英国人的性格 （美文赏析

英国人的性格 （美文赏析）

The English Character
To other Europeans, the best known quality of the British, and in particular of the English, is "reserved." A reserved peson 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 about 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.
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, they may travel many miles without starting a conversation. If a conversation does start, personal questions like "How old are you? " or even "what is your name?" are not easily asked.

This reluctance to communicate with others is an unfortunate quality in some ways since it tends to give the impression of coldhess, and it is true that the English (except perhaps in the North) are not noted for their generosity and hospitality. On the other hand, they are perfectly human behind their barrier of reserve, and may be quite pleased when a friendly stranger or foreigner succeeds for a time in breaking the barrier down. 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.

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 felt to be impolite. If a person is, let us say, very good at tennis and someone asks him if he is a good player, he will seldom reply "Yes," because people will think him conceited. He will probably give an answer like, "I'm not bad," or "I think I'm very good, " or "Well, I'm very keen on tennis." (i.e. I'm very fond of it.) Even if he had managed to reach the finals in last year's local championships, he would say it in such a way as to suggest that it was only due to a piece of good luck.

The famous English sense of humor is similar. Its starting-point is self-dispraise, and its great enemy is conceit. Its object is the abili- ty to laugh at oneself--at one's own faults, one's own failure, even at one's own ideals. The criticism, " He has no sense of humor." is very commonly heard in Britain, where humor is highly prized. A sense of humor is an attitude to life rather than the mere ability to laugh at jokes. This attitude is never cruel or disrespectful or malicious. The English do not laugh at a cripple or a madman, or a tragedy or an honorable failure.

Since reserve, 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 excitable nations, and likes to think of himself as more reliable than they. He doesn't trust big promises and open shows of feelings, esp. if they are expressed in flowery language. He doesn't trust self-praise of any kind. This applies not only to what other 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 uncomfortably cold.

Finally, sportsmanship. Like a sense of humor, this is an English ideal which not all Englishmen live up to. It must be realized that sport in its modern form is almost entirely a British invention. Boxing, rugby, football, hockey, tennis and cricket were all first organized and given rules in Britain. Rules are the essence of sport, and sportsmanship is the ability to practice a sport according to its rules, while also showing generosity to one's opponent and good temper in defeat. The high pressure of modern international sport makes these ideals difficult to keep, but they are at least highly valued in Britain and are certainly achieved there more commonly than among more excitable peoples. 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 of "fair play" and "playing the game" or "playing fair." Borrowed from boxing, "straight from the shoulder" is used to describe a well-aimed, strong criticism and "below the belt" is used to describe an unfair one. One of the most elementary rules of life is "never hit a man when he's down"—in other words, never take advantage of a person's misfortune. English schoolboys often show this sense of sportsmanship to a surprisingly high degree in their relations with each other.





参考译文
在其他欧洲人看来，英国人，尤其是英格兰人，最著称的特点是其“缄默”。一个缄默的人不大与陌生人交谈，感情不大外露，也很少情绪激昂。要了解一个缄默的人很难。他从不告诉你关于他自己的任何情况。你有可能和这样一个人在一起工作多年，而不知他、住在哪里，有几个孩子，对什么感兴趣。英国人往往就是这样。

他们乘公共汽车时，总是想方设法找一个空座；乘火车时，就尽量找个没人的车厢。如果他们不得不与陌生人乘坐在列车上的同一车厢里。两人或许好久也不会开始交谈。如果真的开始交谈，有关个人情况的问题，如“您多大年纪?”甚至“您贵姓?”也不是轻易问的。

从某些方面来说，这种不愿与他人交往的特性是令人遗憾的事。因为这往往给人一种冷漠的印象。英国人(也许除北方的英国人之外)不以慷慨大方热情好客著称。不过话说回来，他们虽然外表难以接近：却也很有人情味，要是一位友善的陌生人或外国人一时冲破了这一障碍，英国人可能也会十分高兴。说到这里，或许我们也该提一句，北部和西部的英国人，特别是威尔士人，远不像南部和东部的英国人那样缄默。

与英国人的缄默紧密相关的是英国人的谦逊。在内心深处英国人的高傲自负一点也不比别的民族少，但在与他人交往中，他们注重谦逊，起码要表现出谦逊的姿态。自夸被认为是没有礼貌的表现。比如说，有一个人网球打得很好，要是有人问他是不是个好手，他不大会回答说“是的，我很棒”，因为这样一来，别人就会认为他自傲。他可能会回答说“马马虎虎”，或“我自己觉得还行”，或“哦，我挺喜欢打网球的”。(也就是说我爱好打网球。)即使他去年在当地的网球锦标赛中打入了决赛，他也会说得似乎只是碰上了好运气。

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，嘲笑自身的缺点，自己的失败，甚至自己的理想与追求。在高度评价幽默的英国，经常听到一句批评别人的话，“他没有幽默感。”幽默感其实是对生活的一种态度，而不是仅仅指听到趣事能开怀大笑。这一态度决非冷酷，决非无礼，决非恶毒。英国人决不取笑残疾人或疯子，也不会对一件不幸或虽败犹荣的事幸灾乐祸。

由于缄默、谦虚的表现以及幽默感是其天性，典型的英国人往往期望别人也具有这些品质。他心底里看不起那些很容易激动的民族，并认为自己比那些人更可靠。他不相信言过其实的允诺，过于外露的感情，对于用华丽的辞藻做出的承诺和表达出来的感情尤其不会相信。他对任何形式的自诩之词均持怀疑态度，对当面向他自夸的人是如此，对在信中向他自夸的人也是如此。在那些喜欢华丽辞藻的人看来，英格兰人显得过分冷漠，使人感到别扭。

最后一点是公平和宽容的风度。和幽默感一样，这也是一种英国式的理想品质，尽管并非每个英格兰人都能做到。我们应该认识到，现代体育运动几乎全是英国人的发明。拳击、橄榄球、足球、曲棍球、网球和板球等多种运动都是首先在英国开展起来的，并在英国制定出比赛规则。规则反映了体育运动的本质，而运动员的风度，就是能够按照规则进行比赛，同时又能对对手宽大为怀，失败时能心平气和。现代国际体育竞赛的巨大压力使得这种体育风范难以保持，不过，在英国，至少还能予以高度的重视，而且英国人比那些容易激动的民族，在身体力行方面，做得更好。此外，公平和宽容的风度作为理想准则也适用于日常生活。这一点已被在日常讲话中所使用的若干条体育准则所证明。每个人都谈到了公平比赛、按规则进行比赛或公平地进行比赛。成语“直接出击”起源于拳击运动，用来表示一针见血措辞严厉的批评，“击打腰带以下”则用来表示不公正的批评。生活的最基本的准则之一是“决不打已经倒在地上的人”，也就是说，决不落井下石。英国中小学里的男生相处时，常常极大地表现出这种运动员风度。