Roberto A. Ferdman

The other night I was eating a plate of noodles, and enjoying it. I was out to dinner with a friend, hunched1. hunch: 弓身，弓背。over a meal we had been planning for weeks. The restaurant was newly opened and highly regarded.2.这是一家新开的餐厅，颇受好评。Life was good. And the food was great.

But then it happened. Again.

“Are you done with that?” the server asked, fingers already comfortable with the rim of my plate.3.“您用完餐了吗？”服务员问我，说话间就已经捏住了我的盘子边。rim: 外缘，边缘。“Can I get it out of your way?”

Yes, I had finished eating, because I am a vacuum4. vacuum: 真空吸尘器。; there was no food left in front of me. But my friend had not. His meal was only halfconsumed.

“No,” I said. “We’re not done eating.”

Without my permission, restaurants have abandoned, or simply overlooked, a classic tenet of service etiquette (I’m talking about entrees, not the ubiquitous small plates, which demand a different etiquette).5. 未经我的同意，餐厅就已抛弃，或者说直接无视传统的服务礼节（我说的是主菜，不是普通的小菜，小菜另有一套餐厅服务礼节）。permission: 许可，允许；overlook: 忽视，忽略；etiquette: 礼节，礼仪；entree: 主菜，正菜；ubiquitous: 普遍存在的，无所不在的。Rather than clear plates once everyone at the table has finished the meal, which has long been the custom, servers instead hover over diners, fingers twitching, until the very instant someone puts down a fork.6. hover: 徘徊；twitch: 抽搐，抽动；instant: 瞬间，刹那；fork: 餐叉。Like vultures, they then promptly snatch up the silverware7. vulture: 秃鹫；promptly: 立即，马上；snatch up: 迅速拿走，夺取；silverware: 银餐具。—along with everything else in front of the customer. If you’re lucky, they might ask permission before stealing your plate.

你和朋友计划了好久，终于抽出时间，在餐厅开心地享用美食，而服务员却时不时地在你们周围徘徊。你一吃完，他就如秃鹰扑兔一般，迅速撤走你面前的空盘子和一切餐具。而此时，你的同伴才刚刚吃到一半……你跟同伴面面相觑，颇觉尴尬，而服务员则开始了新一轮等待，等着撤走你同伴的空盘子。这样的用餐经历，你有过吗？

When a server clears a plate before everyone is finished, he or she leaves the table with a mess of subtle but important signals.8Those who are still eating are made to feel as though they are holding others up9. hold sb. up: 耽搁某人。; those who are not are made to feel as though they have rushed the meal. What was originally a group dining experience becomes a group exercise in guilt10. guilt: 内疚，负罪感。.

I’m not the only one who has noticed.

“It’s definitely been getting worse,”said Tyler Cowen, an economics professor at George Mason University who has written extensively about the economics of eating out.11. extensively: 广泛的，大量的；eat out: 在外吃饭，下馆子。“It’s a problem. I don’t like it, either.”

A chorus of disapproval has surfaced elsewhere,12. a chorus of disapproval: 齐声反对；surface: 显露，暴露。too. Some examples:SF Gate, theSan Francisco Chronicle’ssister site, ran a short piece in 2008 imploring waiters to be patient.13. SF Gate: 《旧金山大门》；San Francisco Chronicle:《旧金山纪事报》；implore:恳求，乞求。Adam Roberts,the founder of the popular food blog the Amateur Gourmet,14. Amateur Gourmet: 业余美食家。did the same in 2012. And theNew York Times, as part of a long list of no-nos for restaurant staffers, included this: “Do not take an empty plate from one guest while others are still eating the same course.Wait, wait, wait.”15. 《纽约时报》曾为餐厅员工列了一个很长的“禁做事项清单”，其中就包括“当同桌其他顾客尚未用餐完毕时，不要取走已用完餐的顾客面前的空盘子。等待，等待，耐心等待”这一条。staffer: 工作人员，职员；course: 一道菜。

Why that subtlety seems to evade16. evade: 躲避，避开。so many restaurants these days is unclear.

It’s possible that there’s an economic impetus17. impetus: 推动力。behind it. “The price of land is going up, which pushes up the value of each table,” said Cowen. “That makes moving people along more important.”

A similar trend, after all, sees many restaurants hoping that diners don’t order dessert, because the course isn’t terribly profitable and it encourages people to linger.18. profitable: 盈利的；linger: 逗留，徘徊。

But maybe waiters are clearing individual plates because they believe that’s what customers want. I have heard as much from servers and restaurateurs.

No excuse, however, should suffice19. suffice: 足够，满足要求。.Publicly, restaurants might argue that they are trying to avoid clutter20. clutter: 杂乱。; privately,they might encourage waiters to speed tables along; but what it amounts to is an uncomfortable dining experience.

I might go back for those noodles,because they were delicious. But don’t expect me to talk up21. talk sth. up: 过分夸奖，吹捧。the service to anyone. It was just okay.