Unit 1 The English Character 英国人的性格特征

1、Unit 1 The English Character,When I think of Britain, I think of,Lead-in,Patience,Lead-in,Lead-in,Lead-in,Lead-in,Refusal to Admit Defeat,Lead-in,Lead-in,Adaptability to Foreign Conditions,Lead-in,Para 1,Lead-in,Lead-in,Lead-in,Lead-in,In your mind, what is an English like?,polite,Reserved (conserva

2、tive),humorous,sportsmanship,cold,modest,Lead-in,The Britons VS. the Americans,energetic, reserved, optimistic, self-reliant, proud, adventurous, modest, extrovert, romantic, out-going, polite, patient Your choices are: (A) _, _, _ (B) _, _, _,Lead-in,the English, the Welsh, the Scots, the Irish,The

3、 Britons, different peoples,Preserve their own language, emotional, less reserved,Serious, cautious, thrifty, inventive, mystical,Hot-tempered, open-hearted,Lead-in,Text A The English Character (I),Because of geography, history, culture and other reasons, the various nationalities in the world, diff

4、erent from the other ethnic character. British is no exception, after several years of social change, they formed their unique way of thinking and behavior, with people of other countries with different quality and characteristics. Sum up, there are the following character traits.,Para 1,reserved: a

5、dj. (of a person or his character) slow to show feelings or express opinions, disposition, manner, etc. 寡言的；矜持的；,Para 1,Reserved (Conservative),The best-known quality of the English. And they are also noted for the character. The British view their way of doing things is the best and most reasonable

6、. The majority of the British are unwilling to accept new things but old-fashioned conservative ideology. When the invention of central air conditioner was born in America, the British refused to accept it but continue to use fireplaces and electric stoves.,Para 1,Reserved,The characteristics of bei

7、ng reserved: Dont like talk to strangers, show emotion; talk about personal matters. How do such people impress you? they are indifferent, exclusive, aloof, cold However, they are perfectly human behind their barrier of reserve.,Para 1,When making a journey, they may try their best to find an empty

8、seat or compartment. ( 车厢 ),Para 2,In addition, even the colleagues who have work at the same office in many years will also dont know each others home address, family member, hobbies, etc, because they never talk about these things.,From Politics,1.An old-fashioned government 2.On the basis of cons

9、titutional monarchy 3.Head of state: the king or queen 4. In practice: the Sovereign reigns, but does not rule.,Para 2,However, they are really human and pleased when other people succeed in breaking the silence.,Para 3, 2th modest,Modest： Adj. 谦虚的，谦逊的，谦恭的,Para 4,Modesty,Within their hearts, the Eng

10、lish 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. How to take other peoples compliments? E.g. -You play the piano very well! A: (American) -_ B: (British) -_ C: (Chinese) -_,Para 4,Para

11、4,If a person is, let us say, very good at tennis and someone asks him if he is a good player, he will reply except,A. “Yes,” B. “Well, Im very fond of it.” C. “Im not bad.” D. “Well, Im very keen on tennis.”,except “Yes,” because people will think him conceited.,The followings are pictures of the q

12、ueen, from which we can see she is very polite and modest.,Para 4,I know the trouble I am causing you, but would you mind? ,I dont really like to ask you, but,Para 4,Please think of more polite expressions, 4th Humorous,Its starting-point is self-dispraise, and its great enemy is conceit. Its object

13、 is the ability to laugh at oneself-at ones own faults, ones own failure, even at ones own ideals.,Para 5,British Humour VS. American Humor: B: with a lovely twist, laugh at anything, socio-cultural related, more serious, reflecting a life attitude, subtle, sarcastic, difficult to understand A: casu

14、al, universal, with exaggerated body language, carefree, amusing, easy to understand Typical Englishman: Reserve , Modesty, A sense of humour,Look down on those: Who are more excitable, Who make big promises, Who show feelings openly, Who brag and boast, Who use flowery language a lot,Para 5,Sense o

