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一如正離子和負(fù)離子相輔相成,不善烹飪的我和如同美食家的她,在試做與試吃之間,也漸漸達(dá)成了某種平衡。
By Joan Donaldson
星靨 選注
Following my sophomore year of college, an older woman hired me to be a housekeeper at her summer cottage on Lake Michigan.[1] Miss Bartow had been one of the first American women to earn a doctorate in chemistry and had taught that subject at the University of Illinois. Every summer she traveled north to Michigan.
While studying for final exams, I daydreamed about her private beach, until suddenly other thoughts rippled[2] through my mind. Housekeepers must cook; Miss Bartow would expect me to produce three meals a day. I scribbled a note to her explaining that I only knew how to make pancakes, chocolate chip cookies, and grilled cheese sandwiches, but I would try to cook what she liked.[3]
Miss Bartow wrote back, “You’re a geologist[4]; cooking is like chemistry.”
Mostly what I could remember from geochemistry was how ions shared their electrical charges in order to create stable situations.[5] While writing out the chemical formula for the mineral pyrite (FeS2), my professor had pointed out that when the iron and sulfur bonded, their charges balanced each other.[6]
I felt like a negative ion desperately seeking a positive ion.[7] But too soon, the big day came, and I moved to the cottage.
Miss Bartow handed me The Joy of Cooking. “Study this, and you’ll learn to cook.”
Sitting on my beach towel, I read her cookbook, but the mass of recipes was overwhelming and the symbols confusing.[8] Even worse, to create a dish, such as cabbage rolls, I had to flip to various sections in order to reference the techniques necessary.[9]
I stared at the waves. I needed easy recipes for main dishes, and I needed them now.
I called my mother. “Could you please send me some simple recipes, and could you please ask the women at church for some, too?”
Throughout my childhood, a cluster of surrogate aunts from my church had nurtured me.[10] Mary DeBuck had introduced me to quilting[11]. While cleaning up after church suppers, Mrs. Stankowitz had listened to me ramble on[12] about school, and Mrs. Carlson had encouraged me to write. Mrs. Means had even accompanied our youth group on a work camp to a Navajo reservation and had spread her sleeping bag among our gaggle of teenage girls.[13] Like my parents, these women wanted me to succeed in life.
My mother sent a stash[14] of recipe cards, and letters from her women friends arrived. Sometimes I had to copy handwritten recipes into my new notebook. Some people sent recipes clipped from magazines that featured “cooking for two.”
I tried Peg Bullock’s chicken casserole[15] and re-created my mother’s potato salad. I kept reading and experimenting. Miss Bartow never complained. I suppose it was because she had taught undergraduates for decades. She was used to being patient.
One August evening, I placed a small salmon pie[16] in front of her. Steam rose from the biscuit topping, and the white sauce oozed over the glass dish.[17] Miss Bartow sniffed[18]. The air smelled of celery and butter.
“One of my favorite dishes! from The Joy of Cooking,”she said.
“Page 241,” I chirped, and buttered a biscuit.[19]
Miss Bartow was right. Cooking was like chemistry, and thankfully the women of my church had provided a diligent undergrad with the necessary resources to successfully balance the culinary equation.[20]
Vocabulary
1. sophomore: 大學(xué)二年級;housekeeper: 女管家;cottage: 小別墅;Lake Michigan: 密歇根湖,北美洲五大湖之一。
2. ripple: 感覺等擴(kuò)散。
3. 我草草寫下一個紙條,向她解釋我只會做烙餅、巧克力奇普餅和烤奶酪三明治,但我會盡量做她喜歡的。
4. geologist: 地質(zhì)學(xué)家。
5. 我能記得的地球化學(xué)主要就是離子如何共享其電荷以創(chuàng)造其穩(wěn)定位置的。
6.在寫出礦物黃鐵礦(二硫化亞鐵)的化學(xué)公式時,我的教授就指出:當(dāng)離子和硫磺相結(jié)合時,它們的電荷會彼此達(dá)成平衡。
7. 我覺得自己就像一個正在拼命尋找正離子的負(fù)離子。
8. recipe: 菜譜;confusing: 令人迷惑的。
9. 更糟糕的是,為了做一道菜,譬如甘藍(lán)卷,我不得不翻查該書的多個地方以參考必要的技術(shù)。
10. surrogate: 代理人,代用品;nurture: 養(yǎng)育,照顧。
11. quilt: v. 縫被子。
12. ramble on: 閑聊,漫談。
13. Navajo reservation: 瓦侯保護(hù)區(qū),瓦侯族人口約25萬,維持著放牧的生活方式,是目前美國殘余印地安人中最大的一族;gaggle: 〈口〉散亂的一群。
14. stash: 儲存。
15. casserole: 焙盤菜,砂鍋菜。
16. salmon pie:鮭魚派。
17. 蒸汽從松餅頂端冒出來,還有白色的醬汁從玻璃餐盤中溢出來。Ooze: (濃液等)緩緩流出,滲出。
18. sniff: 以鼻吸氣,嗅。
19. chirp: 尖聲地說,嘖嘖咂嘴;butter: 抹黃油于……上。
20. diligent: 勤奮的;undergrad: 〈口〉大學(xué)肄業(yè)生,(尚未取得學(xué)位的)大學(xué)生;culinary equation: 烹飪方程式。
(來源:英語學(xué)習(xí)雜志 編輯:丹妮)
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