美國語文第六冊 第267期:英國人的性格(4)

The character of an Englishman, under its most refined aspect, has some disagreeable points which jar unpleasantly on the foreigner not accustomed to them.

一個英國人的性格，在最精致的外表下，有一些刺激外國人神經(jīng)的無法接受之處，令其無法適應(yīng)他們。

The consciousness of national superiority, combined with natural feelings of independence, gives him an air of arrogance,

對民族優(yōu)越感的意識，與獨立性這種自然流露出來的情感結(jié)合在一起，賦予其傲慢自大的神態(tài)，

though it must be owned that this is never betrayed in his own house, I may almost say in his own country. But abroad,

盡管必須承認他絕對不會在自己的家里流露出來，我?guī)缀蹩梢哉f在自己國家里也很少流露出來。但是在國外，

when he seems to institute a comparison between himself and the people he is thrown with,

當他打算拿自己與所在國家的人進行比較時，

it becomes so obvious that he is the most unpopular, not to say odious, person in the world.

再明顯不過的是，他是世界上最不受歡迎的人，這樣說并無惡意。

Even the open hand with which he dispenses his bounty will not atone for the violence he offers to national vanity.

甚至連他為了施舍而張開的手，也不會彌補他展現(xiàn)民族虛榮時所帶來的傷害。

 

There are other defects, which are visible even in his most favored circumstances.

還有其他缺點，甚至在對他最友好的環(huán)境里也顯而易見。

Such is his bigotry, surpassing everything in a quiet passive form, that has been witnessed since the more active bigotry of the times of the Spanish Philips.

這就是他的頑固，以一種相當被動的形式漠視一切，已經(jīng)為西班牙菲利普斯統(tǒng)治時期以來所體現(xiàn)出的更頑固的性格所證實。

Such, too, is the exclusive, limited range of his knowledge and conceptions of all political and social topics and relations.

還有排外，限制了他對所有政治和社會話題以及相互關(guān)系的認知與觀念。

The Englishman, the cultivated Englishman, has no standard of excellence borrowed from mankind.

英國人，尤其是有教養(yǎng)的英國人，沒有從人類借用的卓越這一標準規(guī)范。

His speculation never travels beyond his own little—great little—island.

他的思考從未超越過自己所在的那一相對而言狹小的英倫三島。