又中又英｜"Bake" and "cake"

“Bake” and “cake”

There are many idioms with the word “bake” and “cake”. I saw an idiom that uses both words while reading a news article. The idiom I saw was “baked in the cake”. I have not used this idiom for many years. It is used to describe a situation that is inevitable or almost impossible to change. Fake news is baked in the cake in today’s digital world. This means fake news is impossible to stop because many people use social media to spread fake news. I believe climate change is baked in the cake because many world leaders are doing too little, too late, to reverse it.
In my previous column I explained that the word “beef” can also mean a complaint. Combining the words “beef” and “cake” into “beefcake” creates a different meaning. A beefcake is an attractive man with big muscles. Many people call their husbands or wives “honey” to express love or affection but the word “babycakes” has the same meaning. You are also expressing affection if you call your husband or wife babycakes. The expression “a piece of cake” doesn’t only mean a slice of cake. As an idiom it means something that is easy to do. Writing columns is not a piece of cake for me, which means it’s not easy for me to write columns.
To bake a cake means to make a cake but to bake up a storm has a different meaning. It means to do something with a lot of energy and enthusiasm. If you go to the kitchen to cook many dishes with enthusiasm, you can say you are baking up a storm.

有许多成语会用到“bake”（烤焗）和“cake”（蛋糕）两个字。我最近读一篇新闻报道时，就见到一个二字并用的成语，那个成语是“baked in the cake”。我已经多年没有用过这个成语了。它是用来形容一个不能避免或近乎不可能改变的情况。在今天的数码世界里，假新闻是baked in the cake，意即假新闻已不能遏止，因为许多人用社交媒体去散播假新闻。我相信气候变化亦是baked in the cake，无可避免，因为众多世界领袖在逆转气候变化一事上，不是做得太少，就是做得太迟。
在上一篇文章中我解释过，「牛肉」“beef”一字也可以解作投诉。将“beef”和“cake”结合成“beefcake”，却能创出别样的意思。A beefcake是指肌肉发达的健美男子。许多人会叫丈夫或妻子做“honey”（亲爱的），去表达爱意，但“babycakes”也有相同的意思。若你叫你的丈夫或妻子做babycakes，你同样在表达爱意。习语“a piece of cake”不单单是指一块蛋糕，作为成语它也解作不费吹灰之力、轻而易举的小菜一碟。写专栏对我来说可不是a piece of cake，意思是我要写专栏可并不容易。
To bake a cake是指去烘焗一个蛋糕，但 to bake up a storm则有不同的意思，它解作干劲十足、热情、奋力地做某事。若你充满热情地去厨房烹煮许多的餸菜，你便可以说你正在 baking up a storm。

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Michael Chugani褚简宁
中译：七刻