散文佳作108篇 第59期:A Hard Day in the Kitchen 廚房里的一場鬧劇

A Hard Day in the Kitchen

廚房里的一場鬧劇

shannon Hodge

香農(nóng)·霍奇

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，一切事情都不對勁。廚師來晚了，昨晚喝多了，還沒緩和過來，同時，本該及時收拾干凈的廚房還是一團糟，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.

同他一起出席聚會的老板也是一樣，昏昏沉沉的。他用手托著腦袋試圖要結(jié)賬. 卡若琳坐在由玻璃窗圍著的辦公室里，看著他的臉變得更紫了。他在仲手拿第一瓶雪利灑。

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

卡若琳在后廚和前廳之間忙碌著，無暇思索。

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.

當(dāng)卡若琳首次得到餐廳服務(wù)員工作的時候，她非常高興，因為那時她僅是一名大一學(xué)生，對于大一的學(xué)生來說，工作是很難找的。她又嘆了口氣，她在想當(dāng)時怎 么就那么容易得到這份工作，現(xiàn)在算是明白了，她的老板聲名在外，沒人來他這應(yīng)聘.但是，她現(xiàn)在沒時間考慮那么多了。一個胖胖的藍眼睛的男子正怒視著她好像在抱怨沒及時給他點餐。該死，這回又是什么?她又被那個挑剔的女人糾纏上了，那個女人對她烹飪的牛排總是挑三揀四的。事實上，這份讓客人惱火的菜己經(jīng)反廚兩次了。那個女人抱怨說這牛排太過火了，她喜歡五分熟的牛排。卡若琳想切，要是我吃，每次我都點熟過了的牛排。此時，那個要點餐的男子一邊看著那灰白發(fā)的女人那古怪樣子，一邊繼續(xù)怒視著卡若琳。

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.

卡若琳笑意盈盈地來到那個男子桌前并確認一下他點的菜。那個男子簡直說給我一份五分熟的烤肉，還有法國炸薯條和一份熟透的牛排他不屑的瞅了那個女人一眼接著又說再加一份蔬菜薩拉” ”好的，先生，”卡若琳輕快的回道馬上就給您上菜隨即，她匆匆跑回廚房讓廚師約瑟夫這次務(wù)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.

謝天謝地，終于做好了。卡若琳想，這份用西紅柿，幾片煮雞蛋，黃瓜和調(diào)料搭做出來的蔬菜薩拉實在是太誘人了。

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，她沒注意到坐在角落的那個男子在耐心等待的同時向她投來同情的眼光。他個頭挺高，大概25歲左右，一頭蓬亂的黑發(fā)，一臉頑皮樣，他一直注視著這出“雜耍式的服務(wù)”，并暗自給他所見的一切起了個綽號。

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.

他看到那個漂亮的年輕女服務(wù)員越來越沮喪了。“可憐的女孩，她看來已到了走投無路的感覺了。”他在想能做些什么來幫助這個女孩。

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.

但是事還沒有完 。那位男子，亨利?薩維奇享受地吃完了烤肉，又轉(zhuǎn)向他的色拉。忽然，他舉起刀和叉停在了半空中，帶著一種研究的表情看著它。一條綠色蠕蟲正慢慢地從生菜下面爬出來。它很大，很肥，顯然在里面吃得很好。它在旅途中停了下來以欣賞風(fēng)景，亨莉氣得臉色發(fā)紫，幾乎無法言語。他生氣地叫著：他用顫抖的手指指那條蟲說：

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

“女服務(wù)員!馬上來這兒!”顯然是一副十足的校長派頭。

“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.

“你說這是什么?”這時，這條蟲肯定認為外面世界不如藏在生菜葉子里那么舒服，于是就縮回去了。

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

卡若琳被他那喊叫聲驚呆了，馬上跑到餐廳里。

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

現(xiàn)在整個房子里都沒有任何聲音。所有人都用同情的目光看著她。

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

亨利默默地用手勢指著那色拉，在那兒，那條蟲又重新出現(xiàn)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.

卡羅琳臉色變得蒼白，她緊張的想說些什么，但沒說出來。后來終于說出：“對不起，先生，這種事以前從來沒有發(fā)生過。我們替你另做一份。”她端起那碗色拉，快步走著把它端進廚房。但亨利·薩維奇不肯就此罷休。他大喊著發(fā)表著餐館應(yīng)該是什么樣的言論后，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.

卡羅琳端著快速做好的新的色拉回到空桌子旁。她不知道自己該怎么辦，所有人都盯著她。她哭了，然后跑向廚房。她對受驚嚇的廚師尖叫般的大聲嚷：“認錯吧，你這愚蠢的人，下次你要是再酒后頭痛，也得一定把生菜洗干凈。”“我給你一份拌好的色拉!”她說著把那碗菜扣到他的頭上。

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.

經(jīng)理出現(xiàn)了，他現(xiàn)在已經(jīng)是清醒狀態(tài)。當(dāng)一位頭腦較機靈的顧客匆忙地向他做了一番解釋以后，他非常理智得看待這件事情。也許他良心上也感到有罪惡感?？_琳沉思著，想起有時候如果員工們太忙的話，他就是幫助洗生菜的人。無論如何，整個事件很快順利的發(fā)展著，而每個人有恢復(fù)了軒瀾的情緒。

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.”

羅琳洗完臉后，整理了一下，又重新工作時，那個年輕人向她招手。他贊揚地說：“我看著你處理了這件事。我想你處理得很好。那老人確實給你一個“惡作劇”。你能考慮為我制作的一部影片再重演一遍剛才發(fā)生的事嗎?無論如何，它比那些奶油派要好得多，你干得真漂亮!”這時他咯咯地笑了起來。“但是你真該把那碗色拉扣到那老家伙的頭上，他那時挺不講理的。”

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.

他們看了對方一眼，卡羅琳開始感到自己露出了笑臉。突然，他們兩人都大笑起來。也許，這并不算很糟糕的一天。