去年6月26日，在中国生活、任教10个月后，我和妻子回加利福尼亚看望儿女、孙子孙女和朋友们。他们都迫切希望得知我们在中国生活的情况，我们尽我们所知，如实讲来。许多人问我们最喜欢中国什么。我们最先想到的自然是友善的人们、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.
后来一天晚上，又和朋友在餐馆吃完饭后，我突然发现，在中国还有一样自己最喜欢的：不用付小费。
Tipping is a subject that has long inerested and irritated me.
一直以来，付小费令我倍感兴趣而又十分恼火。
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).
许多人认为，“tip”是“to insure promptness”的简称。但我觉得不太可能。付小费的传统源于中世纪的英国，学者们没有发现早于20世纪的简称。很多学者把“tip”一词的起源一 直追溯到17世纪初，当时是源于犯罪者使用的隐语。指“内部消息”。因此，给另一个罪犯一个“tip”，意思是给他有价值的东西（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”一词的含义逐渐演变，直到18世纪末，这个词意思就变成了“给某人赏钱（即小费），以奖赏其提供的服务”，这个词的意思一直没变，英国人移居到北美洲时，它也被带到了那里。
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.
在美国，三种职业需要消费：服务员、出租车司机和理发师。现在标准的小费费用在15%到20%之间，由服务质量决定。
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.
为什么这三种服务就应该受到特殊对待，对我来说还是一个不解之谜。为什么在餐馆中的服务员给我上了菜，我就得给他付小费，而在飞机上的乘务员提供同样的服 务，就不必给小费呢？为什么我应该给出租车司机消费，而不必给巴士司机小费？为什么我应该给为我理发的理发师小费，而不必给为我修牙的牙医小费？我做教师 39年之久，讲完一次非常成功的课或者讲座，也从来没人给过我小费。
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.
付小费的概念毫无道理可言。听说，在美国的大城市，一些高档奢华的酒店根本不付给服务员任何薪水，就是因为他们能得到数量可观的小费。实际上，我还在什么地方见到一些报道，服务员反而要上交酒店一小笔钱，感谢酒店给自己获得丰厚的小费的机会。
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，还真有这么一个网站，专门探讨付小费和相关问题，这让我非常惊讶。付小费这种做法令人琢磨不、违背道理的规则，近乎荒谬。
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.
许多欧洲国家按照规定加收15%的消费费用解决了付小费的问题。而我更喜欢中国的办法：根本没小费这一说。
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，我在美国期间，与朋友们去餐馆吃过好几次饭。由于在中国待的10个月中根本不用为小费费神，回到美国发现还要为一顿饭额外付钱——特别是这笔钱 常常抵得上在中国一整顿饭的花销，这不免令人恼怒。中国作为发展中国家，学会了许多西方习俗，这我能理解，但是我希望中国人一定要明智，付小费的习俗大可不必。中国的服务水平已经不错了，不需多此一举。
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