尽管饭馆里的兰州拉面已经飞涨到了每碗10块钱以上，但在大学食堂你仍然可以只花4块5就买到一碗。

 

　　The government has placed strict controls on the price of dishes in college canteens. Beijing Municipal Commission of Education announced new rules in May that the price of staple dishes at college canteens must not exceed 6 yuan. Also, at least 70 percent of staple dishes should cost less than 4 yuan.

 

　　政府已对大学食堂的饭菜价格进行了严格控制。北京市教育委员会在5月份发布的新条款规定，大学食堂里的主要饭菜每份不得超过6块钱。并且至少要有70%的主要饭菜成本不得低于4块钱。

 

　　However, not many students are excited about the news. Instead, many fear that portion sizes will shrink if college canteens are forbidden to raise prices to deal with increasing costs caused by the soaring Consumer Price Index (CPI).

 

　　但是，并没有多少同学因此感到高兴。相反，很多人担心因为政府不允许学校食堂涨价，而食堂为了应对消费者物价指数的上涨所带来的成本增长，会减少饭菜的份量。

 

　　“The kitchen staff serve smaller portions though the prices are unchanged. But it’s no different from raising prices,” said Liang Zijin, a 23-year-old student at Zheijiang University.

 

　　23岁的浙江大学学生梁子锦（音译）说：“尽管价格没变，但食堂师傅给我们盛的饭菜变少了，跟涨价没什么两样。”

 

　　Some students have summarized several “college canteen rules” demonstrating how stingy kitchen staff can be when they serve students. Let’s take a look at three of the rules and also see how kitchen staff respond to students’ criticisms.

 

　　一些同学总结出了“大学食堂定律”来向大家展示食堂师傅们到底可以抠门到什么程度。我们来分享一下其中的三条定律，再看看师傅们的对同学们的“控诉”如何回应。

 

　　Rule 1: The kitchen staff will always shake the ladle before he puts the food into your tray. Amazingly, it’s always the meat that is shaken off while the vegetables lie safely in the ladle.

 

　　定律一：食堂师傅在把饭菜盛到你的餐盘前总会抖一抖大饭勺。令人称奇的是，在从大勺中抖下去的总是肉，而蔬菜则完好的待在大勺里。

 

　　Yang Siqun, a member of the kitchen staff in the canteen at Beijing Institute of Fashion Technology (BIFT), explained that staff did so because they needed to give students equal portions. He admitted that he would shake off some meat when there was too much for one student. “Otherwise, there wouldn’t be any meat left for latecomers,” said Yang.

 

　　北京服装学院的食堂师傅杨思群（音译）解释道，食堂师傅们这样做是为了尽量给每个同学相同的份量。他也承认要是盛了太多的肉就会抖掉一些。他还说：“要不然，晚来的同学就没有肉可以吃了。”

 

　　So the secret in getting as much meat as possible is: be the last person in the queue. The kitchen staff will then spoon all the meat left into your tray.

 

　　所以同学们，要尽可能多盛到肉的秘诀就是：排在队尾吧。食堂师傅就会把剩下的所有肉都盛到你的餐盘里。

 

　　Rule 2: The vegetable to meat ratio in a dish is 9:1, although sometimes the top of the dish is covered by meat. The vegetables lie beneath.

 

　　定律二：蔬菜和肉的比例永远都是9:1，尽管有时菜肴上面盖满了肉，但是蔬菜就藏在下面。

 

　　Yang responded that this ratio was incorrect. He revealed that the vegetable-to-meat ratio in a dish is usually 3:2 or 3:1.

 

　　杨师傅回应，这个比例是不准确的。他解释说一道菜中，菜和肉的比例往往是3:2或是3:1。

 

　　However, according to one of Yang’s colleagues (who refused to give his real name), it’s actually impossible to make a meat and vegetable dish using the ratio mentioned in the students’ rules. Take a dish of scrambled eggs and tomatoes, for instance. If you don’t add enough eggs, the eggs will easily stick to the pan and burn.

 

　　但是，据一名杨师傅的同事（不愿透露真实姓名）说，事实上，根据学生们所编的定律中的荤素搭配比例来做菜是不可能的。比如说西红柿炒鸡蛋这盘道菜，如果你不加入足够的鸡蛋，鸡蛋就很容易粘在锅上烧糊。

 

　　An anonymous chef from the University of International Business and Economics explained that meat often reduces after frying, so it may seem that there isn’t much meat in the dish.

 

　　一位没有透露姓名的对外经济贸易大学食堂的厨师解释说，炒过之后肉会变少，所以菜里的肉看起来也就没有那么多。

 

　　Rule 3: All molecules are in constant motion. So a bucket of water will be a bucket of red bean soup, even if there’s only one red bean in it.

 

　　定律三:所有的分子都在不断地运动。所以即使只有一颗红豆，一桶水也可以煮成一桶红豆汤。

 

　　Du Wenbo, 19, a student of English at Xi’an Jiaotong University, bears this rule in mind when he goes to the school canteen to get free soup. He often feels as though he is drinking plain boiled water rather than soup.

 

　　19岁的杜文博（音译）是西安交通大学英文专业的学生，他每次去学校食堂打免费汤时都谨记着这条定律。他经常觉得喝的是白开水而不是汤。

 

　　Yang Xueping, a chef from BIFT, explained that free soup is mainly for the purpose of quenching students’ thirst. Thick soups containing many ingredients would not serve this purpose.

 

　　北京服装学院的厨师杨雪萍（音译）解释说，免费汤主要是为了给学生解渴的。那种有很多食材的浓汤达不到解渴的效果。

 

　　However, Du feels that the free “soup”, despite being well intentioned, serves little purpose at all when few students would like to drink the weak-tasting soup.

 

　　然而，杜文博觉得尽管学校准备免费汤是好意的，但是那些清澈见底的汤几乎没有学生愿意喝，根本就毫无意义。

 

　　Students’ main complaints

 

　　学生们的主要投诉

 

　　The following survey asked 6,710 Chinese college students for their complaints about their college canteens:

 

　　下面的调查询问了6710名中国大学生关于他们对各自学校食堂的不满。

 

　　44.4% portion sizes are too small;

 

　　44.4%的同学觉得饭菜量太少；

 

　　56.5% kitchen staff always shake the ladle until there is not much food left in it;

 

　　56.5%的同学抱怨食堂师傅总是抖饭勺，直到没剩多少了才肯停；

 

　　53.1% dishes taste bad, and don’t contain much seasoning.

 

　　53.1%的同学觉得菜品味道太差，根本没加多少佐料。