【英语语言学习】谈礼仪

DON GONYEA, HOST:

 

OK. We've all been scolded to keep our elbows off the table or to politely say please and thank you, or for heaven sake not to eat with our fingers at a nice restaurant. Well, maybe you haven't been so reprimanded, but I have. So where did all of these rules come from? A lot of the credit or blame goes to the English, and that's the focus of Henry Hitchings new book. It's called "Sorry! The English and Their Manners."

 

And the book begins not back in medieval times, but with a hot-tempered young tennis player, John McEnroe, at Wimbledon. Here's a reminder¹.

 

(SOUNDBITE OF JOHN MCENROE)

 

JOHN MCENROE: You can't be serious, man. You cannot be serious. That ball was on the line. Chalk flew up. It was clearly in. How could you possibly call that out? Now he's walking over. Everyone knows it's in in this whole stadium, and you called it out?

 

GONYEA: All right. That's probably enough to remind people of the moment. Why start here?

 

HENRY HITCHINGS: To be honest, because a formative experience in my life was watching those Wimbledon matches between John McEnroe and his archrival Bjorn Borg, the doleful-looking Swede who was the sort of embodiment of froideur and self-discipline on the court, whereas McEnroe was very much of the let-it-all-hang-out school. And my parents, who were tennis fans, and who, I suppose you could say, sort of indoctrinated me, led me to think that Bjorn Borg was the person who had it right, and that McEnroe was essentially² a harbinger of the death of civilization. And I grew up thinking that. But actually, now, I think we probably think of McEnroe as a taste of a more liberated³ age. He was a sort of a pioneer, almost, interested in freedom of expression and sort of maintaining his integrity in the face of a really hidebound and sometimes ridiculous institution - namely, the All England Tennis Club.

 

GONYEA: Let's go way back to how this set of rules that McEnroe broke came to be in the first place. You note that the English did not invent manners. Where do we mark the beginning, if we can even begin to mark such a thing?

 

HITCHINGS: Well, one of the problems is we're obviously reliant on written sources, and it's quite clear that manners existed before those sources begin. But the earliest guides we have to manners were written for monastic audiences in the Middle Ages. And what then happened was ideas filtered out from there into the upper sections of society, and aristocratic people - really, aristocratic men - had primers written for them which were mainly concerned with behavior at table. And a lot of the ideas about this came from France, and some also from Germany. But the point was that meals were more socially important in the medieval period than they are now. And in the 14th century, people tended to have very sharp knives to hand as well, which meant that having codes of conduct in place was actually a way of regulating violence. You know, the point is that every meal is essentially an opportunity for violence to break loose and because meals were also diplomatic occasions, it was very important to have those kind of codes in place to ensure that some sort of decorum was maintained.

 

GONYEA: So, what were some of those early codes that were put in place, and how were they received?

 

HITCHINGS: Well, they were received quite positively⁴, because they made quite a lot of sense. I mean, there's an awful lot in early books about things like not wiping droplets⁵ from your nose with anything you're later proposing to put into your mouth. There's an awful lot about where you can put your fingers as well - which orifices it's safe to put them into. I mean, the short answer is: not really any. This may sound obvious, but actually it wasn't, not least because we're talking about a society where people didn't really know about germs. And so the reasons not to do those things weren't as cogent⁶, as compelling, as they would be today.

 

GONYEA: In the title of the book, it's the English and their manners. You're describing things that have come from various points around Europe. What made these things English, uniquely English?

 

HITCHINGS: It's really the fact that the English are defined internationally by their obsession⁷ with manners. It's not necessarily that the English are particularly polite. Indeed, I would say that while the English are extremely good at saying sorry for things they haven't done, they're not very good at saying sorry for things they have done. But the fixation with manners and the incredibly profuse⁸ literature of manners are really what defines the field of English manners.

 

GONYEA: At the end of the book, you have this striking line where you say that - and I'll read it here - (Reading) The doctrine⁹ of etiquette¹⁰ took the marrow¹¹ out of manners, replacing discretion¹² and nuance¹³ with black and white legislation. What is the marrow of manners?

 

HITCHINGS: Well, you know, I can flip¹⁴ that around and explain what I think is wrong with etiquette. Etiquette, to me - I'm not saying it is inherently wrong, but it is a veneer¹⁵. It is a code of cosmetic¹⁶ practices. It's about how long you should wear an armband after your second cousin dies, or what size your greeting card should be, or which fork you should use. And those things are not totally trivial, but ultimately they're not indicators¹⁷ of someone's inherent goodness, or otherwise. And I think the problem is that manners essentially has an image problem. When I talk about the marrow, I'm really talking about fundamental principles to do with sensitivity to others, respect for other people; their space, their belongings¹⁸. And it just seems to me that the moment etiquette becomes the centerpiece of the agenda, manners and

morality are essentially divorced. And I suppose I'd like to put the morality back at the center of the discussion of manners.

