CharacterofEnglishmen英国人的性格

1、Character of EnglishmenQuality of the British, and in particular of the English, is “ reserved.A r” eserved perso n is one who does not talk very much to strangers, does not show much emotion, and seldom gets excited. It is difficult to get to know a reserved person: he never tells you anything abou

2、t 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 t end to be like that.在其他的欧洲人看来，英国人，尤其是英格兰人的最明显的特 点是 “沉默寡言 ”。一个沉默寡言的人不大同陌生人说话，情感不大外露，也很少 激动。 要想了解一个沉默寡言的人很困难：他从不谈及他的身世，即使你与他工作数年，也许你不知道他家住在哪里，有几个子女

3、，有些什么兴趣爱好。英国人 往往就是这样。If they are making a journey by bus they will do their best to find an empty seat; if by train, an empty compartment. If they have to share the compartment with a stranger, t hey may travel many miles without starting a conversation. If a conversation does star t, personal quest

4、ions like“ Howold are you?” or even “ Whaits your name?” are not e asily asked.乘公共汽车旅行时，他们会尽量找到一个空座位；乘火车旅行时，他 们会尽量找到一个空隔间。如果他们不得不与他人共坐一个隔间，火车开了数英里也许还不见他们开口说话。即使打开了话匣子，他们也不轻易问起“你多大了？ ”或者 “你贵姓？ ”之类的个人问题。This reluctance to communicate with others is an unfortunate quality in some ways si nce it tends t

5、o give the impression of coldness, and it is true that the English (except p erhaps in the North) are not noted for their generosity and hospitality. On the other ha nds, they are perfectly human behind their barrier of reserve, and may be quite please d when a friendly strange or foreigner succeeds

6、 for a time in breaking the barrier dow n. We may also mention at this point that the people of the North and West, especially the Welsh, are much less reserved than those of the South and East. 从某些方面来说，这种不愿与人交往的特点是件令人遗憾的事情，因为这往往给人以冷漠的印象。除了北方人以外，英国人从不以他们的慷慨大方和热情好客而著称。另一方面，虽然他们表面上沉默寡言，但内心还是很有人情味。当友善的

7、陌生人或外国人打破沉默时，他们也许会感到很高兴。说到这里，也许我们应该提一句， 英国的北部和西部的人，特别是威尔士人，远不象南部和东部的人那样 缄默。Closely related to English reserve is English modesty. Within their hearts, the English are perhaps no less conceited than anybody else, but in their relations with others they value at least a show of modesty. Self-praise is

8、 felt to be impolite. If a person is, let u s say, very good at tennis and someone asks him if he is a good player, he will seldom reply “ Yes,b” ecause people will think him conceited. He will probably give an answe r like, “ I m not bad, ”or “I think I m very good, ” or “ WellI, m very keen on ten

9、nis. (” i.e. I m very fond of it.) even if he had managed to reach the finals in lasyt ear s local championships, he would say it in such a way as to suggest that it was only due to a pi ece of good luck.与英国人的缄默密切相关的是英国人的谦虚。在英国人的内心，他们的自负不亚于任何其他的民族。但在与别人交往时，他们注重谦虚，起码要表现出一种谦虚的姿态。自夸被认为是不礼貌的。比如说，一个人网球打得

10、很好，当有人问他是不是一个网球好手时，他很少会回答说“是 ”，因为如果他回答“是 ”，人们会认为他很自负。他很可能会这样回答：“还不错。 ”或者 “我觉得我还行。”或者 “嗯，我挺喜欢打网球。” 即使他在去年当地的网球锦标赛上打入了决赛，他也许会说只是碰上了好运气。The famous English sense of humor is similar. Its starting-point is self-dispraise, and i ts great enemy is conceit. Its object is the ability to laugh at oneself-aot

11、nes own fau lts, ones own failure, even at ones own ideals. The criticism, “ Hehas no sense of hu mor” is very commonly heard in Britain, where humor is highly prized. A sense of hu mor is an attitude to life rather than the mere ability to laugh at jokes. This attitude is never cruel or disrespectf

12、ul or malicious. The English do not laugh at a cripple of a m adman, or a tragedy or an honorable failure.著名的英国式幽默感也与此相似。其出发点是自贬，其大敌是自负。其目的是能够自嘲 嘲笑自己的错误，自己的失败，甚至自己的理想。在英国，幽默感受到高度重视，经常听到 “他没有幽默感”这样的评论。幽默感是对生活的一种态度，而不仅仅是一听到笑话就能够开怀大笑。这种态度决不是冷酷，决不是无礼，决不是恶毒。英国人从不嘲笑残疾人或精神病人，也从不会对一件悲惨的或虽败犹荣的事情幸灾乐祸。Since re

13、serve, a show of modesty and a sense of humor are part of his own nature, the typical Englishman tends to expect them in others. He secretly looks down on more e xcitable nations, and likes to think of himself as more reliable than they. Hedoesnt tr ust big promises and open shows of feelings, espec

14、ially if they are expressed in flower y language. Hedoesnt trust self-praise of any kind. This applies not only to what othe r people may tell him about themselves orally, but to the letters they may write to him. To those who are fond of flowery expressions, the Englishman may appear uncomfort ably

