发布时间 : 星期一 文章英国概况第三章提纲更新完毕开始阅读
be accused of. This is, perhaps, best exemplified by British attitudes to queuing. To cut or push into a queue is possibly the worst social crime you can commit in Britain, and it is almost impossible to describe just how serious an offence it is. People who do this are considered completely beyond the bounds of civilized society.
The British are typically believed to behave fairly and in a sportsmanlike way in football and other sports. They do not cheat or resort to ungentlemanly behaviour. Generally, fair play in a social context consists of: commitment to cooperation, acknowledgement of mistakes, respect for rules, respect for social conventions, respect for your colleagues and opponents and not showing a poor attitude.
4）Extracting Information收集信息
In Jane Austen's novel, Pride and Prejudice, Elizabeth says to Mr. Darcy, “one must speak a little, you know. It would look odd to be entirely silent.” Strangers might stick to the weather at a social function. This is the only topic that is entirely ?safe?. If you are foreign, however, you may be asked about your country and what you think of Britain, and some people are naturally more gifted at sliding this into social chit-chat than others. It's a good idea to be able to chat about famous celebrities or favourite football teams, but try to be more imaginative than Manchester United and Chelsea.
Unlike the vulgar Americans who tell you about their divorce and their therapy all within five minutes of meeting you, the British are famously restrained and private. British people will not tell you about their job, their family or their private life until they know you quite well. Prying or being nosey is bad manners in Britain; you cannot ask people straight out how many children they have, and asking people how much money they earn is a gross violation of one of the greatest taboos – the money taboo. Nor do people generally like to talk about religion or politics if they do not already know you quite well. People do not talk about physical appearance or features. It is acceptable to make ironic jokes in order to extract information, but it is rude to be direct.
Because of the privacy rule and the taboo on prying, it is often difficult to find out what people do for a living sometimes, so there are ways of asking. You should also not ask directly about marital status. This information can be got from clue-dropping and so on. Don't say kinds of “I admire you.” It's too direct. If you do praise someone in public -- or even in private -- he will feel honour-bound to deflect the compliment in a jokey way by downplaying it. If you praise someone?s job or car, he will generally downplay it -- either by making a joke or by saying that it is not as good as it looks.
It is often necessary to play things by ear, to test the water before jumping into a conversation about controversial issues. If you listen to what other people are talking about, you can generally
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take their cue from them. Generally safe topics are food , fashion, music and films, the lives of celebrities, football and, of course, the weather. 5）Complaining Politely斯文地抱怨
The British -- and especially the English -- are notoriously bad at complaining. Because of British politeness rules which dictate that confrontation should be avoided, people either just do not complain and then moan to each other afterwards, or sometimes they bottle it up and then explode in an inappropriate outpouring of aggressive complaints.
The British are also notorious for putting up with bad service everywhere from restaurants to airports and railway stations because the standard rules of behaviour say that it is bad to draw attention to yourself. This is why, when you travel on the Tube in London and there is yet another delay, the passengers will look al each other, sigh, smile wearily and raise their eyes to heaven. They might even say, “huh! Typical!” in a resigned tone of voice that says that there's nothing that can be done about it. When complaints are made, they are made in a self-deprecating apologetic or a humorous tone of voice. In France, on the other hand, irate passengers might riot and burn down the Metro station if they had to put up with the poor service that the London Underground provides.
Americans and other Europeans, who are much more direct and in-your-face than the British, often wonder why British people always say ?sorry? or ?excuse me? when they complain. ?It?s like they're apologizing for something that isn?t their fault,? they say. They are missing the point. British people are not really sorry – it is because the word ?sorry? actually works as a distancing mechanism. This is crucial in terms of negative politeness and not drawing attention to yourself. If you do not say ?sorry? or use other distancing words like ?could?, ?would?, ?might?, ?possibly? and so on, you will be seen as rude. Food and Drink
1) Dining Etiquette餐桌礼仪
Generally speaking, you should learn how you use a knife and fork properly, eat with your mouth closed, not speak with your mouth full and not make a lot of noise when you are eating. Meat on the bone should be eaten with a knife and fork, or picked up if it is a chop or a leg, but spitting meat bones onto the plate is not good manners. Generally, parents tell their children not to put their elbows on the table and not to slurp their soup or drinks.
