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Today's show plates have a pattern on the front which must be aligned perfectly to the diner. On days when the aesthetic of the food requires plain ones, Defremont explains, they are set so that, should the diner decide to flip them over to read the manufacturer's name on the underside, they will be able to do so without the need for any troublesome rotation.
如今的装饰盘前面都有花样，它必须与用餐者完全保持在一线上。德弗雷蒙特解释道，有时食物的美观需要搭配花样简单的装饰盘，它们这样摆放的好处是：用餐者若想翻看盘子背面厂商的名字，可以直接翻看，而无需再麻烦地转个查看。
Sessions followed on napkin folding and the selection of the correct glass for various kinds of wine. Every single element was entirely logical, and planned so the customer's experience should be seamlessly enjoyable. In fact, my abiding impression was of the incredible amount of work that goes into the setting that should never be noticed – a kind of antithesis of ostentation created with some of the most reassuringly expensive kit I've ever been allowed to handle.
培训课接下来讲授的是餐巾纸的叠法以及如何选择品味各种葡萄酒的玻璃酒杯。每一个环节都完全条理分明，安排妥当，让用餐者的体验至始至终是一种享受。事实上，本人一贯的印象是：布置餐桌所付出的N多努力可能永远难以觉察——这种布置并非出于卖弄，而是本人通过亲身操弄那些最贵重餐具器皿后的真实感受。
As Ducasse represents the very highest level of three-star table art, there is an opposing philosophy.It doesn't have a name, but you'll sense its presence in restaurants that use plain white crockery and simple, even unmatched, cutlery. Probably the best example is St. John – no "art" to distract, no background music and staff in something more like chef whites than the starched outfits of traditional waiters. Simplicity usually extends to doing away with the side plate altogether and relying on the clean expanse of white tablecloth or paper slip on which to break the hand-made sourdough. Places such as Andrew Edmunds or Hereford Road have a similar, almost monastic, aesthetic which is intended to focus attention on the food while escaping any of the social pressures of formality.
杜卡斯代表的正是米其林三星级餐厅最高水准的餐桌布置艺术，另外还有另一种截然不同的餐桌布置哲学。它没有具体名称，但很多餐馆里可以感觉其存在——使用纯白色餐用器皿与简单、甚至不配套的餐具。最好的例子也许要数圣•约翰餐厅(St. John)了——没有所谓的"艺术"去分散用餐者的注意力，也没有背景音乐，员工穿的是厨师的白色工作服而非传统服务员所穿的那种刻板工装。更有甚者，简约得干脆把小寸盘悉数去掉，只留下平整的白桌布或纸卷，径直在上面切手工酵母面包。安德鲁•埃德蒙兹(Andrew Edmunds)与禧福道(Hereford Road)等餐厅的审美情趣大同小异、几乎堪比修道院，目的就是让用餐者专注饭菜质量，同时可以避免正式社交场合之繁文缛节。
At both ends of the scale the table setting remains a social bellwether – cutlery and crockery are still about class. We either espouse the pretensions of our forebears in new and subtle ways, or knowingly subvert them to show how little we care for bourgeois values (while remaining resolutely bourgeois). In the end, both positions rely on a forensic reading of social convention. Betjeman would have approved.
不管是简约型还是繁杂型，餐桌布置依然是社交中的重头戏——餐具与器皿的放置仍攸关用餐者的身份地位。我们不是以全新微妙的方式奉行先祖们繁文缛节的那一套，就是有意颠覆之，表明对这套布尔乔亚的价值观多么不屑一顾（同时依然信守布尔乔亚式的生活）。不管怎样，这两种方式都取决于对社会传统习俗的辩论式解读。我想贝杰曼肯定也会赞成这么做。
