半斤对八两，两个火锅达人的终极对决 | 原创视频

大牛：大家好，欢迎收看《文化趣问答》。我是大牛，这是我的好朋友甜甜。

Daniel: Hey everybody. Welcome to Cultural Check. It's me, Daniel. And this here is my friend, Sweet.

甜甜：大家好，我是甜甜。大牛，我听说你特别喜欢中餐是吧？

Sweet: Hi everyone, I'm Sweet. Hey Daniel, I heard that you are a big fan of Chinese food, right? 

大牛：是的，左宗棠鸡是我的最爱。

Daniel: Yes! My favorite dish is General Tsao's Chicken.

甜甜：额，可这不是真正的中餐哦。今天我亲自下厨教你做中餐。

Sweet: Well but this is not a real Chinese cuisine. I'm gonna show you how to make Chinese cuisine at home.

大牛：你还会做饭呐？我只见你点过外卖。

Daniel: You know how to cook? I've only ever seen you order waimai.

甜甜：实话实说，我的厨艺跟你的“舞技”差不多一回事儿，你懂得。

Sweet: To be honest, my cooking is just as good as your "dancing", if you know what I mean. 

大牛：我真是不太会跳舞。

Daniel: I’m not a very good dancer.

甜甜：可能咱们都“半斤八两”吧。但这道中餐是又好吃又好做。

Sweet: So maybe we're both "Ban Jin Ba Liang". But this food is very tasty and easy.

大牛：嗯……可我家厨房没食材了。咱们得去大采购，你有列食谱吗？

Daniel: But I don't have any food in my kitchen. Maybe we should go to the store. Do you have a recipe?

甜甜：有的，但是先保密哦，其实是我从网上找来的。

Sweet: Yes I do. But the shopping list is a secret. I found it on the Internet.

大牛：这是什么地方？看起来很眼熟。我是不是在电视上看到过？

Daniel: So what is this place? It looks kinda familiar. Have I seen it on TV before?

甜甜：肯定看到过，这里是三源里菜市场。这是北京著名的网红菜市场之一。很多名人都来这里买食材，只要是你说得上来的食材，都能在这里买到。

Sweet: Yes, you do. This is Sanyuanli Food Market. And this is one of the most popular food markets in Beijing. And many celebrities come here to buy the vegetables and foods. And if you name the ingredient and you'll definitely find it. 

大牛：好，出发吧！

Daniel: OK. Let's go!

甜甜：走吗？

Sweet: Shall we?

大牛：走！

Daniel: Yeah!

大牛：额，咱们买了多少牛肉啊？

Daniel: Emmm, how much beef did we get?

甜甜：有一公斤吧。

Sweet: One kilo maybe.

大牛：感觉分量不对呢。

Daniel: I don't think that's one kilo. 

甜甜：但是店家说是一公斤。

Sweet: But she shop retailer told us that's one kilo.

大牛：嗯，我有个想法。

Daniel: Emmm, I have an idea.

甜甜：啥？苍天呐！我上次看见这个物件的时候，可能都20年前了。

Sweet: What? Oh my god! The last time I saw one of these must be like 20 years ago.

大牛：我这个人吧，喜欢用自然的方式测量东西。我喜欢上面的小点点，像一组密码似的。

Daniel: Well, I like measuring things the natural way. I like the little dots. They're like a secret code.

甜甜：行啦，大侦探，给我们展示一下怎么用吧。

Sweet: OK come on, Sherlock. Maybe we have to use it?

大牛：行。

Daniel: OK. 

大牛：你行不行啊？

Daniel: You're really bad at this.

甜甜：可能咱俩都“半斤八两”吧。

Sweet: I think we're both like "Ban Jin Ba Liang". 

大牛：什么？

Daniel: What?

甜甜：字面讲就是“半斤等于8两”。

Sweet: It literally translates as "Half a Jin equals 8 Liang".

大牛：8两？不是5两吗？我在市场的时候有听到过哎。

Daniel: Eight? I thought it was five. I heard it at the market today.

