I would love to be able to walk into a Chinese restaurant without the fear of ordering. A waitress will usually hand me a menu and stand over me with penin hand, but I simply cannot read many of the dishes. Sometimes the ones I can read are still opaque to me because the culture of food is different. Most foreigners in China solve this problem by simply memorizing the dishes they have had before. For my first few months here eating at a university restanrartt, I basically lived on a diet of Scrambled Eggs and Tomatos and General Pao's Chincken

    我很想自己走进一家中餐厅点菜时不感到为难。平时服务员把菜单给我，拿着钢笔站在我身旁等待我的选择，但是我简直看不懂多少菜肴。由于食品文化的差异，有时候看懂的部分我还是模糊的。多数中国人通过熟记吃过的菜名解决这个问题。最初几个月我在这里的大学餐厅吃饭，我基本的日常饮食组成是西红柿炒鸡蛋和宫爆鸡丁。

The first problem is that the Chinese writing system is extremely difficult for students coming from languages that use alphabets. What's more, most textbooks and teachers ignore this aspect of dailylife and instead prepare students with academic language skills. It is not uncommon for students have to learn the hard way how to do things such as order food,close a telephone conversation and give directions to a taxi driver.

    首先对用字母语言的学生来说，中文的汉字非常难学。然而大多数课文和老师都忽视这个日常生活问题，而代之以让学生受到汉语教学的培训，为了学会普通生活用语，如点菜、结束电话上的谈话及给出租车司机，说明方向，不少的学生不得不汲取教训。

The second problem is that the culture of food is simply different. Not long ago I went to a western style restaurant run by Chinese. When the waiter asked me how I wanted my steak cooked, I was not sure how to translate "medium", so I just said "zhong". He was perplexed, so I asked him to explain the choices. He was stymied again, probably because a western man was asking him how western food is cooked.

    第二个问题是饮食文化的差异。日前我去一家中国人开的西餐厅，服务员问我要几成熟的牛排的时候，我用英文直译说：“中等”。因为他根本不理解，所以我让他解释—下有几种选择。也许是因为由—个西方人请他介绍一下西餐，他又不知道该怎么回答。

High quality restaurants in the west have menus with a short explanation of how each dish is prepared as well as a list of the side dishes. In some places such as Japan, pictures of each dish are on the menu or even in, a display of models by the front door, But whether one is in Japan, China or America, the food always takes on the characteristics of the local culture. In some American Chinese restaurants you can get a bowl of rice and Mala Tofu just for yourself, with a glass of cold water and a knife and fork. In China, tea will be served beforea steak, which is served on a bed of pasta. This is why western food in China is still foreign to me. And because Chinese menus are so difficult to read, ordering is a chore no matter where I am.

    西方的高档餐厅的菜单都有每个菜肴的做法以及副餐的简单介绍。在有些地方如日本，每种菜的照片印在菜单上或餐厅门口有样品菜的陈列。但是无论在日本、中国还是美国，食品永远受到当地文化的影响。在美国的中餐厅里你可以点一碗米饭和麻辣豆腐，服务员很可能给你冰水和叉子、刀子。在中国，西餐厅里也是首先倒茶水，然而牛排又放在意大利面的上面。这就是为什么对我来说在中国西餐还是陌生的，因为中国的菜单是如此难懂，无论在哪儿点菜都是一个负担。

1,General Pao's Chicken: 在西方的中餐厅这是最普遍的选择之一。