A Cheap Meal

◎供稿：郭昊剛

A man went into a restaurant and sat down at one of the tables.

A waiter went up to him and gave him the menu.

The man read it carefully,then ordered all the most expensive dishes.

The waiter served the meal and the man ate it with great

1)enjoyment.

Then a small boy came into the restaurant and sat at the man’s table.

The waiter came up and said to the man, “What would your little boy like, sir?”

“Oh, just an ice cream,” the man told him. Then he stood up and said to the waiter, “I am just going out to buy a newspaper.”

He left the restaurant. The waiter gave the boy an ice cream. The boy ate it, and then stood up and walked to the door.

The waiter ran towards him.

“Excuse me,” he said, “but your father hasn’t come back and he hasn’t paid for his meal or for your ice cream.”

“I’m sorry,” the young boy said, “That has nothing to do with me.”

“Oh, yes it does,” the waiter said, “You will stay here until your father comes back and pays his bill.”

“He’s not my father,” the boy said, “I don’t know who he is.”

The waiter did not understand. “What do you mean?” he asked.

“The man came up to me in the street,” the boy said, “He asked me if I liked ice cream. I told him I did. Then he told me to come into the restaurant at 14 o’clock and sit down at his table. He said he’d give me some.”

參考譯文

一個男人走進了一家飯館，坐在了其中一張桌子前，服務員走上前給他看菜單。

這位男士看得很仔細，然后按順序看了所有最貴的菜。服務員為他提供了這些菜，這個男人吃得很香。

然后一個小男孩走進飯館坐在了這個男人的桌前。

這位服務員走過來對男人說：“你的小孩喜歡什么呢,先生？”

“噢，一個冰激凌。”男人告訴他,然后他站起來對服務員說：“我要出去買一份報紙。”

他離開了飯館。服務員給了小男孩一個冰激凌,這個男孩吃了它，然后站起來向門口走。

服務員趕上了他。

“不好意思。”服務員說，“你的爸爸還沒有回來付這餐飯和冰激凌的。”

“對不起，”小男孩說，“但這和我無關呀！”

“噢，當然有關，”服務員說，“你要在這等你爸爸，直到他從銀行回來付完錢。”

“他不是我的爸爸，”男孩說，“我不知道他是誰。”

服務員不明白，“你是什么意思？”他問。

“這個男人在街上找到我。”男孩說，“他問我喜不喜歡冰激凌，我說我喜歡，然后他告訴我14點來這個飯館，坐在他的桌前，他說他會給我一些冰激凌。”

語法

go/come up to Someone

故事中，went up to him和came up to me都有approach(走近)的意思。此種用法在英語中很常見。如：A man came up to me yesterday and asked me for money.