英國問答

談到英美文化差異，你眼中的典型英國人或者典型美國人是怎樣的呢？兩地的人們又是怎么看待對方的呢？讓我們聽聽《英國問答》這個節(jié)目，從中找出答案。節(jié)目中受訪者為實況錄音，語速較快，聽的時候需留意。

Finn: This is Ask About Britain from Learning English.

I’m Finn， and with me today is Jean. Today we have a question from Jen in Beijing about the

differences in personality between British and American people.

QUESTION:

It is said that British people compared to American people， they are more in…indifferent[冷淡的]， like not looking straight into other people’s eyes or not delving into[鉆研] other people’s private things. And I want to ask whether it is true or not.

Jean: Do you think so， Finn?

Finn: Well， I think it’s a good question， Jean. But， firstly， this word “indifferent” might not be the best choice here. I think that Jen might have meant a word like “reserved[保守的].” To get an idea， we spoke to a few Americans in Britain， and also to British people who lived in America. First， we spoke to Ben.

What’s important is to consider the geography in Britain or in America as to where people live. London is， is a big city like anything else， very similar to New York as far as the make-up of the people. And people have their own business， don’t necessarily want to go out of their way to[特地]， to make acquaintance[相識] with， with someone. But I found the country pubs where I spent most of the first week since I’m

on a…on holiday over here， I found that to be a really welcoming， open place， much less guarded[警戒著的].

（重要的是考慮一下英國和美國的地理環(huán)境，例如人們住在哪里。倫敦是……是一座大城市，和其他地方一樣，在其居民構(gòu)成方面與紐約十分相似。人們都有自己的事情，不會特地結(jié)交他人。但是當(dāng)我在這里度……度假的時候，我發(fā)現(xiàn)我第一個星期經(jīng)常去的那些鄉(xiāng)村酒吧是一個非常好客的開放場所，人們沒有那么大戒心。）

Finn: He said they don’t go out of their way to make new friends – that means they don’t try too hard. But if you are in the country， then people are much more friendly.

Jean: Especially the country pubs!

Finn: So if you find Londoners just a little bit unfriendly， perhaps you could visit the country

where people are more welcoming. Right， now， we also spoke to Val， and she’s a British

woman with an American father who lived in the States for many years. Did she think

Americans were more open?

Probably there I’d find people super-ficially[表面地] more open， like to…chatting to you on the streets and on public transport. And， and even things like your neighbors， you know， my parents have lived here for 17 years and they don’t really know their neighbors

here， whereas there they might not have known them very well but you still say “hi” and still come around and say “how are you doing，” even if it’s a very superficial relationship.

（在那里，我發(fā)現(xiàn)人們表面上似乎更外向，例如在街上和公共交通工具上與你閑聊之類。而即使像鄰居這樣的情況，你知道，我的父母在這里住了17年，他們跟鄰居并不熟絡(luò)，鄰居也不太了解他們，但還是會打招呼，過來串門，問你“最近可好”，即使這都是一些表面工夫。）

Finn: Next， we’re going to hear from Jay who is an American who’s lived in Britain for many years.

Jean: What does he think， Finn?

Finn: Now this is interesting. He thinks that British people are less outgoing because they live on a small island.

I think that Americans are probably more outgoing than Britons， but you have to

remember that Britain is of course a fairly small island and it’s cut off from the rest of Europe. I think that anything resembling[類似] a British culture， if we can call it that， is based in part around this island mentality[意識].

（我想美國人可能比英國人更加外向，但你必須記住英國確實是一座非常小的島嶼，它與歐洲大陸的其他地方都隔絕開了。我想任何像是英國文化的東西——如果我們可以如此定義的話，都或多或少基于這種島國意識。）

Finn: Yes， now， this is an interesting idea. He says Britain is cut off from the rest of Europe. And therefore this affects people’s mentality.

He says British people have an island mentality.

Jean: Do you have an island mentality， Finn?

Finn: Oh， I don’t know how to answer that! I hope not， but then I did grow up on a small island， Jean. So， until next time， bye bye!

Jean: Bye!