英语翻译The English CharacterTo other Europeans,the best known q

英语翻译
The English Character
To other Europeans,the best known quality of the British,
and in particular of the English,is “reserved”.
A reserved person is one who does not talk very much to strangers,
does not show much emotion,and seldom gets excited.
It is difficult to get to know a reserved person:
he never tells you anything about himself,
and you may work with him for years without ever knowing where he lives,
how many children he has,and what his interests are.
English people tend to be like that.
Closely related to English reserve is English modesty.
Within their hearts,the English are perhaps no less conceited than anybody else,
but in their relations with others they value at least a show of modesty.
Self－praise is felt to be impolite.
If a person is,let us say,
very good at tennis and someone asks him if he is a good player,
he will seldom reply “Yes,”
because people will think him conceited.
He will probably give an answer like,
“I’m not bad,” or “I think I’m very good,” or “Well,I’m very keen on tennis.”
Even if he had managed to reach the finals in last year’s local championships,
he would say it in such a way as to suggest that it was only due to a piece of good luck.
Since reserve and modesty are part of his own nature,
the typical English tends to expect them in others.
He secretly looks down on more excitable nations,
and likes to think of himself as more reliable than they are.
He doesn’t trust big promises and open shows of feelings,
especially if they are expressed in flowery language.
He doesn’t trust self－praise of any kind.
This applies not only to what other people may tell him about themselves orally,
but to the letters they may write to him.
To those who are fond of flowery expressions,
the Englishman may appear uncomfortably cold.

英国人的特点
相较于其他欧洲人,英国人特别是英格兰人最大的特点就是“矜持”
矜持指的是对陌生人话不多,感情不外露,绝不表现激动.
很难了解一个矜持的人：
他从不谈论自己,
也许你和他共事了几年却从不知道他住哪
有多少个孩子,有什么兴趣爱好.
英国人喜欢这样.
另一个和英国人的矜持相关的特质是他们的谦逊.
在他们内心深处,他们的自负也许并不其他任何人少.
只是,在与他人的交往中,他们注重至少要表现得谦虚
自夸让人感觉不礼貌.
比如,一个人十分擅长网球,如果有人问他打得好不好
他绝不会回答“很好”
因为这样人们会认为他很自负
他和可能给出这样的回答：
“还不错”,“我认为还行”,“恩,我很喜欢网球”
即使他闯进了去年当地锦标赛的决赛,
他也会这样回答,暗示只是因为自己运气不错罢了.
因为矜持和谦虚是英国人天性的一部分,
典型的英国人也会要求别人具有这样的品性.
他们暗自瞧不起那些比较冲动的民族,
认为自己比那些人更可靠.
英国人不相信重大的承诺和外放的感情
尤其是甜言蜜语.
他们不相信任何形式的自负,
这不仅限于言语也包括文字.
对那些喜欢花言巧语的人,英国人会表现出让人不安的冷淡.
辛苦翻译