谁来付账

林锋

你经常和朋友或同学出去吃饭吗？吃饭之前你们会约定由谁来请客吗？请看下面的文章，关于由谁来付账这个话题，在英文环境下是如何表达的。

An important question about eating out is who pays for the meal. If a friend of yours asks you to have lunch with him， you may say something like this，“I’m afraid it’ll have to be someplace cheap， as I have very little money.” The other person may say，“OK， I’ll meet you at McDonald’s.”

This means that the two agree to go Dutch， that is， each person pays for himself. He may also say，“Oh， no. I want to take you to lunch at Smith’s，” or“I want you to try the Chinese dumplings there. They’re great.”This means the person wants to pay for both of you. If you feel friendly towards this person， you can go with him and you needn’t pay for the meal. You may just say，“Thank you. That would be very nice.”

American customs① about who pays for dates② are much the same as in other parts of the world. In the old days， American women wanted men to pay for all the meals. But， today， a university③ girl or a woman in business world will usually pay her way during the day. If a man asks her for a dinner outside the working hours， it means “Come， as my guest④”. So as you can see， it is a polite thing to make the question clear at the very beginning.

Notes：①custom n. 風俗

②date n.约会

③university n. 大学

④guest n. 客人

Exercises：

1. The passage tells us .

A. how to eat out

B. where to eat out

C. what to eat out

D. who pays for the meal

2. If you have little money， .

A. you’ll have a cheap meal

B. you’ll borrow some from others

C. you’ll ask your friend to pay for your meal

D. you won’t want your friends to ask you to dinner

3. “Go Dutch” in this passage means .

A.去饭馆 B.就餐 C.订餐 D.各自付款

4. Sometimes your friend takes you to lunch. It means .

A. he’s going to lend some money to you

B. he’s going to pay for your meal， too

C. he’ll be angry with you

D. he can’t understand you

5. In America， some girls and women now.

A. ask men to pay for their meals

B. try to pay for the men’s meals

C. try to pay for their own meals

D. never have anything outside

Keys：1—5 DADBC

45页巩固性“练习”答案：

一、1. has 2. does 3. is 4. goes 5. teaches 6. swims 7. plays 8. flies

9. carries 10. gets

二、1. watches 2. Are; aren’t 3. Does， speak; does

4. doesn’t do 5. does; work

三、1. doesn’t have 2. Does， do; Yes， does

3. Do， like; No， don’t 4. What does; do 5.Where does; study

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