TheEnglisharefamousfortheirmanners．Thephrase“Mannersmakeththeman”wascoinedbyEnglishmanWilliamofWykehambackin1324butthey’rejustasimportanttoday．Booksarewrittenonthesubjectadvicecolumnsinmagazi
TheEnglisharefamousfortheirmanners．Thephrase“Mannersmakeththeman”wascoinedbyEnglishmanWilliamofWykehambackin1324butthey’rejustasimportanttoday．Booksarewrittenonthesubjectadvicecolumnsinmagazinestellpeoplehowtobehaveand“finishingschools”stillexisttoensurethatyounggirlsbecomeyoung“ladies”．
ThebestexampleofEnglishmannersisintheirmasteryoftheartofformingaqueue．ItisapopularjokeinEngland（thelandofsportingfailures）tosay“ifonlyqueuingwasanOlympicsportwe’dwinhandsdown．”NooneknowsexactlyhowandwhenitstartedbutqueuingplaysanimportantroleintheEnglishsocialmake-up．Schoolchildrenaretaughttoqueueforroll-callassemblyandlunchandEnglishpeopleacrossthelandformorderlyqueuesatshopsbankscinemasandbus-stopseveryday．TheEnglishobviouslyaren’ttheonlypeoplewhoqueuebuttheyseemtodoitbetterthananyoneelse．Asonevisitorsaid“IhavetravelledacrossEuropetheMiddleandFarEastandnowherehaveIseenthesingle-filequeueswhichareformedinEngland．”
TheEnglisharealsofamouslypolitewhenitcomestolanguage．WhereasmanyothernotionsaremoredirectintheircommunicationtheEnglishpreferamoreindirectformofaskingforthings．ForexampleanAmericanwhowantstotalktoacolleaguemightsay“Gotaminute?”;howeveranEnglishpersonwilloftenuseamoreindirectmeansmightofrequestingthechat“Sorrytobotheryoubutwouldyoupossiblyhaveaminuteorsotohaveaquickchatifyoudon’tmindplease?”
TheEnglishalsolovetoapologizeforthings．Whensqueezingpastsomeonepeoplesay“sorry”．Andtheywillapologizeifyoubumpintothem“whoops!Sorry!Myfault．”Infactnooneseemstosay“sorry”asmuchastheEnglish:“sorryI’mlate．/SorryIforgottocallyoulastnight．/I’msorryyoudidn’tgetthee-mail．”Andsoon．Theyalsoliketouse“please”and“thankyou”alot．Inashoptheywillsay“I’dlikeapacketofcrispplease．Thanks．”Britishstudentsthanktheirlecturesandbossesoftenthanktheiremployeesfordoingtheirjobs．
【小题1】Whydoes“finishingschools”stillexisttohelpyounggirlsbecome“ladies”?
A．BecausetheEnglishmindtheirmannersverymuch．B．BecausetheEnglishparentswanttom