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Charlie went to the door and looked out on the street and beckoned widely with his arm. They trooped out with their fur coats pulled tight, their fur-trimmed silken mules slapping their bare heels. They had left about thirty cents as a tip, all in cents and nickels. The coins were carefully imbedded in the cold steak grease and gluey syrup and putty-colored cigarette leavings on their plates. Charlie began stacking the plates without touching the money. He carried the dirty dishes back and set them through the opening in the kitchen wall. Fat Kruger came to the opening and Charlie went back to his book. Fat called, “Hey, Charlie, you leavin’ this tip again?”
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● beckoned：做手势（widely有“挥动”之意）。
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● trooped：（多数人）匆忙地走。
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● fur-trimmed：毛皮滚边的。mules：拖鞋（slippers是便鞋，如中国缎鞋等都是；mules才是没后跟的拖鞋）。slapping：拖拉拖拉地响。heels：脚踵。bare：没有穿袜子。
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● cents：一分一枚的铜币。nickels：五分一枚的镍币。
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● imbedded：塞、埋（此字源自bed，原有“塞在被褥之间”之意，imbed亦可拼作embed）。steak grease：牛排的油汤。gluey：粘而且腻的。syrup：糖浆，waffles上常常浇了糖浆才吃，故盘子里有糖浆遗留。putty：油灰（用以补漏等等）。cigarette leavings：香烟头（浸在油里，故呈油灰色）。
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● stacking the plates：把盘子叠起。
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● dirty dishes：dish是盛食物器皿的总名（盘、碗、盅等均可）。plate只是扁平的盘子（此二字都有别种用法，请查字典）。小姐们把钱丢在“盘子”的油汤里面，Charlie所叠起的也是“盘子”。但这里他要把所有的碗盏等等都送进厨房里去洗，故用dishes。洗碗碟的人，叫做 dishwasher。the opening in the kitchen wall：厨房墙上的窗洞。
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● Fat Kruger：在厨房里做工的学生之名。
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● you leavin’=you are leaving。此人发音把ng读作n，小说家为求写生逼真起见，亦把g给吃掉了。again：足见他不收小帐已不是一次了。
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“You’re right. I’m leaving it!” Charlie said. “I can get along without their tips. They leave it that way every time. I guess they think I’ll grabble on their filthy plates to get a lousy thirty cents. It takes a woman to think up something like that.”
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● get along：维持下去。that way：总是把赏钱放在油污里面。
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● grabble：用手乱摸。filthy：脏（比dirty更多一层“可憎”的意思）。lousy：此字系美国俚语，很常用，凡是一切可恨可厌的东西，都可用这个字来形容，相当于中文“这几个臭钱”中的“臭”字。（正式作文中应避免。）a lousy thirty cents：三角钱当作一个单位，故前面可用冠词a。
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● It takes a woman：赏钱还赏得不干不净，这种脏主意，只有女人才想得出。（那几个女生的嘻嘻哈哈，他看在眼里，心里当然非常不舒服，一肚子气，到现在才发泄一下。）
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He sat down on a counter stool with the economics book before him, trying to fix his mind on it. He read a page. The print became thin, blurred parallels of black on the page. He propped the muscles with his palms at his temples, trying to keep his eyes open. His head jerked forward and he caught it and began reading again. Soon his face lowered slowly through his hands and came to rest on the open book.
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● 子夜以后咖啡馆中已无顾客，他开始专心用功。
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● counter stool：靠着柜台的高脚凳子，和前面所说的雅座不同。
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● print：书上的字。thin, blurred parallels of black：一行一行的字，成了稀稀的模糊的平行黑线——他的眼睛已看不见字（这是描写简单朴素之处，希读者注意）。
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● propped：撑住（太阳穴temples上的肌肉）。palms：手掌。
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● jerked forward：往前一冲。he caught it：收住前冲之势，止住不动。
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● lowered slowly：慢慢地俯首下去。through his hand：他的手掌不是撑住了太阳穴吗？但是头慢慢地滑下去了。rest：头伏在书上。
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Fat Kruger came through the kitchen swinging door and tiptoed up front. Fat gave his head a gentle shove, and Charlie started up to catch his balance.
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“What time is it?” Charlie said, yawning and arching his back.
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“Half past two. Charlie, I wouldn’t put my eyes out over that book if I was you, when you’re dyin’ for sleep,” Fat said.
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● swinging door：推拉自如的弹簧门。tiptoed up front：蹑着脚走向前来。
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