A family prepares a dinner party for six of the husband’s coworkers, working with their housekeeper to plan a menu of eight dishes and a soup for guests arriving around six o’clock.
阿姨的八个菜
今天是星期五，晚上我们家要请客人吃饭。这些客人是我先生的同事，他们工作都很忙，很少有时间在一起吃饭，所以我们决定这个周末请他们来家里坐坐。
早上，我去了超市买菜。我想了很久，不知道要做什么菜才好。后来我给做饭的阿姨打了电话，跟她说了今天晚上的事情。我说，阿姨，今天晚上有客人，一共六个人吃饭，你能来帮忙吗？阿姨说没问题，她马上就过来。
阿姨到了以后，我们一起商量做几个菜。我说，六个人吃饭，你觉得做多少个菜够？阿姨想了想，说那我们做八个菜，再加一个汤，应该够了。我问她，客人吃辣吗？我不太清楚，因为我不认识他们所有人。阿姨说没关系，她可以做几个不辣的菜，这样大家都能吃。
我们又聊了一会儿，说到客人大概什么时候到。我看了看时间，说客人应该六点左右到，我们最好五点半就把菜做好。阿姨说好的，没问题，她会准时把饭菜做好。我跟阿姨说，谢谢你，辛苦你了。阿姨笑着说，没事，这是我应该做的。
到了六点，客人们真的来了。桌上摆着阿姨做的八个菜和一个汤，看起来特别丰盛，闻起来也很香。客人们吃了以后都说很好吃，还问是谁做的菜。我告诉他们，是我们家阿姨做的，她做菜真的很厉害。那天晚上，大家吃得很开心，聊得也很愉快，这真是一次特别成功的晚饭。
Āyí de Bā Ge Cài
Jīntiān shì xīngqīwǔ, wǎnshàng wǒmen jiā yào qǐng kèrén chī fàn. Zhèxiē kèrén shì wǒ xiānsheng de tóngshì, tāmen gōngzuò dōu hěn máng, hěn shǎo yǒu shíjiān zài yìqǐ chī fàn, suǒyǐ wǒmen juédìng zhège zhōumò qǐng tāmen lái jiā li zuòzuo.
Zǎoshang, wǒ qù le chāoshì mǎi cài. Wǒ xiǎng le hěn jiǔ, bù zhīdào yào zuò shénme cài cái hǎo. Hòulái wǒ gěi zuò fàn de āyí dǎ le diànhuà, gēn tā shuō le jīntiān wǎnshàng de shìqing. Wǒ shuō, āyí, jīntiān wǎnshàng yǒu kèrén, yígòng liù ge rén chī fàn, nǐ néng lái bāngmáng ma? Āyí shuō méi wèntí, tā mǎshàng jiù guòlái.
Āyí dào le yǐhòu, wǒmen yìqǐ shāngliang zuò jǐ ge cài. Wǒ shuō, liù ge rén chī fàn, nǐ juéde zuò duōshao ge cài gòu? Āyí xiǎng le xiǎng, shuō nà wǒmen zuò bā ge cài, zài jiā yí ge tāng, yīnggāi gòu le. Wǒ wèn tā, kèrén chī là ma? Wǒ bú tài qīngchu, yīnwèi wǒ bú rènshi tāmen suǒyǒu rén. Āyí shuō méi guānxi, tā kěyǐ zuò jǐ ge bú là de cài, zhèyàng dàjiā dōu néng chī.
Wǒmen yòu liáo le yíhuìr, shuō dào kèrén dàgài shénme shíhou dào. Wǒ kàn le kàn shíjiān, shuō kèrén yīnggāi liù diǎn zuǒyòu dào, wǒmen zuìhǎo wǔ diǎn bàn jiù bǎ cài zuò hǎo. Āyí shuō hǎo de, méi wèntí, tā huì zhǔnshí bǎ fàncài zuò hǎo. Wǒ gēn āyí shuō, xièxie nǐ, xīnkǔ nǐ le. Āyí xiào zhe shuō, méi shì, zhè shì wǒ yīnggāi zuò de.
