51. Stevie was a 21-year-old in blue jeans and Nikes, eager to laugh and eager to please, but fierce in his attention to his duties. Every salt and pepper shaker was exactly in its place, not a bread crumb or coffee spill was visible when Stevie got done with the table. Our only problem was convincing him to wait to clean a table until after the customers were finished. He would hover in the background, shifting his weight from one foot to the other, scanning the dining room until a table was empty. Then he would hurry to the empty table and carefully bus the dishes and glasses onto the cart and meticulously wipe the table with a practiced flourish of his rag. He took pride in doing his job exactly right.

本题主要考查对英文段落的理解与翻译能力。解题思路如下：

1. 逐句分析英文句子结构和词汇含义。对于简单句，直接按照词汇的基本意思进行翻译；对于复杂句，先理清句子的主干结构，再处理修饰成分。
2. 注意一些短语和表达的准确理解和翻译，如“in blue jeans and Nikes”表示“穿着牛仔裤和耐克鞋”；“eager to laugh and eager to please”可译为“喜欢笑，也乐于取悦他人”；“hover in the background”是“站在背景中徘徊”的意思；“bus the dishes and glasses”指“把盘子和玻璃杯收走”。
3. 结合上下文，使译文在语义和表达上更加通顺、自然，符合中文的语言习惯。

下面进行逐句翻译：

• “Stevie was a 21 - year - old in blue jeans and Nikes, eager to laugh and eager to please, but fierce in his attention to his duties.”
  • 先确定句子主干“Stevie was a 21 - year - old”，即“Stevie是一个21岁的年轻人”。“in blue jeans and Nikes”描述穿着，译为“穿着牛仔裤和耐克鞋”。“eager to laugh and eager to please”是并列的后置定语，修饰Stevie，译为“喜欢笑，也乐于取悦他人”。“but fierce in his attention to his duties”表示转折，译为“但对工作职责却非常认真”。整句译为“Stevie是一个21岁的年轻人，穿着牛仔裤和耐克鞋，他喜欢笑，也乐于取悦他人，但对工作职责却非常认真”。
• “Every salt and pepper shaker was exactly in its place, not a bread crumb or coffee spill was visible when Stevie got done with the table.”
  • “Every salt and pepper shaker was exactly in its place”可译为“每一只盐瓶和胡椒瓶都摆放得恰到好处”。“not a bread crumb or coffee spill was visible”是双重否定表肯定，意思是“连一丁点面包屑或咖啡渍都看不见”。“when Stevie got done with the table”表示“当Stevie清理完桌子后”。整句译为“当Stevie清理完桌子后，桌面上连一丁点面包屑或咖啡渍都看不见”。
• “Our only problem was convincing him to wait to clean a table until after the customers were finished.”
  • “Our only problem was...”表示“我们唯一的问题是......”。“convincing him to wait to clean a table”是“说服他等一下再清理桌子”，“until after the customers were finished”是“直到顾客用餐结束后”。整句译为“我们唯一的问题是，得说服他等顾客用餐结束后再清理桌子”。
• “He would hover in the background, shifting his weight from one foot to the other, scanning the dining room until a table was empty.”
  • “He would hover in the background”是“他会站在背景中徘徊”。“shifting his weight from one foot to the other”描述动作，译为“来回移动重心”。“scanning the dining room”是“环顾餐厅”，“until a table was empty”是“直到有桌子空出来”。整句译为“他会站在背景中徘徊，来回移动重心，环顾餐厅，直到有桌子空出来”。
• “Then he would hurry to the empty table and carefully bus the dishes and glasses onto the cart and meticulously wipe the table with a practiced flourish of his rag.”
  • “Then he would hurry to the empty table”是“然后他会迅速跑到空桌旁”。“carefully bus the dishes and glasses onto the cart”是“仔细地把盘子和玻璃杯收进餐车”。“meticulously wipe the table”是“一丝不苟地擦拭桌面”，“with a practiced flourish of his rag”描述擦拭的动作，译为“熟练地挥动抹布”。整句译为“然后，他会迅速跑到空桌旁，将盘子和玻璃杯仔细地收进餐车，并熟练地挥动抹布，一丝不苟地擦拭桌面”。
• “He took pride in doing his job exactly right.”
  • “He took pride in...”是“他为......感到自豪”，“doing his job exactly right”是“把工作做到完美”。整句译为“他为自己能将工作做到完美而感到自豪”。