An important question about eating out is who pays for the meal. If a friend of yours asks you ...

1. much money

2. Each person pays for himself.

3. 在过去，美国妇女要男子给所有的饭付款。

4 So you can see it is better for you to make the question clear at the very beginning.

5. An important question about eating out is who pays for the meal.

1. 根据上文“I’m afraid I’ll have to find a cheap place”恐怕要找一个便宜的地方，可见“钱不多”“I don’t have much money ”

2.根据上下文“This means that the two agree to go Dutch, that is, each person pays for himself” that is 也就是说，下文的each person pays for himself就是上文go Dutch的解释。

3. 字面翻译“在过去，美国妇女要男子给所有的饭付款。”

4 理解“So you can see you’d better make the question clear at the start.”就是“你要明白最好在开始的时候把意思说清楚”所以当然就是文章最后一句“So you can see it is better for you to make the question clear at the very beginning.”

5. 本文的主题就是介绍在美国文化中出门吃饭谁付钱的问题，很明显文章第一句“An important question about eating out is who pays for the meal.”就是主题句。