| Chinese to English: 英国人 （老舍）; The British (Lao She) | |
Source text - Chinese
据我看，一个人即使承认英国人民有许多好处，大概也不会因为这个而乐意和他们交朋友。自然，一个有金钱与地位的人，走到哪里也会受欢迎；不过，在英国也比 在别国多些限制。比如以地位说吧，假如一个作讲师或助教的，要是到了德国或法国，一定会有些人称呼他“教授”。不管是出于诚心吧，还是捧场；反正这是承认 教师有相当的地位，是很显然的，在英国，除非他真正是位教授，绝不会有人来招呼他。而且，这位教授假若不是牛津或剑桥的，也就还差点劲儿。贵族也是如此， 似乎只有英国国产贵族才能算数儿。至于一个平常人，尽管在伦敦或其他的地方住上十年八载，也未必能交上一个朋友。是的，我们必须先交代明 白，在资本主义的社会里，大家一天到晚为生活而奔忙，实在找不出闲工夫去交朋友；欧西各国都是如此，英国并非例外。不过，即使我们承认这个，可是英国人还 有些特别的地方，使他们更难接近。一个法国人见着个生人，能够非常的亲热，越是因为这个生人的法国话讲得不好，他才越愿指导他。英国人呢，他以为天下没有 会讲英语的，除了他们自己，他干脆不愿答理一个生人。一个英国人想不到一个生人可以不明白英国的规矩，而是一见到生人说话行动有不对的地方，马上认为这个 人是野蛮，不屑于再招呼他。英国的规矩又偏偏是那么多!他不能想象到别人可以没有这些规矩，而另有一套；不，英国的是一切；设若别处没有那么多的雾，那根 本不能算作真正的天气! | Translation - English
In my humble opinion, even if one is to admit that the English people have many admirable properties, I still would not be friend them just based on this. Of course, for a person with properties and good social status, he’s welcome anywhere; but in England, there are more restrictions. Let’s use social status as an example, when a lecturer or teaching assistant goes to Germany or France, some are sure to call him “professor.” Be it out of kindheartedness or complement, they recognize that teachers have a decent social standing; of this is obvious. Whereas in England, unless he’s actually a professor, no one will every call him “professor.” In addition, if he’s not from Oxford or Cambridge, he’s one level lower. It’s the same with the royals – it’s as if only the British royals are royals. As for a commoner, even if he were to live in London for a good decade, he may still not make a single friend. Fine, we recognize that in a capitalistic society everyone is trying to fend for himself and he may be too busy to make friends; other countries in western Europe are all like this and England is hardly the special case. Although even if we recognize this fact, the British people still have something special about them that make them especially difficult to befriend. When a Frenchmen sees a stranger, it’s possible that he’ll be extra friendly – especially when the stranger’s French is less than fluent. Whereas for the Brits, they assume that other than themselves, no one in the whole wide world knows how to speak proper English. As a result, they’d much rather not be bothered with a stranger. It never occurred to an Englishman that the strangers to the land may not know all the customs of the country. When an Englishman sees an outsider do or say anything wrong, he immediately thinks the outsider a barbarian and will not waste any more time on him. But there are just so many British customs! An Englishman just can’t imagine that other people may live under a different set of rules; no, the customs of the British are universal – if a city does not have enough fog, then it’s not proper weather!
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