对于外人来说，新加坡眼花撩乱的美食实在令人难以招架。每当漫步于这座笼罩在热带高温的城市里，就不免因竞相打你胃口主意的露天美食中心、咖啡厅与餐厅而停下脚步。
一旦踏进设有空调的购物中心避暑，就会看见延伸极广的地下美食街，看起来似乎穿越了两座地铁站之间的距离。
Dining out is a way of life in Singapore. One in four residents says they eat out daily. Many choose food centers, which aren’t your typical variety mall food courts but keepers of a proud local cuisine and tradition cobbled by generations of the city’s Chinese, Indian and Malay inhabitants.
词语点击
resident n. 居民；住户
外食在新加坡是一种生活方式。该国居民每四人就有一人表示自己每天外食。许多人都选择美食中心——这不是一般你熟知的那种多元购物商场美食街，而是持续了由这座城市世世代代的华人、印度人与马来人居民共同造就出来的一种引人自豪之当地料理与传统的捍卫者。
You can choose between world-class satay, chicken rice, curry laksa, prawn noodles, fish ball soup, dim sum, Indian prata, chicken biryani, beef rendang or Cantonese barbecue — all for about the same price as a six piece Chicken McNugget meal at McDonald’s.
词语点击
satay n. 沙茶酱烤肉
你可以选择世界级的沙嗲、鸡饭、咖喱叻沙、虾面、鱼丸汤、港式点心、印度布拉塔煎饼、鸡肉香料饭、牛肉仁当或港式烧腊——而且这些餐点的价格都与麦当劳的六块鸡套餐差不多。
There were the piquant chili crab and salted egg yolk prawns at the East Coast Seafood Center that looks out onto the Singapore Strait where, at night, the tankers and cargo ships are anchored so close together they look like a neighboring city.
词语点击
piquant adj. 辛辣的；开胃的
cargo n. 货物
面对新加坡海峡的东海岸海鲜中心有辛辣的辣椒蟹与金沙虾球。夜里，海峡里的油轮与货轮密集停泊在一起，看起来有如一座邻近的城市。
At Golden Mile Food Center, I took my first bites of Peranakan food, a centuries-old cuisine born out of the intermarrying of Chinese and Malays. The cuisine, which requires meticulous preparation, is slowly fading from fashion along with the few remaining chefs who know the recipes by heart.
词语点击
cuisine n. 烹饪；风味
在黄金坊熟食中心，我首度品尝了峇峇娘惹餐点，这是一种有数百年历史、起源于华人与马来人通婚的料理。这种需要精心准备的料理已逐渐退流行，以致少数几位熟知这些料理食谱的厨师也慢慢凋零。
Hawkers typically specialize in one thing, like a Hainanese chicken rice or bak kut teh, a pork rib soup, and rarely charge more than $4 a portion. Their artisan’s way of cooking sets standards high, making it hard to find a bad meal in this island nation.
Hawkers are the descendants of itinerant street food vendors who predate Singapore’s founding in 1965. After nationhood, they were licensed and housed in pavilions located in or near public housing, where 80 percent of Singaporeans live today.
词语点击
specialize v. 专门研究（或从事）；专攻
descendant n. 后裔；后代；子孙
小贩通常专精一种菜肴，例如海南鸡饭或是肉骨茶这种猪肋汤，而且一份餐点的价格极少超过四美元。他们匠人式的料理法建立了高标准的口味，所以在这个岛国里很难吃到一顿难吃的餐点。
小贩是新加坡在一九六五年建国之前的那些街头流动小吃摊贩的后代。新加坡建国之后，政府为他们发放证照，并且把他们安置在国民住宅里面或附近的大型棚顶下。今天，百分之八十的新加坡人都居住在国民住宅里。