English Version

At 6.00pm today, I attended the activity, English Dinner, organised by the CHENGDU SHANG BAO press. After multiple selections, I was selected as one of the 41 prestigious resident representatives of Chengdu city. I felt very honoured, lucky and happy. The dinner was held at the Cafe Del Mar, which is just next to the Jin Jiang District Library of Chengdu.

When I first stepped into the cafe, the journalist of CHENGDU SHANG BAO, Ms Zhang Rui, identified me easily. I told her that she had published my name wrongly in the newspaper yesterday, and she asked me to write down the correct spelling of my name in Chinese characters. After which, she suggested that I sit next to the table near to the entrance. At that time, only two people were seated there. They are Lewis Parish from USA and Cao Hui Elizabeth from Wuhan city of Hubei Province respectively.

I chatted with them a while before the other two resident representatives arrived. They are Tian Liang Terry and Zhao Xia Elva. Terry studies the law as he longs to become a lawyer in the future, while Elva used to study abroad in USA and has now returned to her hometown, Chengdu, to work. Elizabeth comes from Wuhan, but now she works in Chengdu, too.

Lewis came to Chengdu to visit his girlfriend who is currently teaching English language in an educational institution in Chengdu. After chatting with him for a while, I discovered that he was totally attracted by the city's every aspect, almost. No wonder Chengdu is a city you do not wish to leave once you have come here, as said earlier by the famous director, Zhang Yi Mou. I am very happy to know that.

After we five people have introduced ourselves to each other, an Australian guest presented to us some manners to take note when enjoying Western meals. When drinking corn soup, it is good not to tilt the bowl or lift the bowl up to drink the soup. A spoon should be used to scoop the soup up into your mouth. Also, when eating meals such as pork chop, when cutting is necessary, the left hand must be used to hold the fork while the right hand must be used to hold the knife. Cut the piece of meat as if you are sawing a piece of wood and do not chop the meat as if you are a butcher. It is very rude to burgh during meals, or it will be seen as a very rude behaviour. When eating foods like butter, make sure that nothing is left on your cheeks or it will be very unsightly. This tradition is originated in the 18th century, when leaving long beards was a fashion in Western countries. Do not leave the dining table during the meal unless permission is granted, so that it is polite to others at the table.

Finally, the delicious Western dishes were put on our table, one by one. The corn soup with garlic bread came first, followed by pork chop. The fruits salad came last. Lewis taught us some other manners not mentioned by the Australian friend just now. It is good to observe the manners of Western dining when you are dining together with strangers, but if you are just dining with your friends, and you know for sure that they do not mind you not observing the manners, then it is totally unnecessary to eat with manners. Meanwhile, a male journalist came to our table and took about 10 photos of us eating western food.

I enjoyed all the three dishes. After the meal, we exchanged our contact information such as email address, telephone numbers and MSN addresses with each other, so that we can keep in touch in the future.

Ms Zhang Rui, the journalist who wrote about me in yesterday's newspaper, had to leave. She had a short interview for me. She asked me what have I learnt and how did I find the activity. Maybe tomorrow's CHENGDU SHANG BAO will have an report on me, who know? I had actually wanted to take a photo together with her, but she was in a hurry to go home. Never mind, she eagerly provided me with her handphone number so that we can keep in touch.

After the long chat, everybody seemed to forget that time was passing by. It was already 9pm. Lewis' girlfriend came to our table, chatted with us for a minute, wrote each one of us her email address and left together with Lewis. She was also in a rush because she has a class to teach tomorrow morning. Although she teaches English language in Chengdu, her purpose of coming to China was to learn Chinese language. That is indeed amazing!

We asked the waitresses to take some photos for us. As time passed by, my friends left one by one. Soon, only Tu Yan Yan Jane, the waitress and I were seated at the table. We chatted. She is from Chongqing, a talkative person and also very helpful. We talked about my life in Singapore and the current affairs of Chengdu, and also my future plans. When I left the cafe, the entrance from Jin Jiang District Library was locked already, so she helped me find my way out.

I went home by bicycle. On the way, I took a lot of cool photos, depicting the beautiful scenery of Chengdu at night. They will be published online, soon.

Today's English dinner activity is very well organised. I not only learnt many invaluable Western meal manners, but also made a lot of friends. I hope that CHENGDU SHANG BAO will organise more activities of similiar kind in the future, so as to bond foreigners with local residents.

