49 The British through My Eyes
我眼中的英国人
1.While I was studying in London as a visiting scholar<学者>,I came to know more of the British culture and customs.During one year’s study,I noticed that the British behaved quite differently in many ways compared to<与…相比> the Chinese.
1.作为一名访问学者，在伦敦学习的一年时间里，我对英国的文化与习俗开始有了更多的了解，注意到英国人在许多方面与我们中国人的表现大不相同。
2.British people tend to be<趋向于> rather conservative.The conservative attitude is only to accept things familiar to<熟悉的> them and to be suspicious of<怀疑>anything that is strange or foreign.They like antiques so much that they never hesitate<犹豫> to spend money buying them even if they are useless.A lot of British people remain strongly attached to<使依恋，把…放在>coal or wood fireplaces<壁炉>,even though<尽管> it causes a great deal of <大量>work and adds to the pollution of the air.Some of them liked to spend a great deal of money and trouble putting in a dummyfireplace,which would never be used;they thought a living room without a fireplace would be a room without a basic characteristic of cosiness<基本特性cosiness n舒适，安逸>.Many rooms are in fact heated by gas or electric fires,but they are usually placed in front of old-style fireplaces,and many people choose electric fires designed so as to look like coal fires,with imitation pieces of coal which are lit<发光light的过去式及过去分词> when the current<电流> is turned on.
2.英国人一般相当保守。他们保守的态度表现在他们只接受他们熟悉的东西，而对任何外来的或陌生的东西持怀疑态度。他们非常喜欢古董，以至对那些即使没什么用处的东西，也会毫不犹豫地买回来。现在，尽管使用煤或木头的壁炉很麻烦，而且会增加空气污染，但是仍有许多英国人家非常喜欢使用。他们有些人会不惜花钱和费事，给房间安装上一个从不使用的假壁炉。他们认为，居室里如果没有壁炉就失去了让人感觉舒适惬意的基本特点。许多房间实际上是用煤气或电炉取暖的，但取暖器通常放在老式壁炉前面。许多英国人喜欢选择外观设计像烧煤的壁炉式的电暖气，当电源接通时，里面的假煤块就会发出红光。
3.To other Europeans,the best-known quality<特点>of the British,and in particular<尤其是> of the English,is “reserve.”A reserved person is one who does not talk very much to strangers,does not show much emotion<情绪>,and seldom gets excited.It is difficult to get to know a reserved person;he never tells you about anything of himself,and you may work with
him for years without ever knowing where he lives,how many children he has,and what his interests are. English people tend to be like that.When starting a conversation<交谈>,one can never ask questions like “How old are you?Wha t is your salary?Where did you buy your watch” etc.Similarly<同样的>,conversation in Britain is generally quiet and restrained.Loud speech is considered ill-bred<缺乏教养，没有教养>.The reluctance<勉强，不愿意> to communicate with<沟通> each other is an unfortunate<遗憾的，不幸的> quality in some way <在某种意义上讲>since it tends to give the impression<印象> of coldness<冷淡，冷漠>,and it is true that the English are not noted for <因…而著名>their generosityand hospitality<好客>.On the other hand,they are perfectly human behind their barrier<障碍> of reserve and may be quite pleased when a friendly stranger or foreigner succeeds for a time in breaking the barrier down.Closely related to English reserve is English modesty<谦逊>.Within their heart,the English are perhaps no less conceited than anybody else,but in their relations with others,they value<注重，重视>,at least,a show of modesty.Self-praise<自夸> is felt to be ill-bred.If a person who is very good at table tennis is asked if he is a good player,he will seldom r eply “Yes”，because people will think him conceited<自负的>.He will probably give an answer like,“I am not bad.”or “I am very keen on<热衷于，有兴趣的>it.”Also the English are famous for sense of humour<幽默感>.Its starting point is self-depreciation<自我贬低>;they like laughing at their own faults,failures and embarrassments<窘境，尴尬>,even at their ideals<幻想，理想的事物>.But they never laugh at a disabled person or a madman.Sympathy<同情> is felt to be stronger than laughter.
3.与其他欧洲人相比，英国人，尤其是英格兰人，最显著的特点就是“矜持”。一个矜持的人不大愿意与陌生人交谈，不大受情绪影响，也很少激动。要了解生性矜持的人很困难，因为他从来不告诉别人有关他自己的事。你可能与他共事多年却不知道他住在哪儿，有几个孩子，也不知道他对什么感兴趣。英国人往往就是这个样子。互相攀谈时，绝不会有人问起“你多大了？”，“你挣多少钱?”或“你的手表在哪里买的？”这样的问题。同样，英国人谈话时声音很轻，并能克制住自己，大声讲话被看作为缺乏教养。从某些方面来讲，这种不愿与他人交往的特点是令人遗憾的，因为这会给人一种冷漠的印象。的确，英国人并非以豪爽与好客著称。但是，尽管他们矜持，却还是非常富有人情味的；一旦一个友好的陌生人或外国人能打破这种障碍，英国人也会十分高兴。与英国人的矜持密切相关的是他们的谦逊。与他人相比，英国人在内心深处也许不乏自负，但是在与他人的交往中，至少他们很注重要表现出谦逊的样子。自夸被认为是没有教养的。假如你问一个很会打乒乓球的人他是否是个好选手时，他很少会
