用餐禁忌知多少: You Are How You Eat [活動]

One of the great things about traveling around the world is all of the wonderful food you get to try. Watch yourself when you start to reach for that food, though, or you just might offend someone. When it comes to table manners, what works in one country doesn’t always go over in another.

環遊世界時最棒的一件事就是你有機會品嚐到所有美味食物。不過當你伸手拿食物時可得注意囉，否則你有可能冒犯到別人喔。談到餐桌禮儀時，某個國家通行的原則到了另一個國家可不一定能得到讚同喔。

The United States has its own special dining customs that visitors should know about before sitting down to a meal. For example, when food starts to arrive, you can’t just dig in. It’s considered rude to start eating before everyone at the table has received his or her meal.

美國自有一些特殊的用餐習俗是訪客坐下來用餐前應該知道的。舉例來說，當餐點開始上桌時，你不能直接開動。在桌上每個人都拿到自己的餐點之前就開動被認為是粗魯的。

Once you start to chow down, it’s important to remember to keep your elbows off the table and keep your mouth closed as you chew. One last tip for American dining is never pick up your bowl or plate as you eat. This is considered rude beyond all belief.

當你開始吃東西時，重要的是記住不可以把手肘放在桌上，而且咀嚼時嘴巴要閉上。在美國用餐的最後一個小訣竅是吃東西時絕不可以端起你的碗或盤子。這被認為是無法置信的粗俗。

If you think Americans are picky about table manners, think about Taiwan’s customs. The list of rules is equally long. You cannot stick your chopsticks upright in your bowl of rice. Furthermore, you should never gesture with your chopsticks. For some visitors, using chopsticks is challenging enough without the rules of what you can and can’t do with them!

如果你覺得美國人對餐桌禮儀太挑剔，想想台灣的習俗吧。這裏的規矩列表也一樣冗長。你不可以把筷子垂直地插在飯碗裏。此外，你絕對不準用筷子指指點點。對某些遊客來說，即使沒有這些你可以或不可以怎麽做的規則，用筷子都已經是很有挑戰性的事囉！