2014-09-28

【Aiden in English】

        I love spicy Chinese food. It fills me in warmth and melts away any of my worries. I could just feel the spice burn the mouth with flavor. But there's a catch. Oh, yes, a very big catch. Sometimes, I overestimate my limits and somewhat burn my mouth. So I must eat at my own risk. Other than that, I didn't care about the burn in the food.

        With that said, Mom and I had a dinner with a bunch of friends from Guanghua Chinese School at Bamboo, a Szechuan restaurant in PA this Sunday. Szechuan has the best type of spice, and it is hot. Unfortunately, not everyone eats the hot food. I mean, come on, there's an 8-year old girl named Katie who ate anything but spicy food.

        Spice tasted really bad to her. When the first dish "Homemade Spicy Beef Jerky" appeared on the table, Katie got hold of it first. She was also the first to scream. The sound sliced through the air like a knife through butter and she spit the food out as if it was poisonous. And she sat there for 10 minutes, with her arms crossed, rejecting any comment that came in her way.

        Meanwhile, I was digging into my plate and the heaps of food appearing on the table. As soon as one plate of food was finished, two more filled its place. So I just kept chewing down stuff as fast as stomach would let me. I went on this pace up for about three minutes, and at the end, my insides were stuffed from top to bottom. Uhh, that felt great. The fiery intensity of the hot food was still tingling my tongue.

        Eventually, Katie got a plate of fried green beans as expected and she turned out all right. The rest of the night was filled with laughter and chatting. It looked absolutely awesome. At last, when everyone had eaten all that stomach could tolerate, and goodbyes where said, I thought, maybe next time, I should just stick to eating spice food slowly.

【红霞译文】

        我喜爱中国麻辣菜肴，既沁人心脾，又消愁解闷。只要什么东西沾上麻辣，我顿觉余香绕梁，大有燎原之势。但螳螂捕蝉，黄雀在后。没错，麻辣饮食隐患重重。有时我不知天高地厚，辣得喉咙冒烟嘴巴窜火，简直自找苦吃。除此之外，我并不忌讳麻辣。

        话说至此，今天星期日，我和妈妈与光华中文学校的朋友们应约来到宾州一家四川餐馆“蜀苑”共进晚餐。川菜可谓集浓烈调料之大成，尤以麻辣著称。遗憾的是，并非人人欣赏麻辣美味。瞧，眼前这位年仅八岁的女孩苗霖虽不挑食，但对麻的小吃辣的馔玉却一概嗤之以鼻。

        苗霖真的吃不惯麻辣。当第一道“麻辣牛筋”送上桌时，她近水楼台最早尝鲜，哪知领先发出尖叫。尖叫声响彻上空，犹如一把利刀插入黄油膏，食物纷纷从口中喷出，好像吃了什么有毒东西。这时，苗霖坐着原地，两臂交叉，前后足有十分钟，辣得一句话也说不出来。

       同时，我则趁机大快朵颐盘中美食，饕餮筵席八珍。刚吃完一盘，又上来另外两盘。此刻胃口有多大，我的嘴巴就有多忙。连续捣饬了三分钟之后，我浑身上下已撑得圆鼓隆咚。呃哈，甭提有多爽，尽管舌头被辣得火烧火燎。

        末了，苗霖终于如愿以偿吃上了盼望已久的干煸四季豆。随后，整个“蜀苑”洋溢着一片欢声笑语，男女老少皆大欢喜。告别时刻，我禁不住在想，也许下回自己应该放慢点享用麻辣食物的节奏。