对于那些用餐时只会使用刀叉的西方人来说,掌握用筷的方法和技巧开始时难度也许很大，当然也很有趣,需要很大的耐心,需要用心练习。如果他们希望享用一顿真正意义上的中餐,那么花些时间耐心学习用筷技艺不仅很有必要,而且也是乐趣有加。

使用筷子时,要把一双筷子夹在大拇指和食指之间。要点是让其中的一根筷子保持不动,活动另一根筷子，以便能像钳子那样夹取食物。光靠蛮力是无济于事的,所用之力只要怡到好处,就可以轻松自如地夹起食物。

就餐时自始至终握筷不放,会被视为一种不礼貌的举动，这与中国的用餐规矩不符。中国传统的用餐规矩要求就餐者将夹取到的食物送人口中,而后即把筷子平行地放在饭碗或餐盘的一边。餐间交谈时用筷子指指点点也是一种不礼貌的行为。

For those Westerners who use only forks and knives for their meals, the mastery of the method and skills for using chopsticks may be quite challenging, and amusing, at the beginning. A lot of patience and concentrated practice is required. This is not only very necessary but also very entertaining if they wish to enjoy a real Chinese dinner.

When using chopsticks, one should place both sticks between the thumb and forefinger. The point is to keep one stick still and move the other so as to make them work like pincers. There is no use using force. As a matter of fact, as long as one uses strength appropriately, he or she can pick up food effortlessly.

As far as Chinese table manners are concerned, it is considered impolite to hold chopsticks throughout meal. The Chinese traditional table manners require the diner to lay down the chopsticks on the table parallel to one's rice bowl or plate when one has sent the picked food into his or her mouth. It is also considered impolite to point with chopsticks during a conversation over the meal.

在中国,餐桌上放一把刀是极其少见的现象。在许多人看来，刀会使人联想到虎视眈眈、咄咄逼人的武器,因而不应在友好温暖的餐桌上占有一席之地。根据中国的传统习俗,所有切割操作以及其他“体力性劳作”都应该在厨房内进行。这样,所有出现在餐桌上的食物皆可一口送入口中,当然整鱼、整鸡、整头乳猪除外。这些菜经过一番烹调，可以用筷子夹开取用,因而也无需借助刀子切割。

以上我所讲的虽然谈不上有多少科技含量,但也不能说没有艺术含量吧?

In China, it is quite rare for a knife to appear on the table. For many people, a knife is associative with a menacing weapon that should not find itself on a friendly, warm dinner table. It is also a Chinese custom for all chopping and other "manual labor" to be performed bechind the kitchen door. Thus, all food which appears on the table is bite-sized or smaller, with the exception of whole fish, chickens, or suckling pigs, of course, which are cooked in such a way that they can be served and eaten with chopsticks, and therefore there's no need for a knife to appear on the table.

What I have just introduced may not be considered as something scientific and technological. But certainly, there is something that can be considered artistic, isn't there?

责任编辑：admin