去年6月26日，在中國生活、任教10個月後，我和妻子回加利福尼亞看望兒女、孫子孫女和朋友們。他們都迫切希望得知我們在中國生活的情況，我們盡我們所知，如實講來。許多人問我們最喜歡中國什麽。我們最先想到的自然是友善的人們、美味的食物和宜人的美景。
Then one night, after yet another restaurant dinner with friends, I realized that there was one other thing that i really liked about China: No tipping.
後來一天晚上，又和朋友在餐館吃完飯後，我突然發現，在中國還有一樣自己最喜歡的：不用付小費。
Tipping is a subject that has long inerested and irritated me.
一直以來，付小費令我倍感興趣而又十分惱火。
Many people think that the word "tip" is an acronym for "to insure promptness." However, this is not possible, i think. Since the practice of tipping began in England in the Middle Ages, schoolars have not been able to find any acronyms much earlier than the 20th century. Most scholars track the word "tip" back to the early 1600s, where it originated as criminal slang. It referred to inside information. Therefore, to give another criminal a tip was to give something valuable(information).
許多人認為，“tip”是“to insure promptness”的簡稱。但我覺得不太可能。付小費的傳統源於中世紀的英國，學者們沒有發現早於20世紀的簡稱。很多學者把“tip”一詞的起源一 直追溯到17世紀初，當時是源於犯罪者使用的隱語。指“內部消息”。因此，給另一個罪犯一個“tip”，意思是給他有價值的東西（消息）。
The word gradually evolved to the point where, in the late 1700s, it meant to five a monetary gratuity to someone for service performed. That's where it stayed until the English immigrated to North America.
“tip”一詞的含義逐漸演變，直到18世紀末，這個詞意思就變成了“給某人賞錢（即小費），以獎賞其提供的服務”，這個詞的意思一直沒變，英國人移居到北美洲時，它也被帶到了那裏。
In America, the three basic occupations that require tipping are waiters/waintresses, taxi drivers, and barbers. The standard tip is now betwwen 15 and 20 per cent of the bill, depending on the quality of service.
在美國，三種職業需要消費：服務員、出租車司機和理發師。現在標準的小費費用在15%到20%之間，由服務質量決定。
Why these three particular services deserve this special treatment is a mystey to me. Why am i supposed to tip a waiter for bringing me food when i'm not expected to tip the flight attendant on an airplane for doing the same thing? Why am i supposed to tip a cab driver, but i'm not expected to tip the bus driver? Why am i supposed to tip the barber for cutting my hair but not the dentist for fixing my teeth? I have been a teacher for 39 years. No one has ever tipped me after a particularly successful class or lecture.
為什麽這三種服務就應該受到特殊對待，對我來說還是一個不解之謎。為什麽在餐館中的服務員給我上了菜，我就得給他付小費，而在飛機上的乘務員提供同樣的服 務，就不必給小費呢？為什麽我應該給出租車司機消費，而不必給巴士司機小費？為什麽我應該給為我理發的理發師小費，而不必給為我修牙的牙醫小費？我做教師 39年之久，講完一次非常成功的課或者講座，也從來沒人給過我小費。
The whole concept of tipping doesn't make any sense. I have heard that there are some exclusive and expensive restaurants in major cities in the US where the restaurant does not give the waiters any salary at all due to the large amounts of the tips.In fact, in some instances, i read that the waiters actually pay the restaurant a small fee for the opportunity to collect the large tips.
付小費的概念毫無道理可言。聽說，在美國的大城市，一些高檔奢華的酒店根本不付給服務員任何薪水，就是因為他們能得到數量可觀的小費。實際上，我還在什麽地方見到一些報道，服務員反而要上交酒店一小筆錢，感謝酒店給自己獲得豐厚的小費的機會。
Also, i was quite surprised to learn that there was actually a website devoted to tipping and related issues. Some of the invisible and illogical rules of this practice are close to ridiculous.
另外，還真有這麽一個網站，專門探討付小費和相關問題，這讓我非常驚訝。付小費這種做法令人琢磨不、違背道理的規則，近乎荒謬。
The tipping problem in many European countries is solved by automatically adding a 15 per cent gratuity to the bill. I prefer the Chinese solution: no tipping at all.
許多歐洲國家按照規定加收15%的消費費用解決了付小費的問題。而我更喜歡中國的辦法：根本沒小費這一說。
When i was visiting the US this summer, I went out to dinner several times with friends. Having spent 10 months in China not even thinking about tipping, I found it irritating to have to spend extra money on the meal--especially when the amount of the tip would very often buy a meal in China. While i understand why China, as a developing nation, has adopted many western customs, i hope the Chinese are wise enough to never start the unnecessary practice of tipping. The level of service in China is already good enough that it doesn't need anything to make it better.
今年夏天，我在美國期間，與朋友們去餐館吃過好幾次飯。由於在中國待的10個月中根本不用為小費費神，回到美國發現還要為一頓飯額外付錢——特別是這筆錢 常常抵得上在中國一整頓飯的花銷，這不免令人惱怒。中國作為發展中國家，學會了許多西方習俗，這我能理解，但是我希望中國人一定要明智，付小費的習俗大可不必。中國的服務水平已經不錯了，不需多此一舉。
