Now, " a la carte" basically means according to the menu, but what it does is it allows you to order things individually as opposed to a set or a package.
现在, " a la carte" 基本上是跟菜单有关,但是这个词是说和份式饭不一样的随意点餐的意思。
He tried not to travel much, did not take holidays, and if the journey was unavoidable made what he called cartes de voyage, continuing his numbers in black ink on ordinary white paper.