When people go out to a restaurant, some prefer abuffet-style eating place, where you can go back tothe food serving tables many times and take lots toeat or drink with no restrictions. The problem, ofcourse, is that diners in these places tend to overeat.And if you don't eat everything on your plate, youmay feel guilty about wasting food.

人们外出就餐时，有些人喜欢自助餐。在那里你可以取很多食物和饮料，然后大吃特喝，不受任何限制。这当然会出现一个问题，就是这些吃自助餐的人往往会吃得过饱。如果你不把盘子里的东西吃干净，你可能会因浪费食物而感到内疚。

Now imagine that your plate is not real, but only your mind, and that all the food on it meansall the work you have to do that consumes your time. Sometimes, we may feel like we have toomany items "on our plate" in our mind. Then we may feel a bit guilty telling friends, "Sorry, Iam so busy just now that I can't see you. I simply have too much on my plate." Of course, inthis case we mean too much to do, not too much to eat.

现在想象一下，你的盘子不是真实的盘子，而是你的大脑。它里面装的当然不是食物，而是所有你必须做的工作。这些工作会占用你时间。有时我们可能会觉得我们脑海中萦绕着太多需要处理的工作，然后我们可能会有点内疚地告诉朋友：“对不起，我不能和你见面了，因为我手头的事太多了。”当然，在这种情况下，这个习语的意思是指你需要使劲地工作，而不是使劲地吃东西。