又中又英｜The most important meal of the day

Some health experts believe breakfast is the most important meal of the day. This belief gained popularity in the 1960s when American nutritionist Adelle Davis claimed that to keep fit and avoid becoming overweight, people should “eat breakfast like a king, lunch like a prince, and dinner like a pauper”. A pauper is a very poor person. What Davis meant was people should have a very big breakfast, a moderate lunch, and a very small dinner. Scientific studies over the years have cast doubt on this logic. To cast doubt on something means to make people question or lose confidence in something.
I have never given credence to the belief that breakfast is the most important meal of the day. To give credence to something means to accept it or believe it is true. I only eat a few pieces of fruit and a very small bowl of cereal or oatmeal for breakfast. I treat myself to a Hong Kong-style pineapple bun on weekends. It is a pauper’s breakfast. For lunch I have a small salad and tuna fish or scrambled egg sandwich. I eat a bigger dinner with wine or whiskey but make sure I eat early to avoid going to bed too soon after eating.
I believe it’s more important to have healthy and small meals than to have a big breakfast and feel hungry after dinner. There are, of course, times I go overboard during dinner when I go to restaurants with friends. To go overboard used this way means to do too much of something, such as eating too much.

一些健康專家相信，早餐是一天中最重要的一餐。阿黛爾‧戴維斯於一九六零年代宣稱，要保持身材及避免過重，人們應該「早上吃得像國王，午餐像王子，晚餐像乞丐（pauper）」，令這個信念在當時很受歡迎。A pauper就是窮人、貧民。戴維斯的意思是，人們應該有一個非常豐盛的早餐、中等分量的午餐，以及分量非常小的晚餐。多年來卻有科學研究對此邏輯有所質疑（cast doubt on）。To cast doubt on something意即令人對某事物產生懷疑或失去信心。
我從未相信（given credence）早餐是一天中最重要一餐這個信念。To give credence to something是指去接受或相信某事物為真。我早餐只吃幾片水果，以及一碗很小的榖物或燕麥片。在周末，我會獎勵自己吃個港式菠蘿包。這是個乞丐的（pauper’s）早餐。午餐我會吃一小碗沙律，以及吞拿魚或炒蛋三文治。晚餐我會吃得較多，配以葡萄酒或威士忌，但也確保自己早點吃，免得用膳不久便上床睡覺。
我相信更重要的是吃健康而分量小的餐，多於吃個豐盛的早餐而在晚餐後感到飢餓。當然，有些時候我跟朋友上餐館吃晚餐時會go overboard——to go overboard在這裏是指某事情做得過了頭、過分熱衷，例如說吃太多了。

[email protected]
Michael Chugani褚簡寧
中譯：七刻