Dào le liù diǎn, kèrénmen zhēnde lái le. Zhuō shàng bǎi zhe āyí zuò de bā ge cài hé yí ge tāng, kàn qǐlái tèbié fēngshèng, wén qǐlái yě hěn xiāng. Kèrénmen chī le yǐhòu dōu shuō hěn hǎochī, hái wèn shì shéi zuò de cài. Wǒ gàosù tāmen, shì wǒmen jiā āyí zuò de, tā zuò cài zhēnde hěn lìhài. Nà tiān wǎnshàng, dàjiā chī de hěn kāixīn, liáo de yě hěn yúkuài, zhè zhēnshi yí cì tèbié chénggōng de wǎnfàn.
The Housekeeper’s Eight Dishes
Today is Friday, and tonight our family is having guests over for dinner. These guests are my husband’s coworkers — they’re all very busy with work and rarely have time to eat together, so we decided to invite them over to our home this weekend.
In the morning, I went to the supermarket to buy groceries. I thought about it for a long time, not knowing what dishes to make. Later, I called our housekeeper (auntie) and told her about tonight’s plans. I said, Auntie, we have guests tonight, six people in total eating, can you come help? The housekeeper said no problem, she’d come right over.
After the housekeeper arrived, we discussed together how many dishes to make. I said, with six people eating, how many dishes do you think would be enough? She thought about it and said, then let’s make eight dishes plus one soup, that should be enough. I asked her, do the guests eat spicy food? I wasn’t quite sure, because I don’t know all of them. She said no worries, she could make a few non-spicy dishes, so everyone could eat.
We chatted a bit more, talking about roughly when the guests would arrive. I checked the time and said the guests should arrive around six o’clock, so we’d better have the food ready by five thirty. She said okay, no problem, she’d have the meal ready on time. I told her, thank you, sorry for the trouble. She smiled and said, no problem, this is what I should do.
By six o’clock, the guests really did arrive. On the table were the eight dishes and one soup the housekeeper had made, looking especially bountiful and smelling delicious too. After eating, the guests all said it was delicious and asked who had made the food. I told them it was made by our housekeeper, and that she’s really great at cooking. That evening, everyone ate happily and chatted joyfully — it was truly a very successful dinner.
音频
Audio recording for this story will be available here.
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 阿姨 | āyí | auntie / housekeeper |
| 今天 | jīntiān | today |
| 客人 | kèrén | guest |
| 在 | zài | at |
| 吃饭 | chī fàn | to eat food |
| 一共 | yígòng | altogether |
| 几 | jǐ | how many |
| 那 | nà | then |
| 做 | zuò | to do / to make |
| 菜 | cài | dish of food |
| 汤 | tāng | soup |
| 够 | gòu | enough |
| 辣 | là | spicy |
| 6点 | liù diǎn | 6:00 |
| 左右 | zuǒyòu | about / approximately |
| 到 | dào | to arrive |
| 辛苦 | xīnkǔ | to trouble (someone) / hard work |
| 没事 | méi shì | no problem |
Number + 个 + Noun, 够 (gòu) — enough
够 expresses sufficiency and often follows a quantity phrase or stands alone as a reply.
我们做八个菜，应该够了。
…左右 (zuǒyòu) — approximately
左右 follows a time, quantity, or number to indicate “around” or “approximately.”
客人六点左右到。
辛苦你了 (xīnkǔ nǐ le) — thanks for the trouble
This set phrase is used to thank someone for their hard work or effort on your behalf.
谢谢你，辛苦你了。
No idiomatic expressions in this story.
Hosting Guests in Chinese Homes
In Chinese culture, hosting guests for a meal at home is an important way of showing hospitality and respect. It is common to prepare more food than needed — an even number of dishes plus a soup is a typical formula — to ensure guests never feel there wasn’t enough, and asking about dietary preferences like spice tolerance beforehand is considered thoughtful hosting.
