随着美国人生活节奏的加快，快餐食品便应运而生。其快餐连锁店遍及世界各地，其中影响最大的当属麦当劳快餐连锁店。供应的快餐食品有:汉堡包、烤牛肉、牛排、火腿、三明治、肯德鸡、油炸土豆片、烘馅饼、冰淇淋以及各种碳酸饮料等。
Fast Food 快餐食品Fast-food chains，American-style， are currently on the increase all over the world.Most of these places work on a similar principle. There is a long counter ， above which is displayed a list（often with pictures） of the items available， and behind which several people（often students working for the minimum wage）are serving. Individual queues form in front of each assistant .You receive what you order more or less immediately and take it on a tray to a table， picking up thing like straws（吸管）， peper， salt， ketchup（蕃茄酱），pickles（泡菜）and napkins（usually paper napkins） on the way.If yo can't see any knives and forks ， this means you are supposed to eat with your hands.If you can't see any straws， that's because they are hiding in the straw dispenser（分配器） that you have to fiddle（拨弄） with the bottom of it to get a straw（one at a time）to emerge.When you've finished， you yourself throw away everything except the tray. Many fast-food places have drive-in facilities.You place your order from your car via（通过） a microphone and then drive round to a special window to pay and pick it up .You may even encounter places where a waitress bring your meal out， and you sit and eat it in the car from a tray hooked over the door through the open window. You may be asked if your order is “for here”or “to go ”（i.e.to take away）。In some states there is no sales tax on food consumed.
Types of Fast Food Restaurants 快餐店的种类The most widespread type of fast-food restaurant is that serving hamburgers， such as the chains of MacDonald.All the different chains have their own specialties .Arby's restaurants serve large roast beef， ham and cheese， and turkey（火鸡） “sandwidhes”。 Some restaurant chians specialize in serving steaks quickly and cheaply. And then there's Kntucky Fried Chicken.
Chips 油炸土豆片Chips in Amercis are called “French fries”or “fries ”for short.（Note that in the USA “chips” mean crisps）。“French fries”are normally thinner than chips.Amercians generally put ketchup on their chips ，and you will not normally find vigegar（醋）。
Pizzas（意大利式）烘焰饼There are many specialty pizza restaurants in America， and many of them take telephone orders and deliver pizzas to your home， which can often be convenient.They come in different sizes， and a large one can be big enought for a party of four people.If you want ot share a pizza but can't agree on the ingredients ， it is possible to order two different sets of toppings ，one set on each half.
Ice-Cream 冰淇淋Shops selling large number of different flavors of ice-cream are very common in America. If you are not sure what flavor you want ，generaly you can sample a small spoonful of a particular flavor to see if you like it. You can either have your ice-cream in a “plain cone”（普通型锥形物） or in a “sugar cone”（甜脆型锥形物）。
Soft Drinks 软饮料Fast-food restaurants do not serve alcohol.The soft drinks most often sold are Coca-Cola and Pepsi——Cola， plus fizzy drinks （which are like leminade）and root beer（which is like cough medicine）。Fizzy drinks are known as “carbonated beverages”（碳酸饮料） or ，more colloquially，“soda”，“pop”，“soda pop”，and “soft drinks”。
All these drinks come with lots of ice. In fact， you will probably find as much ice as drink in your drink.If you ask for a soft drink without ice， they will think you are funny but will probably oblige.（They may charge you a bit extra， for ice is cheaper than Coke.）