15、f Humour,Key Words to understand British humour: self-dispraise, laugh at oneself, an attitude to life British humour: Not Easy to Understand! E.g. 35 is a very attractive age: London society is full of women who have, of their own free choice, remained 35 for years. Whenever people agree with me, I

16、 always feel I must be wrong. -Oscar Wilde From now on, ending a sentence with a preposition is something up with which I shall not put. You can always count on Americans to do the right thingafter theyve tried everything else. -Winston Churchill,Para 5,English sense of humor,Puns, Nonsense, Blackhu

17、mour, Eccentricity, Satire, Self-Deprecation, Understatement,Para 5,Satire,Girl: I think the poorest people are the happiest. Boy: Then marry me and we will be the happiest couple.,Para 5,Pun,Mary: John says Im pretty. Andy says Im ugly. What do you think, peter? Peter: A bit of both. I think youre

18、pretty ugly. John says Andy says Peter says,Para 5,An English teacher wrote these words on the whiteboard: woman without her man is nothing. The teacher then asked the students to punctuate the words correctly. The men wrote: Woman, without her man, is nothing. The women wrote: Woman! Without her, m

19、an is nothing.,Para 5,Nonsense,Man: I think I can make you happy. Woman: Why? Are you leaving?,Para 5,A man was injected with a deadly poison, but, it did not kill him. Why?,He was already dead!,*Love the neighbor. But dont get caught. *Children in backseats cause accidents. Accidents in backseats c

20、ause children.,Eccentricity,Man: I am a photographer. Im looking for a face like yours. Woman: I am a plastic surgeon. Im looking for a face like yours. Man: Woman:,Para 5,Self-deprecation,Para 5,Doctor: Please open your mouth, madam. Lady: Thank you very much, doctor. Doctor: Why do you thank me? L

21、ady: Because my husband always asks me to shut up.,Understatement,Peter and John went to a restaurant. They both asked for steak. The waiter brought to them quickly. Peter took the larger steak. John said to him angrily: “What bad manners you have! You helped yourself first and took the larger piece

22、!” “If you were in my place, which piece would you take?” Peter answered “The smaller one, of course.” “Then why are you not happy? Youve got it, havent you?,Para 5,A man asked for a meal in a restaurant. The waiter brought the food and put it on the table. After a moment, the man called the waiter

23、and said: -Waiter! Waiter! Theres a fly in my soup! -Please dont speak so loudly, sir, said the waiter, or everyone will want one.,Para 5,Comics,Para 5,Para 5,He secretly looks down on more excitable nations, and likes to think of himself as more reliable than they. He doesnt trust big promises and

24、open shows of feelings. To those who are fond of flowery expressions, the Englishman may appear uncomfortably cold.,What a typical Englishman think?,Para 6,Sportsmanship运动精神,What is sportsmanship? Sportsmanship is the ability to practice a sport according to its rules, while also showing generosity

25、to ones opponent and good temper in defeat. Moreover, sportsmanship as an ideal is applied to life in general.,Para 7,Rules are the essence of sport, and sportsmanship is the ability to practice a sport according to its rules, while also showing generosity to ones opponent and good temper in defeat.

26、,Sportsmanship,Para 7,Sporting terms in ordinary speech: “fair play（公平比赛，公平条件）” “play the game 遵守规则；按章办事” “straight from the shoulder（狠狠地，直截了当地，一针见血地；毫不留情）”, “below the belt (不公正地)”, “never hit a man when hes down（不会落井下石；给人留有余地）”,“straight from the shoulder” is used to describe a well-aimed, strong

27、criticism,“below the belt” is used to describe an unfair criticism,One of the most elementary rules of life is “never hit a man when hes down”,Sportsmanship,Para 7,Boxing, rugby（英式橄榄球）, football, hockey（曲棍球）, tennis and cricket（板球） were all first organized and given rules in Britain.,Para 7,English

28、people have a strong love for sports. Soccer is one of most popular event and there is a large number of loyal fans. But their enthusiasm at times has turned them to violence. Crowd disturbances often occurred. Among the football fans, British fans are the most notorious all over the world.,Para 7,d

