笑而不语的食堂“潜规则”

Although the price of a bowl of Lanzhou noodles has soared to over 10 yuan in restaurants, you can still get a bowl for 4.5 yuan at college canteens.
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。”

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。