雅思口语话题-食物和烹饪

　　食物和烹饪一直是雅思口语中较多见的话题之一。雅思考试对于生活的贴近可见一斑。但是学生在这个话题上的发挥却常常不尽如人意。可能是我们的传统教材中很少有涉及到这个话题的，因而学生对相关的词汇较为缺乏。

　　当然，我们在描述的时候也应尽量选取较为简单的菜肴去描述，而且最好是西式菜肴。中式菜肴通常以种类繁多，烹饪复杂而著名。有时要把这样的菜介绍清楚已属不易。

　　这一类考题有以某一道菜为主要考点的：

　　◆ How do you cook this dish?

　　◆ Why is it your favorite dish?

　　也有以一顿丰盛的菜肴为主要考点的：

　　◆ What did the meal consist of?

　　◆ Was it made for a special occasion?

　　◆ Why was the meal so special?

　　还有一些考题问的是一些相关的信息，比如烹饪者、烹饪地点、共同进餐的人和喜欢烹饪或这道菜的理由。

　　◆ Who cooks your meal?

　　◆ Who do you often eat meals with?

　　◆ Where did you cook it or eat it?

　　◆ Why did you enjoy it?

　　我们先跟该书的主编沙莎老师，一起来看一道关于菜肴烹饪的话题卡：

　　{真题回放}

　　{原创范例} I am not much of a cook, but I do cook one dish well—steamed fish. It is my mom’s specialty. When I moved out of my parents’ house, I missed it so much that I asked Mom to teach me how to cook it. And now I can make restaurant quality steamed fish.

　　在这段话的开头用了让步的手法，先表明我不太会做菜，以突出我做清蒸鱼非常拿手。这个话题中会涉及到一些烹饪菜肴一类的较为专业的词汇，大家可能比较陌生。这段中specialty表示“拿手菜”。

　　{原创范例} Cooking steamed fish is super easy. But to get the most out of this recipe, make sure the fish you use is live, at least fresh. You also need ginger, spring onions, mushrooms and chili. First, clean the fish, cut the stalks of spring onions to almost 2 inch lengths, slice ginger and cut up mushrooms and chilies.

　　在这里recipe指“食谱”，而其中用到的一些动词cut…to almost 2 inch lengths, slice, cut up都是菜肴制作中较为常用的，大家需要特别注意。《每天三小时冲刺雅思口语》的主编沙莎老师指出，描述一个制作过程的时候通常少不了一些表示步骤先后的连接词，如这里的first和后文的next, after that和finally都是需要学习的。

　　{原创范例} Next, place the fish on a shallow dish and drizzle a little soy sauce and water over the fish. After that, scatter the rest of the ingredients evenly over the fish. Finally, place the dish on a rack in a wok with some water and steam it on high heat for 10-15 minutes. Serve hot and it is perfect in every way.

　　在这段中，大家需要注意的还是一些动词。drizzle指“洒（少许液体）”，scatter指“散开、撒开”，通常指固体的东西。steam … on high heat指“以高火蒸”。