作為一名廚師，我是快樂的

by Yannick Chauvet

翻譯：大師

作為一名廚師，我是快樂的

by Yannick Chauvet

翻譯：大師

Track 5

這是一名廚師對自身職業的自白。雖然成為廚師的過程很艱辛，但在他看來，這一切都是值得的。廚師這份職業對于作者而言，早就不僅僅是一份工作了，它已融入作者生活中的點點滴滴。能通過自己的雙手讓更多人品嘗到美食并感受到快樂，這何嘗不是一種幸福呢？

1)As far back as I can remember, I always wanted to be a2)chef. To me, being a chef was better than being anything else in the world. I don’t know why, because neither of my parents were good cooks at home. We never went to the restaurant together and my first time was in Narbonne注with one of my aunts. Though with no backgrounds, the desire to become a chef was deeply in my mind.

I was warned that it would be difficult, that it was very hard work with long hours, and that it was stressful and tiring. I still remember my English teacher3)claiming, in front of the whole classroom, that I would never ever manage to survive in this work.

But I did it, and I’m still working as a chef. I lived in a country I always wanted to go—Ireland. I’ve seen different kinds of people with different social classes. I had friends from all over the world. I worked in good restaurants as well as average ones.

So now I’m forty. I’ve been working as a chef since I was sixteen, and I don’t regret my choice. Even if it’s not such an easy job, it’s not the worst, either.

I would encourage my children to cook at home. I would teach them how to enjoy food, how to choose quality over quantity, and how to4)appreciate great food. In fact, I would teach them how to appreciate the good things in life. But I would never push them to choose my job.

Not everything is that bad. I love my job. I love to cook for others, I love to create new dishes, new menus. I love the5)atmosphere in a kitchen, the fun with the6)wait staff, the nights out with everybody. I also love the stress during a service.

And my wife will be happy ’cause when I’m off and she comes back from work, dinner is ready.

It’s worth it. After all these years of hard work, I would still not change if I could go back to the past.

1) as far back as 早在，遠在

2) chef [?ef] n. 主廚，廚師

3) claim [kle?m] v. 斷言，聲稱

4) appreciate [?'pri???e?t] v. 品味，欣賞

5) atmosphere ['?tm?sf??] n. 氣氛

6) wait staff 餐廳服務員

注：納博訥，法國南部的一個市鎮。

參考譯文

自打記事起，我就一直想成為一名廚師。對我來說，成為一名廚師是世界上最棒的事。我也不知道為什么，畢竟我的父母在家中都不是烹飪高手，我們也從來沒有一起去過餐館。我第一次去餐館還是在納博訥，那是和我的一個阿姨一起去的。雖然沒有相關的背景，但成為一名廚師的念頭已深深地扎根在我的腦海中。

大家都告誡我說，成為廚師的路會很難走，廚師是一份十分艱苦的工作，工作時間長且工作壓力大，會令人感到疲憊。我仍舊記得，我的英語老師曾當著全班同學的面聲稱，我永遠都無法把廚師的工作一直堅持下去。

但我還是成為了一名廚師，而且堅持到了現在。我定居在了愛爾蘭—一個我一直都向往的國度。我見到了形形色色各界各級的人。我的朋友也來自世界各地。我既在頂級餐廳工作過，也曾在普通的飯館里待過。

那么我現在40歲了，我是從16歲就開始做廚師的，而我并不后悔自己的選擇。即使它不是一份容易的工作，它也不是最糟糕的工作。……