29、ie-hard football fan 铁杆球迷,Text B The English Character (II),Put Your Best Foot Forward,Putting your best foot forwardis stepping forward and doing yourvery best. Example: This week the division manager will be in town. I want each of you toputting your best foot forward.,set off on the wrong foot,一开

30、头就不顺利,Ive got itchy feet.,非常想去旅游（有点像中国的，对老想打扑克的人说“你又手痒了吧”）,Idioms about Foot,I shot myself in the foot.,eg: It came as a shock when I discovered how underpaid I was, she says. I really shot myself in the foot by not being a self-promoter.,我搬起石头砸自己的脚，自作自受,I got cold feet.,临阵退缩,Puritanism,Puritanism,

31、a religious reform movement in the late 16th and 17th centuries that sought to “purify” the church of England of remnants of the Roman Catholic “popery” (天主教会，教皇制度)that the Puritans claimed had been retained after the religious settlement reached early in the reign of Queen Elizabeth I. Puritans bec

32、ame noted in the 17th century for a spirit of moral and religious earnestness that informed their whole way of life, and they sought through church reform to make their lifestyle the pattern for the whole nation.,Puritan values,Puritans looked to the Bible primarily as their source of morality. Ther

33、e are traditionally 5 Puritan tenets or values. 1. Original Sin - as consequence of Original Sin, the Sin of Adam and Eve in eating the Apple of Knowledge of Good and Evil, all mankind is vile, unredeemed. 2. Grace - Sine the Puritan thought of God as the universal cause of good in the world, human

34、success was a result of Gods love; failure was the result of a lack of it. 3. Predestination(预定，预言；天数；天缘) - If God loved some and didnt love others (since God was all-knowing) he must have known from all eternity whom he would love and whom not. 4. The Elect - if you were a Puritan you were the savi

35、ng remnant, chosen by God from all the world of sinners. 5. Good Works - Doing good, succoring (n.v.帮助) the poor, needy, and weak, was a possible sign of election, but could not be a cause of it.,Puritanism,a religious reform movement in the late 16th and 17th centuries that sought to “purify” the c

36、hurch of England of remnants of the Roman Catholic “popery” that the Puritans claimed had been retained after the religious settlement reached early in the reign of Queen Elizabeth I. Puritans became noted in the 17th century for a spirit of moral and religious earnestness that informed their whole

37、way of life, and they sought through church reform to make their lifestyle the pattern for the whole nation. Puritans looked to the Bible primarily as their source of morality. There are traditionally 5 Puritan tenets or values. 1. Original Sin 2. Grace 3. Predestination 4. The Elect 5. Good Works,K

38、eep in Mind,Thethree wise monkeys(Japanese), sometimes called the three mystic apes,are a pictorialmaxim. Together they embody theproverbialprinciple tosee no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil.The three monkeys areMizaru, covering his eyes, who sees no evil;Kikazaru, covering his ears, who hears no

39、evil; andIwazaru, covering his mouth, who speaks no evil. Sometimes there is a fourth monkey depicted with the three others; the last one,Shizaru, symbolizes the principle ofdo no evil. He may be shown crossing his arms.There are various meanings ascribed to the monkeys and the proverb including ass

40、ociations with being of good mind, speech and action. In the Western world the phrase is often used to refer to those who deal with impropriety byturning a blind eye.InEnglish, the monkeys names are often given asMizaru,Mikazaru,andMazaru,but the last two names were corrupted from the Japanese origi

41、nals.,TheThree Wise Monkeys,TheThree Wise Monkeys,Hedonism,Hedonism is a school of thought that argues that pleasure is the only intrinsic good. In very simple terms, a hedonist strives to maximize net pleasure (pleasure minus pain). Ethical hedonism is the idea that all people have the right to do

