HOW DIFFICULT IS IT TO ORDER FOOD IN AMERICA? · Leylah Ndinda
视频讲述新移民在美国点餐时遇到的种种挑战，包括繁琐的提问、快速的口音、菜单词汇差异和份量困惑，适合练习日常对话和听力理解。
Hi.
嗨。
Have you ever stood in line at a restaurant rehearsing a simple food order in your head like it's a job interview?
你有没有在餐厅排队时，心里反复练习如何点餐？就好像那是一场工作面试一样？
For a lot of new immigrants in America, ordering food can feel surprisingly stressful.
对许多刚来到美国的新移民来说，点餐竟然会让他们感到压力重重。
When relocating to a new country, nobody talks to you about the panic that can happen when you're trying to order lunch.
当你搬到一个新的国家时，没有人会告诉你：在尝试点午餐时，你可能会遇到什么样的麻烦（或：会遇到什么样的混乱局面）。
Ordering food back home was very easy.
在家里点外卖非常简单。
You walk into a restaurant and ask for rice and stew, chapati madondo, burger, chips and chicken, coconut fish,
你走进一家餐厅，点了米饭和炖菜、chapati madondo（一种印度面包）、汉堡、薯条和鸡肉、椰子鱼。
and then you get to America.
然后你来到了美国。
The first surprise for me was how many questions come with every order.
让我感到惊讶的第一点是：每笔订单都会附带这么多问题。
You don't just order a sandwich.
你可不是随便点个三明治那么简单。
You have to answer things like what bread, what cheese, toasted or not, what toppings, any sauce, meal or sandwich only.
你需要回答以下问题：使用哪种面包、哪种奶酪（是否需要烤制）、添加哪些配料、是否需要涂抹酱汁，以及这只是一顿饭还是一份三明治。
Ghai!!!
嗨！！！
by the time they're asking the fifth question, you're still trying to process the second one.
等到他们问第五个问题的时候，你可能还在努力理解第二个问题的意思呢。
Meanwhile, the line behind you keeps getting longer and suddenly you feel like you're holding up the entire restaurant.
与此同时，你后面的队伍越来越长；突然间，你觉得自己仿佛在阻碍整个餐厅的正常运转（即让餐厅无法继续为其他顾客提供服务）。
Then there are the accents.
当然，还有各种口音的问题。
You might understand English perfectly well in
你可能完全能够听懂英语（或者说：在某种情况下，你能够很好地理解英语）。
a classroom or in the movies, but understanding someone speaking at lightning speed through a noisy restaurant speaker is a completely different skill.
无论是在教室里还是在电影中，理解别人以极快的速度说话其实都是一件相对容易的事；然而，要在嘈杂的餐厅环境中通过餐厅的扬声器听清别人说的话，却需要完全不同的能力。
Sometimes the employees ask something simple and all you hear is a collection of sounds.
有时候，员工会提出一些简单的问题，但回应他们的却只是一连串毫无意义的噪音（或者说是一些无法理解的声音）。
You phrase, they repeat it.
你如何表达，他们就会如何重复。
You still don't understand.
你还是不明白。
They repeat it again, but slower this time.
他们又重复了一遍，不过这次速度慢了一些。
Now everyone is looking at you.
现在所有人都看着你。
You smile awkwardly and say, "Yes."
你尴尬地笑了笑，然后说：“是的。
The problem is you have no idea what you agreed to.
问题在于，你根本不知道自己到底同意了什么。
Maybe you upgraded your meal.
也许你升级了自己的餐食（即选择了更高级、更昂贵的餐食）。
Maybe you added extra cheese.
也许你加了额外的奶酪。
Maybe you accidentally ordered enough food for four people.
也许你不小心点了足够四个人吃的食物。
Drive-throughs are even worse for immigrants.
对于移民来说，免下车服务（drive-through services）的情况更加糟糕。
The drive-thru speaker can feel like the final boss of communication.
在得来速（drive-thru）服务中，那个用于播放信息的扬声器似乎成了沟通系统中的“最终关卡”——也就是用户与餐厅之间互动的最后一道障碍。
The audio quality sounds like someone is speaking from another planet.
音频质量非常差，听起来就像有人在另一个星球上说话一样。
You lean closer.
你凑得更近了一些。
You ask them to repeat themselves.
你让他们重复一遍他们刚才说的话。
They repeat it.
他们一遍又一遍地重复这句话。
You still don't know what they said.
你仍然不知道他们说了什么。
At some point you just start guessing.
到了某个时候，你就只能开始猜测了。
Another challenge is menu vocabulary.
另一个挑战是菜单上的词汇使用。
Before coming to America you may know thousands of English words.
在来到美国之前，你可能已经掌握了成千上万的英语单词。
Then you see words like ranch, slow, biscuit, grits, hash browns or refill.
然后你会看到一些单词，比如“ranch”（牧场）、“slow”（慢的）、“biscuit”（饼干）、“grits”（玉米粥）、“hash browns”（炒土豆饼）以及“refill”（续杯）。
You know English.
你会说英语。
You just don't know food English.
你只是不懂与食物相关的英语表达罢了。
And then you discover that some words don't even mean what you thought they meant.
然后你会发现，有些单词的含义根本不是你之前以为的那样。