酷兔英语
    当前位置:
  1. 首页
  2. 文章
  3. 娱乐英语
  4. 原版小说
  5. 正文

The Private Papers of Henry Ryecroft-Part12_George Gissing(1857-1903)_English Literature(文学名著)-第2页

0 收藏 0 分享 0 赞

章节正文
文章总共2页
Could such a thing happen in any country but England? I doubt it.

The sufferer was of decent appearance, and, with ordinary self-



command, might have taken his meal in the restaurant like any one

else, quite unnoticed. But he belonged to a class which, among all



classes in the world, is distinguished by native clownishness and by

unpliability to novel circumstance. The English lower ranks had



need be marked by certain peculiar virtues to atone for their

deficiencies in other respects.



XVIII

It is easy to understand that common judgment of foreigners



regarding the English people. Go about in England as a stranger,

travel by rail, live at hotels, see nothing but the broadly public



aspect of things, and the impression left upon you will be one of

hard egoism, of gruffness and sullenness; in a word, of everything



that contrasts most strongly with the ideal of social and civic

life. And yet, as a matter of fact, no nation possesses in so high



a degree the social and civic virtues. The unsociable Englishman,

quotha? Why, what country in the world can show such multifarious,



vigorous and cordial co-operation, in all ranks, but especially, of

course, among the intelligent, for ends which concern the common



good? Unsociable! Why, go where you will in England you can hardly

find a man--nowadays, indeed, scarce an educated woman--who does not



belong to some alliance, for study or sport, for municipal or

national benefit, and who will not be seen, in leisure time, doing



his best as a social being. Take the so-calledsleepy market-town;

it is bubbling with all manner of associated activities, and these



of the quite voluntary kind, forms of zealously united effort such

as are never dreamt of in the countries supposed to be eminently



"social." Sociability does not consist in a readiness to talk at

large with the first comer. It is not dependent upon natural grace



and suavity; it is compatible, indeed, with thoroughlyawkward and

all but brutal manners. The English have never (at all events, for



some two centuries past) inclined to the purelyceremonial or

mirthful forms of sociability; but as regards every prime interest



of the community--health and comfort, well-being of body and of

soul--their social instinct is supreme.



Yet it is so difficult to reconcile this indisputable fact with that

other fact, no less obvious, that your common Englishman seems to



have no geniality. From the one point of view, I admire and laud my

fellow countryman; from the other, I heartilydislike him and wish



to see as little of him as possible. One is wont to think of the

English as a genial folk. Have they lost in this respect? Has the



century of science and money-making sensibly affected the national

character? I think always of my experience at the English inn,



where it is impossible not to feel a brutalindifference to the

humane features of life; where food is bolted without attention,



liquor swallowed out of mere habit, where even good-natured accost

is a thing so rare as to be remarkable.



Two things have to be borne in mind: the extraordinary difference

of demeanour which exists between the refined and the vulgar



English, and the natural difficulty of an Englishman in revealing

his true self save under the most favourable circumstances.



So striking is the difference of manner between class and class that

the hasty observer might well imagine a corresponding and radical



difference of mind and character. In Russia, I suppose, the social

extremities are seen to be pretty far apart, but, with that possible



exception, I should think no European country can show such a gap as

yawns to the eye between the English gentleman and the English boor.



The boor, of course, is the multitude; the boor impresses himself

upon the traveller. When relieved from his presence, one can be



just to him; one can remember that his virtues--though elementary,




文章总共2页
文章标签:名著  

章节正文
Copyright © 2023 Qeto All rights reserved.
商务合作 | 联系我们 | 关于我们 | 版权声明 | 隐私条款 | 如果智培

京ICP备05059198号-1 京公网安备 11011202003401号