have the money to buy expensive, fancy things like organic food. I always just bought rice and frozen vegetables, then boiled the rice and steamed the vegetables at the same time. I also drank really cheap Chilean wine... and sometimes I got cheap chicken sandwiches from KFC, because that was almost cheaper than buying chicken at the grocery store. Come to think of it, that was a terrible time!

这个问题很好，但是我的回答就是：对有机食物没啥想法。我上次在美国生活就是考毕业生的时候，当时没钱买那些很贵的、很有B格的类似于有机食物的东西。我平常就买大米和冰冻的菜，然后煮饭的同时就把菜给蒸了。当时也喝了特备便宜的智利葡萄酒。。。有时候也会买特别便宜的KFC鸡肉三明治，因为它们就便宜到比在超市买鸡肉还要划算。现在想起来的话，就知道当时过得特别糟糕！（哈哈哈）

The thing about organic food is that it’s expensive, and it isn’t necessarily much healthier for you than other food. In the USA, poor people are fatter than rich people because healthy food is expensive. That’s just really, really weird to me, and it’s very unfortunate. Also, lots of food that is sold as “organic” isn’t necessarily organic at all. Some grocery stores just label food “organic” because then they can sell it for more money. It’s ridiculous!

关于有机菜品，它不仅贵，而且不一定比没有机菜品健康对了。在美国，穷人比富人还要胖，就是因为健康菜品更贵。我觉得这样非常奇怪、非常遗憾。还有，很多超市会把普通的菜品标为有机菜品，就因为有机的卖的更贵。疯了吧！

But the truth is, it’s just hard to keep this many human beings alive on the planet. Our cities are so big that it’s hard to get good, clean, healthy food to all the people living inside. To be honest, I’m not sure that we’re ever going to solve this problem. I’m not sure there will ever be a way to keep so much food so fresh for so many people without using pesticides or other chemicals.

可是现实是：在我们这个地球上养活这么多人确实很难。我们的城市好大，把好的、干净的、健康的菜品送到所有的城里的人很难。说实话，我不确定我们人类会解决这个问题。我不确定我们以后会发明一种不依靠农药或者其他的化学品的菜品制作方法。

So, uh, welcome to the world we live in, I guess! It’s big and it’s loud and it’s often very dirty, but I guess it’s not ALL bad. After all, it gave me the opportunity to meet you here on Himalaya. Hi! It’s nice to meet you!

所以，啊，看来这就是我们的世界！好大好吵有时好好脏，但是反过来说也不是完全废了的。毕竟这个世界让我在喜马拉雅上认识到你们。你好！很高兴认识你哦！