美国文化生活十日谈（三、四）

（三） 美国人的主食

美国人吃午餐和吃晚餐之前通常要喝点鸡尾酒，但在加利福尼亚州，人们大都喝葡萄酒。吃主食之前，一般都要吃一盘色拉。炸磨茹和炸洋葱圈可作为开胃食品，牛排、猪排和鸡（腿）为主食，龙虾、贝壳类动物以及各种鱼类甚至包括淡水鱼被统称为海鲜。炸土豆条是深受人们喜爱而且几乎成了必不可少的食物。另外应特别注意的一点，如有吃剩的食物，一定要打包带回家，以免浪费。

Cocktail鸡尾酒

It is quite usual to drink cocktails before lunch and dinner in America and somewhat less usual, except in California, to drink wine with a meal. You can either have a cocktail in the bar, if there is one, while you wait for a table or for friends, or you can have one served before your dinner comes. At some restaurants the waiter/waitress will come to your table as soon as you sit down to ask if you want a cocktail, and you can then drink this while deciding what to order to eat. At others, there may be a separate cocktail waiter or waitress. In this case, you do not normally order wine from him or her but from the normal waiter- or the wine waiter is there is one.

Do not hesitate to order Californian wines. They can be excellent and in many parts of the country are cheap.

Salad 色拉

It is usual to have a salad with your meal, and a separate plate is provided for this purpose. The normal practice in America is to eat the salad before the main course. A wonderful American invention is the salad bar. In restaurants that have these salad bars the waiter does not bring your salad. You go to the salad bar and help yourself, usually to as much as you want. This is normally done after you have ordered your meal; you eat the salad while the main course is being cooked.

Choosing from the Menu 选菜

American menus can look rather confusing at first sight, for they may use some terms which are unfamiliar to most vistors. Here are some points which may be useful.

Fried mushrooms, fried onion rings (洋葱圈) and fried zucchini (小胡瓜) are sometimes served as starters (第一道菜).

Potatoes most often come "French-fried" or baked. If you order a baked potato, the waiter will ask you what you want on it. The choice is butter and/or sour cream and sometimes chives (细香葱).

Very often vegetables do not come automatically with the meal, and you have to pay extra for them.

"Scrod" (小鳕鱼), "red snapper" (啮龟) and "mahi hahi" are all name of fish. "Seafood"means lobster (龙虾), shellfish and fish, including,funnily enough, freshwater fish! Prawns (对虾) are known as "shrimp".

American beef is usually good and often wonderful.

American salt and pepper (糊椒粉) pots are confusing until you realize that the salt pot may look like a pepper pot except that the salt pot's holes are bigger. Pepper is normally black rather than white. American mustard (芥末) is mild and normally eaten with hot dogs or hamburgers rather than meat.

And that stuff in a dish that looks ice cream is actually whipped (搅拌过的) butter.

Leftovers 吃剩的食物

You have probably heard that in American restaurants, if you can't finish your meal, you can put the remains in a "doggy bag" and take them home. This is quite true. If you leave some meat, in particular, your waiter may ask you if you'd like him to put it into "a little bag", or you can ask him to do this.

（四） 美国用餐常识

中国菜着重色、香、味， 西餐讲究实惠。初到美国餐馆用餐，应该注意如下事项：

1）选择合适的餐馆（如：家庭式餐馆、特色餐馆以及自助式餐馆等）；

2）餐馆营业时间（上午11：30开门营业，直到夜晚）；

3）一般都应事先预订餐位：

4）到达餐馆后，不能径直地到餐桌旁入桌，除非餐厅有“随意就坐”的告示；

5）付款时，别忘了留给服务员一定比例的小费（一般为实际总额的10%～15%）。

Eating out is one of the joy of being in the USA. The food is usually good and often excellent; the prices are reasonable; and the service is mostly fine.

Choosing a Restaurant 选择餐馆

Some restaurants are open for breakfast; others are open twenty-four hours a day. A number of restaurants call themselves "family restaurants". Many of these serve no alcohol and have fairly restricted menus which include steaks, hamburgers, omelettes(炒蛋) and sandwiches, and all are at very reasonable prices. They may also serve smaller and cheaper children's portios(份餐). Note that many American restaurants are "speciatly" restaurants. They may serve only, or mainly, steaks, seafood, etc.

When to Eat 供餐时间

Many restaurants, especially the more expensive ones, open at about 11:30 a.m.(midday, rather than 1 p.m., is the most normal time for lunch in the USA), and some remain open until the evening, so it is possible to order a meal throughout the afternoon.

In many areas it is usual for people to leave work and go out for an evening meal at 5 p.m. or 6 p.m., than waiting until later.

Reserving a Table 预订餐位

Eating out is rather popular in the USA. And it is often necessary to make a reservation. You will sometimes see short queues of people waiting for tables at restaurants-it's more pleasant to wait in the bar, of course, if there is one-but there queues more quickly.

Arriving at Restaurant 到达餐馆

When you arrive at most restaurant, you should not just go in and sit down-unless you see a sign saying "Please seat yourself". Usually you will have to wait for a "hostess" or "captain"(领班) to escort(陪同) you to a table. Often there will be a sign that reads "Please wait to be seated".

Do not expect to share a table with other parties, even if the restaurant is crowed. It just isn't done.

Many restaurant have a no-smoking section, in some place by lows.

One excellent American custom is that after you have sat down your waiter or waitress will often bring you a glass or water(with ice naturally) and will keep on refilling it throughout the meal. (Most American are incapable of eating a meal without drinking something at the same time.)

When your waiter or waitress takes your order, it is not very normal for one person to order for the whole table. Each person orders separately, except in the most expensive restaurants.

Summoning a waiter 召唤侍者

You may find your waiter unusually friendly. He may ask you how you are (You're supposed just to say "Fine"), inquire whether you have a good day and, later on say that he hopes you will enjoy your meal.

To summon a waiter in a American restaurant you may call "Bill", or "Mary", or "Claude", or whatever. Waiters and waitresses often actually introduce themselves when they first come to your table or wear name tags, you are permitted to use their first names.

Paying the Bill 付款

The bill (often called the "check") comes usually with tax added but no service chare-though some restaurant do now add a service charge. The etiquette(规矩) books say that you should leave a ten per cent tip(小费) for lunch, fifteen per cent for dinner. The tip should be calculated on the basis of the total before the addition of tax.

At many restaurant you can ask the waiter to bring the bill and than pay at a cash desk on the way out.