If you are invited to dinner, it is good manners to arrive to time, or up to five minutes late. In some cultures it is all right to arrive hours late, but not in Britain. Also, you should take some flowers for the hostess and maybe a small gift or a bottle of wine (remember, wine in English is NOT jiu in Chinese)
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2）British Cuisine
A formal British meal consists of three courses: soup or starter, the main course, which traditionally consists of meat, potatoes and two other vegetables all served on the same plate, and then a dessert followed by cheese, fruit and coffee. The staple diet of ?meat and two veg' is so ingrained in the British psyche that we laugh when we see Chinese students piling their plates with totally incongruous combinations of food in university canteens, walking up to the cash register and paying four times as much as they should have because they have put four main courses together instead of one main course with a carbohydrate and vegetables. 3）Breakfast
For generations, envious foreigners have made fun of our eating habits and our table language (for lack of it). The fact is that Britain has one of the greatest cuisines in the United Kingdom. There?s our famous “full” English breakfast of bacon, eggs, sausages, grilled tomatoes, fried mushrooms, fried bread, baked beans, black pudding, kippers ad porridge. Furthermore, we boast a wonderful range of national and local specialties, such as Lancashire Hotpot, Yorkshire Pudding, Bubble & Squeak, Shepherd?s Pie, Spotted Dick, and Tinned Pears with Evaporated Milk. Sadly, most visitors to this island never try these delicacies but huddle together in continental-style cafes or fast food outlets eating pizza, tapas, kebab, noodles and all kinds of peculiar foreign imports. It seems silly, doesn?t it, to go to another country and not to sample its own native cuisine. (That is why the true Brit sensibly stays at home for his holidays!) 4）Fish and chips
Or rather, “fish? n? chips” is another essential experience for the visitor. Britain is an island and eating fish reminds us of our practical and spiritual dependence on the sea. The chips symbolize their people: no two chips are the same, but we are united because we are all cut form the same bag of potatoes, all deep-fried in the same oil. A fish and chip supper is the oldest fast food take-away in Britain, perhaps in the world. The visitor should ask for cod or haddock, the fish of choice for any true Brit. (Also he should hurry up as these species are practically extinct.) The fish comes dipped in batter, a mixture of flour, egg and milk. When it is dropped into the hot fat the batter acts as a sponge absorbing the maximum amount of fat and so making it nice and juicy. A traditional fish fryer will wrap your order in yesterday?s newspaper. Before wrapping, he will ask: “Salt and vinegar?” to which you should reply “Yes, please!” This supper should be eaten almost immediately, with the fingers, walking along the street, preferably in the dark, and with a light drizzle falling. Do NOT take the fish? n? chips home, empty them onto a plate and eat them with cutlery. This is not the British way.
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5) Down the Pub
Pubs are to Britain what teahouses are to China, and traditional pubs, with their distinctive appearance, are major draws for overseas visitors to the UK. There are about 60,000 public houses -- or ?pubs? -- in the United Kingdom and, apart from selling alcoholic beverages to the public, they also serve an important social and cultural function. Going “down the pub” is routinely listed as the most common pastime for many British people. You order and pay for the food and drinks at the bar, then take a table and wait for the waiter to bring it.
Always, remember to say “please” and “thank you”, when you order drinks.
Over 75% of adults in Britain regularly go to pubs, and over a third are ?regulars? at their ?local?. The pub is a democratic and egalitarian place where people can bond socially. The bar counter is one of the few places in Britain where it is socially acceptable to strike up a conversation with a complete stranger. There is no waiter service in a pub, and many foreigners will sit for ages at a pub table without realising this; drinks have to be bought and paid for at the bar and then carried to the table.
There is no visible queue at the bar, but the barman or barmaid will always know who is next, so if you by to order before it is your turn, he?ll say, “sorry, who?s next?” 5. Time Out
1) Shopping
The British invented the idea of the fixed price. This was to avoid the embarrassment caused by haggling. We don?t like bargaining for things and we do not like pushy sales assistants, which is why shopping in hot countries can be such an ordeal for Brits. Far from trying to beat down the price of an article, the visitor to Britain should even offer to pay a little more than the asking price. 2) Sports
The British are said to be passionate about sports -- both as participants and spectators -- and the TV schedules are crammed with sports coverage. Not only do the BBC and ITV have whole weekends of sport, but there are digital, satellite and pay-to-view channels dedicated purely to sport.
Football, the world's most popular game, was invented in Britain among working men in the towns of the Industrial Revolution and Rugby, which Britain has exported to its former Empire as well as countries as far apart as France. Argentina and Japan, Cricket, a peculiar symbol of English village life, has been taken up in Australia, South Africa, the Indian sub-continent and the West Indies. Any sport you care to mention will be played or watched in Britain, and every weekend you will see thousands of fans attending football and rugby matches on Saturday afternoons, playing amateur sports themselves on Saturday and Sunday mornings and going out to the seaside and
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