英语小短文-厨房里的一场闹剧

英语小短文-厨房里的一场闹剧

Everything had gone wrong that morning. The chef had
arrived late, nursing a hangover, andthe kitchen hadn't been
cleaned properly the night before, which put him in a worse
mood.

那天早晨，一切事情都不 对劲。厨师来晚了，昨晚喝多了，还没
缓和过来，同时，本该即时收拾干净的厨房还是一团糟，使得他心 情
更糟。

The boss, having attended the same party, was in a
similar state. He was holding his head andtrying to do the
accounts at the same time. Enclosed in his little glass-
fronted office，Carolinecould see his face growing more puce
by the moment. He was just reaching for his first sherry.

同他一起出席聚会的老板也是一样，昏昏沉沉的。他用手托着脑
袋试图要结账. 卡若琳坐在由玻璃窗围着的办公室里，看着他的脸变
得更紫了。他在仲手拿第一瓶雪利洒。

A Hard Day in the Kitchen 厨房里的一场闹剧

Running backwards and forwards between the kitchen and
the dining room, Caroline had notime to think for a while.

卡若琳在后厨和前厅之间忙碌着，无暇思索。

When shefd first managed to get the waitressing job in
the restaurant, she was delighted, forshe was at her first
year at university and jobs were scarce. She sighed. She'd
wondered atthe time at her ease in getting employment. It now
appeared that her boss’ reputation hadpreceded him, and no
one else had applied. However, she had no time to think of

that now. Aportly blue-eyed man was giving her furious looks
as he waited for his order. Damn! What wasit again? She had
been caught up with the

fussy woman who had been so particular about how her
steak was cooked. In fact, theoffending meal had been sent
back to the kitchen twice. It was, the woman complained,
toowell done---she liked her steak “blue”. Yuk! thought
Caroline. Give me a well-done piece ofsteak every time. The
man continued to glower at her while he watched the gray-
haired lady'santics.

当卡若琳首次得到餐厅 服务员工作的时候，她非常高兴，因为那
时她仅是一名大一学生，对于大一的学生来说，工作是很难找的 。她
又叹了口气，她在想当时怎 么就那么容易得到这份工作，现在算是明
白了，她的老板声名 在外，没人来他这应聘.但是，她现在没时间考虑
那么多了。一个胖胖的蓝眼睛的男子正怒视着她好像在 抱怨没即时给
他点餐。该死，这回又是什么?她又被那个挑剔的女人纠缠上了，那个
女人对她烹 饪的牛排总是挑三拣四的。事实上，这份让客人恼火的菜
己经反厨两次了。那个女人抱怨说这牛排太过火 了，她喜欢五分熟的
牛排。卡若琳想切，要是我吃，每次我都点熟过了的牛排。此时，那
个要点 餐的男子一边看着那灰白发的女人那古怪样子，一边继续怒视
着卡若琳。

Sweetly Caroline went to him and made sure that his order
was right. “I wanted，，， heenunciated in ringing tones,
“just a moderate grill, French fries，and a well-done steak.”
Heglared dismissively at the woman at the next table “And a
green side salad.” “Right，sir，，，she chirped with a
cheer she did not feel. “Coming right up.” With that,
shehastily retreated to make sure that Joseph the chef had it
right this time.

卡若琳笑意盈盈地来到那个男子桌前并确认一下他点的菜。那 个
男子简直说给我一份五分熟的烤肉，还有法国炸薯条和一份熟透的牛
排他不屑的瞅了那个女人 一眼接着又说再加一份蔬菜萨拉” ”好的，
先生，”卡若琳轻快的回道马上就给您上菜随即，她匆匆跑 回厨房让
厨师约瑟夫这次务必做好。

Yes, thank goodness it was ready. Caroline thought the
side salad of lettuce with tomato,several slices of hard-
boiled egg, cucumber and dressing looked very attractive.

谢天谢地，终于做好了。卡若琳想，这份用西红柿， 几片煮鸡蛋，
黄瓜和调料搭做出来的蔬菜萨拉实在是太诱人了。

In her haste, she did not see the young man at a comer
table casting her sympathetic glancesas he waited patiently.
Tall and about 25 with tousled black hair and an impish grin,
he waswatching “the circus” as he mentally dubbed it.

匆忙中，她没注意到坐在角落的那个男子在耐心等待的同时向她
投来同情 的眼光。他个头挺高，大概25岁左右，一头蓬乱的黑发，一
脸顽皮样，他一直注视着这出“杂耍式的服 务”，并暗自给他所见的
一切起了个绰号。

He could see the pretty young waitress getting more and
more frustrated. Poor girl, she lookedat the end of her
tether. He wondered what he could do to give her a hand and
pour oil ontroubled waters.

他看到那个漂亮的年轻女服务员越来越沮丧了。“可怜的女孩，
她看来已到了走投无路的感 觉了。”他在想能做些什么来协助这个女
孩。

But all was not over. The man, Henry Savage, had finished
his grill with much enjoyment andnow turned to his salad. He

poised with his knife and fork in mid-air, his expression a
study. Agreen caterpillar was slowly crawling out from under
the lettuce. It was large, fat, andapparently well-fed. It
paused in its travels to survey the scene. Purple with fury,
Henry couldbarely find his voice.

