There is the mystical Da Hong Pao, the most expensive tea in the world.It has just gone on the menu for the first time at the Royal China Club in London, a swish Chinese restaurant in Baker Street beloved of wealthy connoisseurs of oriental gourmet exotica.
这是世界上最贵的大红袍茶，这种茶是首次登上伦敦皇朝餐饮店的菜单上。皇朝餐饮店是伦敦贝克街上一家时髦高端的中式餐厅，它备受很多富有、讲究的东方饮食家的喜欢。
restaurant n.饭店。现代意义上的饭店出现于1765年的巴黎，卖汤食的小贩Boulanger在摊位前立起了标牌，上面写着"Boulanger débite des restaurants divins"，意思是。这里的restaurant本来指的是能叫人“restore”精力和活力的“汤”，后来词义转为可以用餐的食肆。
Here, the Da Hong Pao is served reverentially by pretty girls wearing fuchsia lipstick; brought forth on a bamboo tray and poured from a £400 hand-painted clay teapot. It cosplayts £180 a pot, which means it is about £40 for one tiny porcelain cup of tea.
价格180英镑一壶的大红袍放在竹托盘上，被涂着紫红色口红的漂亮女员工端上来。茶壶是手工上色的陶制茶壶，价值400英镑。女员工小心为你斟满一小陶瓷杯，就是这一小杯平均下来等于40英镑。
Yet that seems cheap, compared with what is to come. The tea is part of a £1,500-per-head menu, surely the most expensive in the country, which the restaurant serves to its most demanding customers. It must be arranged in advance, according to availability of ingredients, and features six courses of the most exotic and highly-prized Chinese dishes.
不过比起下面要端上桌的料理，这算实惠的了。这茶只不过皇朝餐饮店人均消费需1500英镑的菜单上的一部分，这份菜单是为那些对饮食挑剔的客户筹备的，堪称是英国最贵的一份菜单。其特点是六道最具中式风情的珍馐美味，而且因为食材的时令性，所以需要提前预定。
The centrepiece today will be a serving of 30-year-old dried abalone that cosplayts a staggering £888, while other delights include tiny, green baby Japanese peaches , a portion of dried cod stomach and a serving of swallow nest stew , literally a stew made of swallows’ nests, to finish things off.
今天这餐的闪光点要数这道30年之久的干鲍鱼了，价格是888英镑，其他还包含每一个8英镑的日本小绿桃，128英镑一份的干鳕鱼胃，88英镑一份的炖燕窝。
The prices on the menu always end with an eight, which is considered lucky in China — if not quite so lucky for the customer. The cosplaytly ingredients used are kept under lock and key, with the most precious items stored in a safe, to which only the head chef knows the secret combination .
该餐厅菜单上的价格通常都是以8结尾，由于8在中文中是吉祥数字，能带来好运，不过对客户来讲这个数字可带不来好运。餐厅里最贵的食材都被锁起来保存的，最贵重的餐具也都放在保险柜中，只有主厨才了解什么料理和什么餐具能配套用。
Customers are lured here by the off-menu specialities and the restaurant’s reputation for sourcing exceptional items; exotic teas wrapped in tissue paper, bottles of £15,000 rice wine, rare herbs grown at high altitudes, and deep water shellfish brought in weekly from the Far East by the Royal China’s own team of couriers. And with Chinese New Year set to be celebrated next week, the larders are groaning.
餐厅的诱惑之处在于那些不在菜单上显示的当日特点菜，还有餐厅为人所知的那种追求精益求精的各种特点项目。由薄页纸包装的外国茶叶，1.5万英镑的瓶装米酒，高纬度区域成长的珍奇植物，由专门运输团队每周从远东区域运来的深海贝类…下周就是中国的新年了，所以当然餐厅的储藏室里也被塞得满满的了。
更多精彩内容 新东方网英语频道
全国新东方英语课程搜索
（责任编辑：何莹莹）
