特别推荐：2011两会双语直通车

二十一世纪，似乎什么东西都是现成的，只要你有钱就能买到。大到拎包入住的别墅，小到菜品丰富的快餐。于是乎，做饭这件事便成了让很多人一笑而过的话题。

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（暂译为“电视餐”，也叫做冷冻餐、冰箱餐、微波餐或者即食餐）指独立包装的冷冻或冷藏餐食。这种餐食基本不需加工，而且包含了一顿单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.

“电视餐”这个名字来源于装这类餐食的盘子的形状。盘子分两边，一边是一个大格，用来盛放主餐；另一边由几个小格组成，放各类蔬菜。这样的布局跟20世纪50年代的电视机面板很相似：左边是屏幕，右边是扬声器和各类控制按钮。关于“电视餐”这个名字的由来还有别的说法。有人说，最早的“电视餐”外包装上有个电视机的图案。还有人说，很多家庭都是坐在电视机前边看电视边吃这种即食餐，因此得名“电视餐”。

相关阅读

另类“下午茶”说法

网络信息时代的“煎饼人”

在电视机前“石化” TV stoned

（中国日报网英语点津 Helen 编辑）