The English, as a race, are very different in many ways from all other nationalities, including their closest neighbors, the French, the Belgians and the Dutch. It is claimed that living on an island separated from the rest of Europe has much to do with it. Whatever the reasons are, it may be fairly stated that the Englishman has developed many attitudes and habits which distinguish him from other nationalities.
Broadly speaking, the Englishman is a quiet, shy, reserved person who is fully relaxed only among people he knows well. In the presence of strangers or foreigners he often seems restrained, even embarrassed. You have only to witness a city train any morning or evening to see the truth of this. Serious-looking businessmen and women sit reading their newspapers or having a light sleep in a corner, and no one speaks. In fact, to do so would seem most unusual. An Englishman, pretending to be giving advice to overseas visitors, once suggested, “On entering a railway carriage, shake hands with all the passengers.” Needless to say, he was not being serious. There is an unwritten but clearly understood code of behavior which, if broken, makes the person immediately suspected.
In many parts of the world it is quite normal to show openly extremes of enthusiasm, emotion, excitement, etc, often accompanied by appropriate gesture. The Englishman is somewhat different. Of course, an Englishman feels no less deeply than anyone of a different nationality, but he tends to display his feelings far less. This is reflected in his use of language. Imagine a man commenting on the great beauty of a young girl. A more emotional man might describe her state “Oh, she is a goddess”, whereas an Englishman might just say “Oh, she’s all right.” An Englishman who has seen a highly successful and enjoyable film recommends it to a friend by commenting, “It’s not bad you know”, or on seeing some very unusual scenery he might convey (表达) his pleasure by saying, “Nice, yes, very nice.” The overseas visitor must not be disappointed by this apparent lack of interest and involvement. Instead, he must realize that “all right,” “not bad,” and “nice,” very often have the sense of “first-class,” “excellent,” “beautiful”. This unique style of language use is particularly common in England, and is known as restrained statement.
小题1:According to the passage, the English are different from other nationalities in _______. | A．habits | B．attitudes | C．character | D．all of the above |
小题2:The underlined word “restrained” in the second paragraph probably means “_______”. | A．calm and controlled | B．polite and friendly | | C．nervous and quiet | D．silent and kind |
小题3:In Britain, if you don’t want other people to think you are strange, you’d better _______.| A．talk with others as much as possible | | B．behave just like the English do | | C．say nothing about yourself | | D．shake hands with everyone you meet |
小题4:If an Englishman says “all right”, it may mean “_______”. | A．not bad | B．correct | C．quite right | D．wonderful |
小题5:From the passage, we can infer that an Englishman _______. | A．doesn’t like to show his feelings so much | | B．has less emotion than people of other nationalities | | C．finds it easy to express his emotion | | D．likes to have a joke with strangers |
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