2017年12月大学英语四级翻译练习：筷子

2017年12月大学英语四级翻译练习：筷子

　请将下面这段话翻译成英文：

　　中国人使用筷子就餐的方式在世界上独树一帜。有史记载用筷的历史已有三千多年。筷子古时称为箸，它看似简单，但却同时具有夹、拨、挑、扒、拌、撮、戳、撕等多种功能。中国民间视筷子为吉祥之物，如婚俗中将筷子隐喻为快生贵子的祝福等。与使用刀叉以及手抓的 方式不同，成双结对的筷子含有“和为贵“的意蕴。西方人赞誉筷子是古老的东方文明。

　　与其他民族一样，中国最初的食用方法也是“以手奉饭”，也就是用手抓，或用手撕，至于使用筷子、叉、刀、匙等进餐用具，则都是较晚的方法。其中，筷子是中国进餐习俗中的一绝，至今已有数千年的历史。

　　筷子是日常生活中经常用到的一种进餐工具，也是中国人进餐时的必备用具。古代称为“箸”，今俗称筷子。中国人什么时候开始使用筷子进餐的，已经无从查起。最初的记载是在2000年前所编辑的一本叫做《礼记》的书中。

　　参考翻译:

　　Chinese Chopsticks The Chinese way of eating with chopsticks is unique in the world. The recorded history of chopsticks started more than three thousand years ago. Chopsticks were named zhu in ancient Chinese. They look deceptively simple to use, but possess multi-various functions, such as clamping, turning over, lifting up, raking, stirring, scooping, poking, tearing, and so on. Chopsticks were taken as an auspicious mascot by ordinary people in ancient China. For example, the partial tone of chopsticks is often used by people as a metaphor at weddings to indicate a blessing or benediction for the couple to have a baby soon. Unlike using a knife and fork or one’s own hands, a pair of chopsticks also implies the meaning of “Harmony is what matters”. Chopsticks are highly praised by Westerners as a hallmark of ancient oriental civilization.

　　Similar to people of other nationalities, ancient Chinese people grasped or tore food with their bare hands at the beginning. Chopsticks, forks, knives and spoons were used much later, of which chopsticks, with a history of thousands of years, are a wonder of Chinese dining utensils.

　　Chopsticks are the dining utensils most frequently used in Chinese people’s daily life. In ancient china, they were called zhu. When the Chinese began to use chopsticks as an eating instrument is anybody’s guess. They were first mentioned in writing in Liji(The Book of Rites), a work compiled some 2000 years ago.