15、 cold.因为沉默寡言、谦虚的表现和幽默感是英国人天生性格的组成部分，典型的英国人总是期望别人也具有这种品质。他从心里看不起那些容易激动的民族，总是认为他们没有自己可靠。他不相信信誓旦旦的诺言，也不相信感情的直接外露，尤其不相信用华丽的语言做出的承诺和表达的感情。他对任何的自夸之词都不相信， 不管是人们口头告诉的，还是写信书面表达的。在那些喜欢用华丽辞藻的人看来，英国人可能显得冷漠，让人感到很不舒服。Finally, sportsmanship. Like a sense of humor, this is an English ideal which not all E nglishmen

16、 live up to. It must be realized that sport in this modern form is almost entir ely a British invention. Boxing, rugby, football, hockey, tennis and cricket were all fir st organized and given rules in Britain. Rules are the essence of sport, and sportsmans hip is the ability to practice a sport acc

17、ording to its rules, while also showing generosit y to ones opponent and good temper in defeat. The high pressure of modern internati onal sport makes these ideals difficult to keep, but they are at least highly valued in Br itain and are certainly achieved there more commonly than among more excita

18、ble peo ples. Moreover, sportsmanship as an ideal is applied to life in general this is proved by the number of sporting terms used in ordinary speech. Everybody talks o“f fairplay ” and “ playingthe game” or “ playingfair. B” orrowed from boxing, “ straighftrom the s houlder ”is used todescribe a w

19、ell-aimed, strong criticism and“ belowthe belt ”is used to describe an unf air one. One of the most elementary rules of life is “nevehiit a man when he' down"- -in other words, never take advantage of person ' misfortune. English schoolboys o ften show this sense of sportsmanship to a s

20、urprisingly high degree in their relations w ith each other.最后再说说体育运动风范。就象幽默感一样，这也是英国人的理想，尽管不是每 个英国人都能做到这一点。我们应该认识到，现代形式的体育运动几乎都是英国 人的发明。拳击、橄榄球、足球、曲棍球、网球和板球都是源于英国，并且首先 在英国制订出比赛规则。比赛规则反映了体育运动的本质，具有体育运动风范就是能够按照体育运动规则进行比赛，同时又能对对手宽大为怀，失败时也能心平气和。现代国际体育运动的巨大压力使得这些理想目标很难保持，但在英国这些理想目标至少还能得到高度的重视，而且与那些容易激动的民

21、族相比，英国人在达到这些理想目标方面做得更好。止匕外，体育运动风范作为理想准则也适用于日 常生活。这一点可以通过日常会话中用到的许多体育用语得到证实。每个人都会谈到 公平比赛”、遵守规则”或者 公平竞争成语 直接出击”起源于拳击运动， 用来表示一针见血而又措辞严厉的批评。击打对方腰带以下的部分”则用来表示 不公正的批评。生活的基本规则之一是决不打已经倒在地上的人”，也就是说，决不乘人之危。在英国，这种体育运动风范常常在中小学的男生相处时高度地表 现出来。由于地理、历史、文化等方面的原因，世界上的各个民族形成了不同于其他民族 的性格特点。英国人也不例外，经过了几千年的社会变迁，他们形成了自己独特

22、 的思维和行为方式，有着与其它国家人民不同的品质和特点。概括起来，大致英国人的性格特点有以下六个方面：1 .大部分英国人具有与他人格格不入的孤傲特质。孤傲(exclusiveness足英国人最明显的性格特征，他们不愿意和别人多说话，从来不谈论自己，感情不外露， 更不会喜形于色。其它国家的人很难了解英国人的内心世界。英国人为什么具有 孤傲的性格特征呢？原因有二。第一，英国是一个岛国，英吉利海峡(EnglishChannel刷断了它和外部世界的联系，英国人甚至不把自己看作是欧洲人。第二， 英国人对本民族的历史感到非常骄傲和自豪。其中，詹姆斯钦定本圣经(KingJames Authorized Ve

23、rsion of the Bible)和莎士比亚的戏剧对西方及世界文化产生 了巨大的影响。英国议会(Parliament)是欧洲最古老的议会，英国是世界上第一个 完成工业革命(Industrial Revolution)的国家。特殊的地理位置和与众不同的祖国 文明史使得英国人形成了现在的性格特点。2 .大部分英国人有守旧而又不愿接受新生事物的保守思想。英国人的保守 (conservativeness泞世人所知，英国人却认为他们的做事方式是最好的，最合理 的。有人说，英国人需要20至40年的时间才能接受美国目前的新生事物，此话虽然有一点夸张，但也不无道理。英国人直到现在也没有采用世界通用的米制

24、(metric system),仍然使用英里(mile),直到1971年才将货币单位改为十进制 (decimal system)。英国是世界上为数较少的保持君主制 (monarchy)的国家之一， 其保守性可见一斑。当美国人发明中央空调 (central heating)的时候，英国人以对 身体有害为由拒绝接受这种新生事物，继续使用壁炉(fire place)和电炉(electricstove)。3 .大部分英国人具有讲究文明用语和礼貌的好习惯。英国人总是为别人着 想，他们不会要求别人做不愿意做的事情。如果他们不得不要求别人做什么事的 时候，说得非常客气，诸如： "I know the trouble I am causing you but w