裝腔指南:像上流社會一樣宴會

The following guide summarizes advice on how to mix with the posh set at a formal meal.

想要在正式的宴會上完美融入上流社會？不妨看看下面的指南，概括了不少實用建議哦。

Invitations
邀請別人赴宴

The invitation should be written on writing-paper rather than note-paper. should be written on writing-paper rather than note-paper.
邀請不能用筆記本的紙寫，而要寫在信紙上。

Address male guests by their surname alone, unless they are a government minister, when Sir is required, or the king, when it should be Sire.
只寫男賓的姓氏，除非他是政府大臣（這時需要加上Sir），或國王（需要加上Sire）。

When giving your address, avoid non-U house names like Fairmeads; U speakers stick to formal titles like Shinwell Hall. I can think of a potential problem here for people who don’t live in a manor house, but I presume that not living in a manor house is also non-U.
提及自己的住址時，別像非上流社會的人那樣管自己的房子叫Fairmeads之類的名字。上流社會總是使用正式名稱，例如Shinwell Hall。我能想象這里可能會有一個問題，有些人并不住在莊園里。但我覺得住不起莊園也算不上上流社會的人。

The next difficulty is determining the correct term for the meal itself to which the guests are invited. Is dinner taken at midday or in the evening? What about lunch and supper – are these acceptable terms, or will they immediately flag your lowly status? Properly speaking, one should have lunch (or even luncheon) in the middle of the day and dinner in the evening. To refer to lunch as dinner, or to use the term evening meal is to betray your non-U origins. If a dinner guest praises the supper, then the implication is that the meal was insubstantial and unsatisfying.
下一個難點是如何正確描述要請賓客吃哪頓飯。Dinner這個詞究竟是說午飯還是晚餐？可以使用lunch和supper嗎？它們會不會立刻顯得你沒那么高大上？正確的說法是，午餐應該叫lunch甚至luncheon，晚餐則叫dinner。管午餐叫dinner或是管晚餐叫evening meal都會暴露你非上流社會的出身。要是一位客人說今晚的supper真不錯，那他不是在暗示晚餐不夠豐盛，就是說它不夠美味。

Never issue an invitation to high-tea, as this is an exclusively non-U invention.
絕對不要邀請別人參加high-tea，只有非上流社會的人才會使用這個詞。

When stating the dress code, be sure not to use the terms dress-suit or evening-dress. The refined equivalent is to state simply: "We will be changing for dinner". How your guest is supposed to glean what to wear from this is a mystery to me, but I suppose that is precisely the point. If you have to ask, you shouldn’t be going.
提到著裝規定時，一定不要用dress-suit或evening-dress，而是簡單的說 “We will be changing for dinner”就可以了。對我來說，客人們如何領會該穿什么其實是個謎，但這正是關鍵所在。如果不知道穿什么，你就不應該去。