【明報專訊】Autumn is the hairy crab (大閘蟹) season. However, Hongkongers may not be able to eat as many hairy crabs as they did in previous years, especially the famous Yangcheng Lake (陽澄湖) and Tai Lake (太湖) crabs, because of the food contamination concern.
Last year, some hairy crab samples from the Tai Lake were found to contain excessive dioxin (二噁英), a cancer-causing chemical. Since then, no mainland supplies have been allowed to enter Hong Kong. In mid-October this year, the first batch of mainland hairy crabs arrived in the city, but it takes time for the authorities to carry out food safety checks before the crabs can officially go on sale. For this reason, some local sellers have chosen to source hairy crabs from Taiwan and Japan, but these crabs are much costlier and not as popular as the mainland breeds.
(Source: Ming Pao)
■Game １
The hairy crab is prized for its rich brown meat(蟹膏). The Smarties have got some hairy crabs. Some are males and some are females. Who is taking the male ones and who is taking the female ones?
Tips: The male hairy crab has a triangular belly while the female hairy crab has a round belly.
(Answers on next text)
■English highway﹕triangular & round
There are different expressions to describe types of shapes, such as circular (圓形的), rectangular (矩形的), oval (橢圓形的), spherical (球形的) etc.
e.g. Would you like to have a circular or a rectangular table?
■Game ２
As the hairy crab is considered a "cooling food" (寒涼食物)for the body, it is traditionally served with vinegar dipping sauce and ginger tea to balance it out.
There are two bottles of ginger tea on the table. Fill in the blanks with the correct answers.
．Bottle A contains (1)___mL of ginger tea. Bottle B's ginger tea content is (2)____mL (3)higher/lower than bottle A's.
■Glossary
contamination (n) 污染
batch (n) 一批
carry out (phr v) 執行
dipping sauce (n phr) 蘸醬
[Smarties' Power English 第198期]
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