有一位英语学习者提出了这么个问题："breakfast”是否就只有“早饭”一个涵义？他看到了这样一段文字：
The afternoon sun has begun to cut lengthening shadows across Beverly Hills before Isabelle Adjani wakes. It is 3 p.m. She stirs, stretches, runs her tousled hair. Breakfast is simple and American: Cornflakes and milk.
—Time, August 15, 1977, p.8
难道这段文字中的“breakfast”也是“早饭”吗？ 他问。但是，谁说“breakfast”就只有“早饭”这一个词义呢？ 一一我不禁问道。他说，不是谁说的，而是《新英汉词典》上这么注的：（吃） 早餐（点）。
当然，“breakfast”并非只有“（给）（吃）早饭”一解。
在上面所引的那段文字中，“她”一觉醒来巳经下午三点，吃的当然不是汉语的“早饭” ---尽管就其内容来看，有cornflakes，有milk，是典型的美国式早餐。
根据WNCD①的释义，“breakfast”只是一天中的第一餐饭，特别指（而不是只指）“早饭” ： the first meal of the day esp. when taken in the morning.
可见，下例中夕阳西下才吃的“breakfast”与其译作“早饭”，不如译作“第一餐饭”：
It was late afternoon when I awoke; the sun was beginning to move down in the west. I sat up and reached for a cigarette. The bedroom door was closed, but I could hear music from the radio. I lit the cigarette and went into the bathroom. When I came out, she was waiting for me with a tray in her hand.
“Get back into bed,”she said.
“I have work to do.”
“Get back into bed and eat your breakfast," she said firmly. “You're not working today. You have to allow your energy particles . to regroup.”
一 Harold Robbins: Dreams
    Die First, NHL Book,
    pp. 222—3

至于“breakfast”，除了上文已经提到过的以玉米片和牛奶为其内容的“American breakfast" 之外，还有“continental breakfast”和“English breakfast"---前者包括咖啡、面包和黄油，而后者则更为丰富，有腌肉和火腿鸡子。