 

GONYEA: Well, it's been a pleasure talking to you. Henry Hitchings is the author of "Sorry: The English and Their Manners." Thank you for joining us.

 

HITCHINGS: Thank you.

1 reminder   

n.提醒物，纪念品；暗示，提示

参考例句：

• I have had another reminder from the library.我又收到图书馆的催还单。
• It always took a final reminder to get her to pay her share of the rent.总是得发给她一份最后催缴通知，她才付应该交的房租。

2 essentially   

adv.本质上，实质上，基本上

参考例句：

• Really great men are essentially modest.真正的伟人大都很谦虚。
• She is an essentially selfish person.她本质上是个自私自利的人。

3 liberated   

a.无拘束的，放纵的

参考例句：

• The city was liberated by the advancing army. 军队向前挺进，解放了那座城市。
• The heat brings about a chemical reaction, and oxygen is liberated. 热量引起化学反应，释放出氧气。

4 positively   

adv.明确地，断然，坚决地；实在，确实

参考例句：

• She was positively glowing with happiness.她满脸幸福。
• The weather was positively poisonous.这天气着实讨厌。

5 droplets   

n.小滴( droplet的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Droplets of sweat were welling up on his forehead. 他额头上冒出了滴滴汗珠。 来自辞典例句
• In constrast, exhaled smoke contains relatively large water droplets and appears white. 相反，从人嘴里呼出的烟则包含相当大的水滴，所以呈白色。 来自辞典例句

6 cogent   

adj.强有力的，有说服力的

参考例句：

• The result is a cogent explanation of inflation.结果令人信服地解释了通货膨胀问题。
• He produced cogent reasons for the change of policy.他对改变政策提出了充分的理由。

7 obsession   

n.困扰，无法摆脱的思想(或情感)

参考例句：

• I was suffering from obsession that my career would be ended.那时的我陷入了我的事业有可能就此终止的困扰当中。
• She would try to forget her obsession with Christopher.她会努力忘记对克里斯托弗的迷恋。

8 profuse   

adj.很多的，大量的，极其丰富的

参考例句：

• The hostess is profuse in her hospitality.女主人招待得十分周到。
• There was a profuse crop of hair impending over the top of his face.一大绺头发垂在他额头上。

9 doctrine   

n.教义；主义；学说

参考例句：

• He was impelled to proclaim his doctrine.他不得不宣扬他的教义。
• The council met to consider changes to doctrine.宗教议会开会考虑更改教义。

10 etiquette   

n.礼仪，礼节；规矩

参考例句：

• The rules of etiquette are not so strict nowadays.如今的礼仪规则已不那么严格了。
• According to etiquette,you should stand up to meet a guest.按照礼节你应该站起来接待客人。

11 marrow   

n.骨髓；精华；活力

参考例句：

• It was so cold that he felt frozen to the marrow. 天气太冷了，他感到寒冷刺骨。
• He was tired to the marrow of his bones.他真是累得筋疲力尽了。

12 discretion   

n.谨慎；随意处理

参考例句：

• You must show discretion in choosing your friend.你择友时必须慎重。
• Please use your best discretion to handle the matter.请慎重处理此事。

13 nuance   

n.(意义、意见、颜色)细微差别

参考例句：

• These users will easily learn each nuance of the applications they use.这些用户会很快了解他们所使用程序的每一细微差别。
• I wish I hadn't become so conscious of every little nuance.我希望我不要变得这样去思索一切琐碎之事。

14 flip   

vt.快速翻动；轻抛；轻拍；n.轻抛；adj.轻浮的

参考例句：

• I had a quick flip through the book and it looked very interesting.我很快翻阅了一下那本书，看来似乎很有趣。
• Let's flip a coin to see who pays the bill.咱们来抛硬币决定谁付钱。

15 veneer   

n.(墙上的)饰面，虚饰

参考例句：

• For the first time her veneer of politeness began to crack.她温文尔雅的外表第一次露出破绽。
• The panel had a veneer of gold and ivory.这木板上面镶饰了一层金和象牙。

16 cosmetic   

n.化妆品；adj.化妆用的；装门面的；装饰性的

参考例句：

• These changes are purely cosmetic.这些改变纯粹是装饰门面。
• Laughter is the best cosmetic,so grin and wear it!微笑是最好的化妆品，所以请尽情微笑吧！

17 indicators   

（仪器上显示温度、压力、耗油量等的）指针( indicator的名词复数 )； 指示物； （车辆上的）转弯指示灯； 指示信号

参考例句：

• The economic indicators are better than expected. 经济指标比预期的好。
• It is still difficult to develop indicators for many concepts used in social science. 为社会科学领域的许多概念确立一个指标仍然很难。

18 belongings   

n.私人物品，私人财物

参考例句：

• I put a few personal belongings in a bag.我把几件私人物品装进包中。
• Your personal belongings are not dutiable.个人物品不用纳税。