又中又英｜Rice Burgers

又中又英｜Rice Burgers

I have visited many countries but never saw a rice burger. There were no rice burgers on menus when I lived in the US and Britain. The numerous European countries I have visited also didn’t have rice burgers. I may be wrong, but I don’t think Hong Kong has rice burgers. I only heard of rice burgers when I arrived in Taiwan for an extended Asian holiday. A Japanese fast-food restaurant chain invented rice burgers in 1987. There is a branch of that fast-food chain near my Taipei apartment. A rice burger is like a hamburger but uses compressed rice patties instead of buns.
The word “compress” means to press something tightly together into a smaller space. A patty is food made into a disc shape. The hamburger meat between the two buns is called a patty. After wondering for a long time what a rice burger would taste like, I took the plunge and bought a box of frozen beef rice burgers in a supermarket. To take the plunge means to finally do something after thinking about it for a long time. I microwaved a rice burger and looked at it while crazy thoughts raced through my mind.
If something races through your mind, it means different thoughts come quickly, one after another. What if the rice patties break when I pick up the rice burger like a hamburger? What if I don’t like it? The patties did break when I picked up the rice burger. I had to eat it with a fork but enjoyed it. I don’t think Americans will prefer rice burgers because they love hamburgers and fries too much.

我去过许多国家，但都从未见过饭堡（rice burger）。我以前住在美国和英国的时候，餐牌上都不曾出现过饭堡（rice burgers）；我到访过无数的欧洲国家，也没有饭堡（rice burgers）。或许我是错的吧——但我不认为香港有饭堡（rice burgers）。我是在来到台湾，度过一个延长了的亚洲之旅时，才听见饭堡（rice burgers）这一样物事。一间日本连锁快餐店于一九八七年发明了饭堡（rice burgers），在我台北的住所附近，就有那间连锁快餐的分店。A rice burger就像汉堡包，但用压扁的米饭饼（compressed rice patties）去代替那两片面包。
Compress一字解作压缩、压扁某物，成为体积较小的物件。A patty是将食物制成圆饼状。两块汉堡面包中间夹着的那片汉堡肉饼便叫作patty。饭堡（rice burger）到底是甚么味道的呢？我思忖良久过后，终于 took the plunge从超市买了一盒急冻的牛肉饭堡（rice burgers）回去试试——to take the plunge是指经过一番长时间的考虑过后，终于毅然地去做某事。我用微波炉叮热了一个饭堡（rice burger），看着它的时候，一些疯狂的想法 raced through my mind。
若某事 races through my mind，意即脑海里先后闪过许多不同的想法。如果我像拿汉堡包般拿起饭堡（rice burger）的时候，那些饭饼（patties） 碎了呢？要是我不喜欢吃呢？我拿起饭堡（rice burger）时，那些饭饼（patties）果然散开了，我得用叉来吃，不过我也喜欢它的味道。我不认为美国人会喜欢吃饭堡（rice burgers），因为他们太爱汉堡包和薯条了。

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Michael Chugani褚简宁
中译：七刻