Please help with translation: En>Ch

[anonymoose]

If you saw someone greedily eating peanuts, how would you say in Chinese:

The last time I saw peanuts being eaten like that, I was in a zoo!

(Implying the person is eating like an animal)

[cutty]

狼吞虎咽???

[skylee]

欲罷不能???

[anonymoose]

Thanks for the responses. However, I would appreciate a more direct translation, as I am interested in this sentence from a gramatical point of view, rather than just its general meaning.

[anonymoose]

Any takers? My attempt would be something like:

上次我看见花生被吃得那样，我是在动物园。

However, this sentence doesn't sound natural to me in chinese, (not that I have an ear for what is and what isn't natural in chinese).

[gato]

这人吃花生怎么像只狗熊一样？真可爱！

[闲聊33]

他怎么这样吃花生？像个...

[seagate]

花生吃成你这样，快赶上动物园的猴子了！

or using my hometown's 土话：

花生吃成你这样，动物园的猴子都比你有成色（here 色 reads shai, neutral tone）。

[anonymoose]

OK, I think I have it now:

我上次看到把花生吃成这样的是在动物园。

But, could someone please explain the use of 成 in this sentence, and its relation with the verb (perhaps give some other examples), as I don't quite understand this.

Thanks in advance!

[skylee]

我上次看到把花生吃成这样的是在动物园。

吃 = eat

成 = like

这样 = this

把花生吃成这样 = peanuts being eaten like this / in this way

[xuezhongwen]

I think "The last time I saw peanuts being eaten like that, I was in a zoo! " is an idiomatic way of describing the greediness, so it should NOT be translated.

狼吞虎咽 would be a very good match, but in spoken language,

one could use "像牲口一样", meaning 'like a cattle'

haha, it's not that elegant, but I guess that matches what are in the zoo!

[xiaomawang]

吃花生的这副德性，和我上次在动物园里看见的一模一样。

[anonymoose]

I checked out my dictionary and there's no mention of the use of 成 in this way.

Anyway, is there any difference between saying

把花生吃成这样

and

把花生吃得这样

? That is of course if the latter of these two even makes sense!

Thanks for all the replies!