特別推薦：2011兩會雙語直通車

二十一世紀，似乎什么東西都是現成的，只要你有錢就能買到。大到拎包入住的別墅，小到菜品豐富的快餐。于是乎，做飯這件事便成了讓很多人一笑而過的話題。

A TV dinner (also called a frozen dinner, freezer meal, microwave meal, or ready meal) is a prepackaged frozen or chilled meal which usually comes in an individual package. It requires very little preparation and contains all the elements for a single-serving meal.

TV dinner（暫譯為“電視餐”，也叫做冷凍餐、冰箱餐、微波餐或者即食餐）指獨立包裝的冷凍或冷藏餐食。這種餐食基本不需加工，而且包含了一頓單人餐所需的所有成分。

The name TV dinner came from the shape of the tray it was served on. The main entrée was in a bigger compartment on one side of the tray and the vegetables lined up in smaller compartments on the other side. The arrangement was similar to that of the front panels of a 1950s television set: a screen on the left and speakers and control on the right. There were other theories about the name of the TV dinner. One reason was that early packaging featured the image of a TV set. Another was that many families would eat these in front of a TV set.

“電視餐”這個名字來源于裝這類餐食的盤子的形狀。盤子分兩邊，一邊是一個大格，用來盛放主餐；另一邊由幾個小格組成，放各類蔬菜。這樣的布局跟20世紀50年代的電視機面板很相似：左邊是屏幕，右邊是揚聲器和各類控制按鈕。關于“電視餐”這個名字的由來還有別的說法。有人說，最早的“電視餐”外包裝上有個電視機的圖案。還有人說，很多家庭都是坐在電視機前邊看電視邊吃這種即食餐，因此得名“電視餐”。

相關閱讀

另類“下午茶”說法

網絡信息時代的“煎餅人”

在電視機前“石化” TV stoned

（中國日報網英語點津 Helen 編輯）