Dear Annie: An employee of a local firm invited my husband and me to a very nice restaurant. This was definitely a business dinner. It turned out that one of our hosts couldn't attend and instead allowed the employee and his girlfriend to bring her daughter, age 15. Instead of seating the child between them, she ended up next to me. As soon as she sat down, she took out her cell phone, placed it next to her plate and stared at it all evening. I was appalled that she was permitted to be so rude. I did my best to ignore her, but my eyes kept drifting back to that phone. How would you tell a rude person to put their distracting phone away? In the meantime, we won't be accepting any more dinner invitations from this employee without a no-child guarantee. — No Cell Manners in Hawaii Dear Hawaii: We feel sorry for the kid, stuck having dinner with her mother's boyfriend's business associates. Mom should not have brought her, and yes, the girl should have kept the phone in her pocket, purse or lap, but at least she didn't spend the time texting all her friends about how bored she was. There was no reason for you to be fixated on her silent phone.

definitely (adv.) 绝对地；的确 to turn out 结果证明；竟然 to stare (v.) 凝视；瞪视 to be appalled 觉得过分的 to drift (v.) 飄向；漂流 distracting (adj.) 使人分心的；令人困扰的 associate (n.) 同事；同僚 to text (v.) 传简讯 to be fixated on 专注于，执著于