英語趣味課堂：餐前小吃-Tapas

Chris: So what about other good dishes, tell me?

Ade: Well it’s not a dish, but is very popular in Spain when you order a beer, they put you a tapas and it’s very nice to go out with your friends and have some tapas. I love to do that because you have small portions of food and you can go and ask for some fish or for some meat, so you have a very different kind of lunch doing that, no.

Chris: Oh yeah, of course, everybody knows about the tapas. But they say it’s really something from the south and it has a story behind it, but I don’t really remember it. Could you enlighten me with that story, please?

Ade: Yeah. Tapas means 'to cover' in Spanish. So it was before that when they order something to drink they have to put a little plate on top so the flies don’t go into the drink. That’s why they started calling it tapas, because it covers the drink.

Chris: So when then in the end on that plate they start putting like little things to eat?

Ade: Yeah, exactly.

Chris: And then just that got just bigger and bigger and bigger?

Ade: Yeah, really big. But the problem is that it’s very popular in the south because it’s still original kind of going to have some tapas, because in the north now is like it’s popular but only for tourists. And you have to pay a lot of money to have a tapa. And actually in the original way of having a tapa means that you only pay for the drink and the tapa comes for free.

Chris: For free, oh nice, so that’s what tourists don’t know. So what do you say about that we go and have a beer?

Ade: Yeah, sure.

Learn Vocabulary from the lesson

dish

So what about other good dishes, tell me?

The word dish can have two meanings. It can mean a plate, or a type of food. Here it means food. Notice the following:

My favorite Italian dish is lasagna.

That Chinese restaurant has many spicy dishes.

go out with

It is nice to go out with friends.

When you go out with friends, you do something together away from home to enjoy each other's company. Notice the following:

I like to go out with friends on the weekend.

I plan to go out with my coworkers tonight.

take your word

I'll take your word on that.

This phrase means you trust what someone says. Notice the following:

I would not work for that company. The manager is a bad man.

I'll take your word on that.

enlighten

Could you enlighten me with that story?

When you enlighten someone, you educate them in an entertaining way. Notice the following:

He enlightened us with his tales of Europe.

My father used to always enlighten us at the dinner tables with stories of his youth.

flies

They put a little plate on top so the flies don’t go into the drink.

A fly is a very common insect that flies around and like to land on food. Notice the following:

There are alwasy flies around cows.

I killed the fly with a fly-swatter.