但是事还没有完 。那位男子，亨利?萨维奇享受地吃完了烤肉，
又转向他的色拉。忽然，他举起刀和叉 停在了半空中，带着一种研究
的表情看着它。一条绿色蠕虫正慢慢地从生菜下面爬出来。它很大，
很肥，显然在里面吃得很好。它在旅途中停了下来以欣赏风景，亨莉
气得脸色发紫，几乎无法言语。他 生气地叫着：他用颤抖的手指指那
条虫说：

“Waitress!” he thundered. “Come here this moment!” He
sounded every inch the headmaster hewas.

“女服务员!马上来这儿!”显然是一副十足的校长派头。

“What do you call this?” He pointed with a quivering
finger at the caterpillar, which decided theworld outside was
not as copy as hiding behind the lettuce leaf and retreated.

“你说这是什么?”这时，这条虫肯定认为外 面世界不如藏在生菜
叶子里那么舒服，于是就缩回去了。

Caroline, petrified by the tone of the shout, came into
the dining room at a trot.

卡若琳被他那喊叫声惊呆了，马上跑到餐厅里。

By now, the whole room had ground to a halt. The diners
were all staring at her, mostly insympathy.

现在整个房子里都没有任何声音。所有人都用同情的目光看着她。

Henry speechlessly gestured at the salad where the
caterpillar, bored by its seclusion, hadreappeared.

亨利默默地用手势指着那色拉，在那儿，那条虫又重新出现了。

Caroline blanched. Nervously she tried to speak, but
failed, then managed, “Sorry, sir, it’s neverhappened
before, we’ll make you a new one.” Grabbing the salad, she
whisked it away into thekitchen. But Henry Savage was not to
be deterred. After a shouted opinion of what he thoughtof the
restaurant, he stormed out.

卡罗琳脸色变得苍白，她紧张的想说些什么，但没说出来。后来
终于说 出：“对不起，先生，这种事以前从来没有发生过。我们替你
另做一份。”她端起那碗色拉，快步走着把 它端进厨房。但亨利·萨
维奇不肯就此罢休。他大喊着发表着餐馆应该是什么样的言论后，就
猛 地跑了出去。

Caroline, with a hastily prepared new salad in her hands,
returned to an empty table. She didn’tknow where to put
herself with the rest of the customers peering at her.
Bursting into tears,she rushed back to the kitchen. “Take
that, you stupid man, next time make sure you washthe salad
when you’ve got a hangover,” she ground out to the startled
chef. “I’ll give you atossed salad!” she snarled and threw
the contents of the bowl over his head.

卡罗琳端着快速做好的新的色拉回到空桌子旁。她不知道 自己该
怎么办，所有人都盯着她。她哭了，然后跑向厨房。她对受惊吓的厨
师尖叫般的大声嚷： “认错吧，你这愚蠢的人，下次你要是再酒后头
痛，也得一定把生菜洗干净。”“我给你一份拌好的色拉 !”她说着把
那碗菜扣到他的头上。

The manager, by now completely sober, appeared. When a
hasty explanation was made byone of the more lucid customers,
he was remarkably nice about the whole episode. Maybe hehad a
guilty conscience. Caroline mused, remembering that sometimes
he was the one whohelped wash the lettuce if the staff were
too busy. In any event, the whole incident wasquickly
smoothed over and everyone’s temper restored.

经理出 现了，他现在已经是清醒状态。当一位头脑较机灵的顾客
匆忙地向他做了一番解释以后，他非常理智得看 待这件事情。也许他
良心上也感到有罪恶感。卡罗琳沉思着，想起有时候如果员工们太忙
的话， 他就是协助洗生菜的人。无论如何，整个事件很快顺利的发展
着，而每个人有恢复了轩澜的情绪。

After Caroline had washed her face, tided herself up and
resumed working, the young manbeckoned her over. “I watched
you handle that,” he said admiringly. “I think you did
great. Thatold man really gave you ‘what for.’ Do you think
you could do it all over again for a film I’mproducing? It
was far better than a custard pie any day, you did it so
beautifully!” Here hechuckled. “But you really should have
thrown it over the old boy’s head： he was being
theunreasonable one.”

罗 琳洗完脸后，整理了一下，又重新工作时，那个年轻人向她招
手。他赞扬地说：“我看着你处理了这件事 。我想你处理得很好。那
老人确实给你一个“恶作剧”。你能考虑为我制作的一部影片再重演
一 遍刚才发生的事吗?无论如何，它比那些奶油派要好得多，你干得真
漂亮!”这时他咯咯地笑了起来。“ 但是你真该把那碗色拉扣到那老家
伙的头上，他那时挺不讲理的。”

They looked at each other. Caroline could feel the
beginnings of a smile on her face. All ofsudden both of them

burst out laughing. Maybe it wasn’t going to be such a bad
day after all.

他们看了对方一眼，卡罗琳开始感到自己露出了 笑脸。突然，他
们两人都大笑起来。也许，这并不算很糟糕的一天。