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华文版

今天下午六时，我出席了由成都商报主办的”英语晚餐”活动。经过重重筛选，我成为了41名市民代表之一，能够出席这个晚餐活动，我感到很光荣、很自豪、很幸运。该活动在成都市青石桥锦兴路横丁字街的“杜马咖啡西餐厅”举办。

刚进入餐厅，昨天在成都商报头版报道我的记者张睿女士就认出了我。我告诉了她我的名字应该是马华卿而不是昨天报纸上错误登出的“马华青”，之后她就让我把正确的写法写在名单上，并安排我坐在刚进门最左边的桌子旁。当时，在座的只有两位：美国朋友Lewis Parish以及武汉朋友曹卉。

我和他们两位聊了一会儿，其他两名市民代表也来了。他们分别是田亮和赵夏。此田亮非彼原中国国家跳水队队员田亮，这位田亮是修读法律的，他将来想当一名律师。而赵夏以前在美国留学，现在回到成都工作了。曹卉来自武汉，现在也在成都工作。

Lewis因为自己的女朋友在成都当英文老师，所以也来到成都看望她。和他谈了一会儿，发现他来到成都后，已经被这个城市所深深吸引。成都，真不愧是像著名导演张艺谋说的那样，是一座来了就不想离开的城市啊！这令我十分欣慰。

我们这一桌的5人自我介绍完毕，一位澳洲朋友向我们介绍了一些西餐礼仪。不过，那是他从互联网上下载的18世纪的西餐礼仪。这些礼仪在现实生活中还是有一定的作用的。喝玉米浓汤的时候，不要把碗端起来用勺子舀。此外，用刀叉吃猪排这类的食物时，如果需要切割，应该用左手握着叉子，右手握着刀子，然后慢慢地锯肉，而不能像售卖猪肉的一样，用刀子直接砍下来。用餐的时候，切忌打饱嗝，否则会被认为是非常粗鲁的行为。吃黄油等膏状的奶油类食品时，一定要确保自己的脸上不会出现残留物，而这是因为18世纪的时候，西方人流行留长胡子，因此如果胡子上面沾了残留物，是非常不美观的。就餐中途如果需要离席，一定要和坐在旁边的人打个招呼，否则是非常粗鲁的行为。

美味的西餐开始一道道地被端上桌。首先上桌的是玉米浓汤加蒜蓉面包，之后是猪排，最后是水果沙拉。Lewis也在这个时候补充了一些刚刚那位澳洲朋友没有提到的东西。这些西餐礼仪在现实生活中主要应用在和陌生人吃饭的场合，而如果你是在和自己的朋友、熟人们吃饭，自己知道他们不会计较，就大可不必受到这些礼仪的拘束了，可以“敞开肚皮吃”了。在就餐的时候，一位男记者还到我们桌子前来，拍了好多张照片，让我们的吃相在镜头前暴露无遗。

我觉得这三道菜都挺美味的。饭后，我们几个人还没有半点要离开的意思。我们交换了电话号码、电子邮件地址、QQ号、MSN帐号，以便日后联络，续续我们的友谊。

这时，记者张睿女士要走了，但是在临走前还不忘采访我两句。她问我这次活动办的如何，以及我学到了什么。也许，明天的成都商报会登出我吧？本来想和她合一张影留念的，不过她急着走，就没有留成。好在她留给了我她的手机号码，供日后和她联系，向她提供新闻素材。她走了之后，我们在座的几个就畅所欲言了。我们谈论了很多东西，比如个人的工作以及学习、日后的发展方向，还谈论了成都的风土民情。我是唯一一位在场的15岁男孩，是全场年龄最小的，因此大家都很好奇我在新加坡的情况，以及我即将开办的网站“成都时间”，我都很乐意地告诉了他们。

这一谈，我们大家都忘了时间在一分一秒地过去了，转眼间已经是将近9点了。这时，Lewis的女朋友来了，和我们聊了两句，留下了联系方式，就和Lewis走了，因为她明天还要赶着去教书呢。Lewis的女朋友来成都，虽然是教英文，也会说中文呢！

我们拍照留念，让咖啡厅的服务员帮我们拍了好多张照片。后来，我们这桌的人都一个一个地离开了。正当我要走的时候，咖啡厅的服务员涂燕艳和我谈了起来。她是重庆人，也非常健谈、乐于助人。我们谈了我在新加坡的情况以及成都的现状，还有我未来的发展将会是怎样的。我离开咖啡厅的时候，由于隔壁的锦江区图书馆门已经锁了，还是她告诉我怎么出去的呢。

我骑着自行车回家，在路上经过了锦兴路、大业路、顺城大街、西玉龙街和草市街，拍了一些成都夜景的美图。不久之后，我将在网上发布这些美图。

这次的英语晚餐活动让我受益匪浅，不仅学会了西餐礼仪，还结交了不少朋友呢。希望成都商报下次还能够举办类似的活动，促进外国朋友和本地人的交流。

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For Further Readings 相关链接：

1. http://huaqing.yculblog.com/post.4076502206.html
   
2. http://huaqing.yculblog.com/post.4076348000.html
   
3. http://huaqing.yculblog.com/post.4076348004.html