42、everything in their power to achieve the greatest amount of pleasure possible to them. It is also the idea that every persons pleasure should far surpass their amount of pain. Ethical hedonism is said to have been started by a student of Socrates, Aristippus of Cyrene. He held the idea that pleasure

43、 is the highest good,Mugs of Bromide长篇累牍的陈词滥调,Most of the British have the cold and silent character. They are not likely to shown anyone their hearts, when they happy ,not exclaimed, when they sad, not impressed . this is a very obvious character in the upper society.,Moderation somewhat equals to

44、cold and silent.,Cracking off-color jokes,Crack some mean and vulgar jokes,Self-doubt,British Empire,cut the mustard “取得成功，做到最好”,mustard 有一种比较特殊的用法，它在俚语中表示 that which adds zest（激情添加剂）或 the best of anything（世上最好的东西）。这种用法显然是那些极其喜爱吃芥末的人发明的。不过，这样一来，cut the mustard 就可以与 to match the best in any situation

45、 联系起来，用它来表示“取得成功，做到最好”也就更合乎情理了。,British Empire,About 100 years ago, as a result of its imperialist expansion, Britain ruled an empire that had 1/4 of the worlds people and 1/4 of the worlds land area. It had colonies in North America, Asia, Africa and Australia. As a result, its political, legal, li

46、nguistic and cultural legacy is widespread. At the peak of its power, it was often said that the sun never sets on the British Empire.,Keep in Mind,Common wealth,The Commonwealth of Nations, normally referred to as the Commonwealth and formerly known as the British Commonwealth, is an intergovernmen

47、tal organization of free and independent member states. Except Mozambique and Rwanda, the rest were once colonies of Britain. Member nations are joined together economically and have certain trading arrangements. The Commonwealth has no special powers. The decision to become a member of the Commonwe

48、alth is left to each nation. British Queen or king is the Head of the Commonwealth,Commonwealth (1931),Keep in Mind,Head of the commonwealth,Queen Elizabeth II, Head of the Commonwealth. Under that formula of the London Declaration, Queen Elizabeth II is the Head of the Commonwealth, a title that is

49、 currently individually shared with that of Commonwealth realms. However, when the monarch dies the successor to the crown does not automatically become Head of the Commonwealth. The position is symbolic, representing the free association of independent members. Sixteen members of the Commonwealth,

50、known as Commonwealth realms, recognise the Queen as their head of state. The majority of members are republics, and five have monarchs of different royal houses.,Scratch in Public,To do improper and impolite thing in public, to lose face in the public,sentiment,A strong sense of history a love of a

51、ntique and old things British living room,The English have a strong sense of history. because their past was so infinitely more glamorous than their present, they cling to it tenaciously. Mix this love of bygone ages with an unrivalled sentimentality and yiu will have a heady mixture which can be se

52、nsed in every aspect of the English life.,Sentiment,Inventiveness,British: James Watt,Americans: Wilbur Wright and Orville Wright,Text C The English Spirit of Control,1.conservation 2.extroverted Which forms the two parties of The U.K,Character: Dualistic,dju:listik(二元性）,The pub time,10 a.m. to 2 p.

53、m. 5 p.m. to 10 p.m. Stay open until 11 p.m. on Friday and Saturday No all-night or 3 a.m.public bars.,Text C,British Pub v.s. American Bar v.s.,The Differences between English Humor And American Humor,The English humor: word oriented The American humor: more action oriented One of the major differe

54、nces seems to be how often both nations use irony. Brits use irony on a daily basis, whereas it is not the foundation of American humour. When Americans use irony they tend to state that they were “only kidding”. They feel the need to make a joke more obvious than Brits do, maybe this stems from(com

55、es from) a fear of offending people.,British jokes, tend to be more subtle but with a dark or sarcastic(ironic) undertone. There is usually a hidden meaning. This may stem from the fact that British cultureis more reserved than American culture.,The English people are standing in line quietly,Conclusion,1.The pub culture 2.English humor 3.English peace of living 4.Tea drinking All of these form the English character Dualistic The spirit of control,British comedy v.s. America