本期導讀
本文節選自《經濟學人》20201031期。在新加坡街頭，你也許會看到人們把諸如“印度煎餅”和叻沙面之類的美食隨便地盛放在盤子裏芭蕉葉上或把這些熱氣騰騰的美食舀到塑料碗裏，這些美食能讓人想起中國和印度的移民，因爲這些美食正是中國和印度的美食經過幾個世紀慢慢地與當地馬來人的美食進行融合的産物。
Street food in Singapore
Out with the new
The state helps old hawkers but not young ones, with predictable results
SOME COUNTRIES build palaces or temples as monuments to their greatness. Singapore builds hawker centres. In these open-air food courts lined with stalls and formica tables it is possible to taste Singapore’s history. Dolloped unceremoniously on a plate or banana leaf or scooped steaming into a plastic bowl, dishes such as roti prata and Singapore laksa conjure up the Indian and Chinese migrants whose own cuisines, slowly over centuries, mingled with that of the indigenous Malays. And since one can eat one’s fill at a hawker centre for the price of a flat white, it is no surprise that eight in ten Singaporeans visit such establishments at least once a week, according to a survey conducted by the National Environment Agency in 2018. Singapore is so proud of its street food that it hopes UNESCO will include it in its catalogue of humanity’s most precious arts.
hawker 意思是“小販，沿街叫賣者”，其動詞是hawk，指“沿街叫賣”。
monument 指“紀念碑，豐碑”，後常跟介詞to
stall 意思是“攤位，貨攤”
unceremoniously 意思是“不講禮儀地，隨便地”，unceremonious是形容詞，其反義詞是ceremonious，意思是“講究禮儀的”，其名詞是ceremony
scoop 意思是“用勺舀”
conjure up 意思是“使……呈現于腦際，使想起”
mingle with 指“與……結合，混合”
fill 在這裏用作名詞，意思是“吃飽的量”，常與形容詞性物主代詞連用（one’s fill）
flat white 指“馥芮白”，是一種咖啡，這裏強調這些攤位的美食非常便宜，僅要一杯咖啡錢就能吃飽。
catalogue 指“目錄”
The UN’s heritage inspectors had better tuck in fast. The median age of the chefs is 60. A government report published in 2017 warned that there were “too few [aspiring hawkers] to be able to sustain the hawker trade in the long run”. When old masters die, many take their recipes with them, says K.F. Seetoh, a champion of hawker food. Only Singaporean citizens can work in hawker centres managed by the government, the vast majority. But young Singaporeans have little appetite for toiling in piping-hot stalls for long hours and little pay. “It’s near impossible to get manpower for this trade,” Mr Seetoh wrote in January.
tuck in 意思是“痛快地吃”
median 意思是“中間值的，中間的”
recipe 指“食譜”
toil 意思是“（長時間）苦幹，辛勤勞作”，作名詞時意思是“苦工，勞累的工作”，類似于 travail