甜甜：其实也对。但在古代 1斤等于16等份，每一份叫1两。

Sweet: Also correct. But in the past, 1 Jin was divided into 16 units, which were called Liang.

大牛：16份？好奇怪的数字，为什么不是10份或者5份呢。

Daniel: 16? That's a weird number. Why not 10 or 5?

甜甜：你看到秤杆上的小点点没？过去杆秤上有16个刻度，我爷爷跟我说 它们代表天上的16颗星星。

Sweet: Do you see these dots on the scale? There used to be 16 graduation marks on its arm and my grandpa once told me that they stood for 16 stars in the sky. 

大牛：那些星星和重量有关系吗？

Daniel: Did the stars have anything to do with the weight?

甜甜：有，据说如果你不诚信经营，缺斤短两，你就会失去这些星星的保佑。

Sweet: Yes, it's said that if you're not honest about weighing your product, you would lose the blessing of some of the stars. 

大牛：所以看重名誉的商家是不会缺斤短两的吧。那你为啥说咱俩是“半斤八两”呢？

Daniel: Oh, so vendors who care about their reputation would never give you short weight.  But why did you say WE are "Ban Jin Ba Liang"?

甜甜：因为这个成语真正的含义是“两者都差不多”。

Sweet: Well, that's because the idiom means two things or people are pretty much the same. 

大牛：咱们还等啥呢？开动吧！

Daniel: Well, what are we waiting for? Let's eat!

大牛：好，我开始放了哦，一个，两个，应该够辣的……仨？真的假的？

Daniel: All right. Let's do this. One, two chili peppers. That should be hot. Three ... what? 

甜甜：四个……

Sweet: four ...

大牛：你还真是喜欢吃辣，咱俩真是“半斤八两”。

Daniel: Oh, you really do like spicy food. I guess we are "Ban Jin Ba Liang".

甜甜：其实这个成语有一点消极的含义，两者之中，哪个都够呛的意思。我比较好奇，在英语里有积极含义的表达吗？

Sweet: Actually it's more of a negative expression. Neither of the two things is good enough. Just out of curiosity, what do we use to describe a more positive situation? 

大牛：我们可能会用neck-and-neck吧，不相上下。这个表达出自赛马运动中，两匹马都有望夺冠的时候，它们齐头并进的状态。

Daniel: Well, we would probably say "neck-and-neck". It comes from horse-racing where two horses are close to winning. Their necks are close to each other. 

甜甜：听得我好饿，我现在饿得能“吃下一匹马”。本期《文化趣问答》就到这里啦，拜拜！

Sweet: Well, I'm hungry. I can eat a horse maybe. Well that's it for this episode of Cultural Check. Bye!

大牛：拜拜！

Daniel: Bye!

画外音：大牛，甜甜，我们听说你们很喜欢中式火锅，特意为你们准备了一份礼物，你们绝对想不到。

Voice-over: Hey Dan, Sweet! We heard that you love Chinese hotpot so much. So we got this unbelievable present for you.

甜甜：我的天呐。

Sweet: Oh my god.

大牛：还绝对想不到的礼物？

Daniel: What? Unbelievable present?

画外音：这是个火锅口味的牙膏。

Voice-over: It's a hotpot-flavored toothpaste.

大牛：啊，这个礼物太赞了！可以说是我用过最棒的牙膏了！一开始还以为口感会不好，真是想多了。下次想吃火锅但找不到小伙伴的时候，我就去刷牙。对了，我想跟朋友们分享这个，那跟观众们能分享吗？

Daniel: Ahh ... It's awesome. It's maybe my favorite toothpaste ever actually. I couldn't believe I thought it could be gross. Next time I want hotpot but I don't have any friends to go with me, I'll be brushing my teeth. Oh yeah, I would also share this with my friends. And could I share it with someone in the audience? 

大牛：特别好用我跟你讲！注意看下方的参与活动信息哦！

Daniel: It's really good! Check the notice below.