【正文】 live seafood, fresh meats and seasonal fruits and vegetables from the local market to ensure freshness. Of utmost importance in cooking any dish is preserving the fresh, natural flavor of its ingredients, and removing any undesirable fishy or gamey odors. In Western cooking, lemon is often used to remove fishy flavors。 We may live without friends。 We may live without conscience and live without heart。, braising, roasting, etc. Most of the dishes are oily, tasty, sweet and colorful. Shanghai Crab is one of the greatest representatives.4) Sichuan cuisineSichuan cuisine is a style of cookery originating in Sichuan province of western China, which has an international reputation for being spicy and flavorful. The ingredients of its dishes are mainly mountain produce. Beef is more mon in Sichuan cuisine than it is in other Chinese cuisines, perhaps due to the widespread use of oxen in the region. The main condiments are generally bean paste and pickled pepper. Famous dishes are such as Twicecooked Sliced Pork with Pepper and Chili(回鍋肉), Bean Curd with Minced Meat and Chili Sauce(麻婆豆腐). Chinese Staple foodChinese cuisine hold grain as its staple diet, including rice, wheat, millet, etc. and their products such as noodle and rice noodle. A meal in Chinese culture is typically seen as consisting of two general ponents: a carbohydrate source or starch, known as main food — typically rice, noodle, or manta (steamed buns), and (2) acpanying dishes of vegetable, fish, meat, or other items. Generally, we can divided the farming products of main food in China into 3 styles, those are, Rice in Southern and Eastern China, Wheat in Northern China and Sweet Corn in Middle, Northern, Western China. Because of their farming products, the people living in Southern China will have rice, congee or rice noodle as their main food, and who will have wheat made products like Bun, noodle, pancake in Northern China. The populace living on seaside and lakeside will have seafood or lake fish as meals. Of course, people can have any food as they want nowadays. The prominent portion of meat consumption in China for the majority of people is pork, supplemented by beef and mutton. Besides pork, the staple meat for most of Chinese people, fish and chicken are also mon on dinner table. Chinese people also take other kinds of meat which are not accepted by Westerners such as snake, frog and donkey. Chinese cuisine characteristicsThere is a saying that Fashion is in Europe, living is in America, but eating is in China. Food is an important part of daily life for Chinese people. Chinese people in general are not as concerned about nutrition as Westerners. They are more concerned with the food39。 Ways of cuttingChinese dish names also contain various forms of ingredients due to the different cutting skills. The cutting skills normally cover “切” (cutting), “剁”(chopping), “切末”(mincing),“ 切丁 ”(cutting into dices), “ 切塊 ”(cutting into pieces), “ 切絲 ”(shredding), “ 刨絲”(grating), “切片”(slicing), “片肉”(filleting), “切條”(cutting into straps), “切段”(cutting into chunks) (王逢鑫, 1997:260). As for the forms of ingredients often appear in the dish names, there are “塊”, “片”, “絲”, “丁”, “茸”, “末”, “條”, “段”. Importance of English translation of Chinese dish names Chinese dish names are rich in meaning, style and connotation, vividly reflecting China’s catering culture. Their English translations are an effective means to inform foreign readers of China’s culture as well as customs. Therefore, it is of great value to make a study on translations of these dish names and give some suggested translation techniques and approaches. Definition of dish name translation and standards of dish name translationDish name translation can be defined through derivation of definition of translation in general. According to American translation theorist Nida Eugene(1993: 155). Translating consists in reproducing in the receptor language the closest natural equivalent of the sourcelanguage message, first in terms of meaning and secondly in terms of style. Dish name translation is the process of interlingual transformation for semantic equivalence in the specific area of dish name and terms in culinary culture.To achieve accurate dish name translation, the most important thing is to have certain overriding guiding principles or standards in this regard. As far as the author is concerned, the foremost standard is faithfulness in meaning. Secondly, elegance in style shall be considered. This rule is also very important as all the qualities of a dish name, including meaning, style and even the sound when it is pronounced in certain language will affect a customer’s feeling and impression on certain dish. Right rendition can produce positive association in the mind of customers, call their attention, arouse their interest, and encourage them to take the food, thus transforming desire into action. While a shoddy translation for even a dainty food can only dampen people’s ardor and stave off their appetite. Classifications and suggested translationOwing to the variety of Chinese dishes, Chinese dish names present the features that distinguish them from that of any other countries. Today, there are countless Chinese dishes with selfdescriptive names as well as fancy names that are difficult to translate without a clear classification. The writer classifies the translation of Chinese dish names into several groups. On the basis of the classifications, aiming to convey the cultural elements in an understandable way, different techniques are employed to translate different dish names, to help the target readers bee more knowledgeable, and gradually bee more informed, and finally overe the sense of remoteness and strangeness in front of cultural differences. MetaphraseMetaphrase means direct translation based on the precise wording of the Chinese phrase of the menu and the name of dish which are usually those of ordinary words and knowledge in cu