晨读夜诵·每天读一点英语名篇诵读精华(世间只有两条路可以使人实现重大目标和完成大业，那就是力量和毅力！)(txt+pdf+epub+mobi电子书下载)

作者：徐广联

出版社：华东理工大学出版社

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晨读夜诵·每天读一点英语名篇诵读精华(世间只有两条路可以使人实现重大目标和完成大业，那就是力量和毅力！)试读：

英语是一种优美、富有诗意、富有乐感的语言，它承载着人类的知识和文化财富，有着广泛的实用价值，在当今人们的生活、工作和交际中，发挥着积极而重要的作用。

要想学好英语，学到地道的英语，诵读是不可或缺的有效方法，可以说是一条捷径。诵读时，脑、眼、耳、口协调并用，吟诵既久，文章的气韵内涵、精言妙语便内化于心，慢慢沉淀，最终成为自己的东西，存储在自己的知识宝库中，听凭调用。

本书共有136篇精美的短文，是精中求精，反复筛选，最终确定的，篇篇皆为精华。它们文风各异，或热情奔放，或含蓄隽永，或古雅雄辩，或清新流畅；语言地道规范，闪耀着大师们的仁德和智慧，体现了大师们高超的语言技巧。

诵读本书，将有助于你提高英语语言的领悟力和鉴赏力，掌握丰富多彩的表达方式，提高英语写作水平。同时，它还是陶冶情操、丰富内涵的好读本，能提升你的文化品位，使你在不知不觉中感受自然、体味人生、开阔视野、净化心灵，帮你找到人生的坐标，助你走向理想与辉煌。

本书供具有初级以上英语水平的读者使用。

在本书的编写和翻译的过程中，曾得到徐文哲、杨永、徐文东、徐广伟、李乐宣、徐博涵、徐广于等的关心与支持。在此，我谨向他们表示诚挚的谢意。第一部分　人生百态

To say that man is made up of strength and weakness, of insight and blindness, of pettiness and grandeur.— Denis Diderot 可以说人类既强大又虚弱，既能洞察入微又常常视而不见，既狭隘又崇高。——狄德罗Definition of a Gentleman绅士的定义约翰·H. 纽曼(John H. Newman)

Hence it is, that it is almost a definition of a gentleman, to say he is one who never inflicts pain. This description is both refined and, as far as it goes, accurate. He is mainly occupied in merely removing the obstacles which hinder the free and unembarrassed action of those about him; and he concurs with their movements rather than takes the initiative himself. His benefits may be considered as parallel to what are called conforts or conveniences in arrangements of a personal nature; like an easy chair or a good fire, which do their part in dispelling cold and fatigue, thought nature provides both means of rest and animal heat without them. The true gentleman in like manner carefully avoids whatever may cause a jar or a jolt in the minds of those with whom he is cast; — all clashing of opinion, or collision of feeling, all restraint, or suspicion, or gloom, or resentment; his great concern being to make every one at their ease and at home. He has his eyes on all his company: he is tender towards the bashful, gentle towards the distant, and merciful towards the absurd; he can recollect to whom he is speaking; he guards against unseasonable allusions, or topics which may irritate; he is seldom prominent in conversation, and never wearisome. He makes light of favours while he does them, and seems to be receiving when he is conferring. He never speaks of himself except when compelled, never defends himself by a mere retort, he has no ears for slander or gossip, is scrupulous in imputing motives to those who interfere with him, and interprets every thing for the best. He is never mean or little in his disputes, never takes unfair advantage, never mistakes personalities or sharp sayings for arguments, or insinuates evil which he dare not say out. From a long-sighted prudence, he observes the maxim of the ancient sage, that we should ever conduct ourselves towards our enemy as if he were one day to be our friend. He has too much good sense to be affronted at insults, he is too well employed to remember injuries, and too indolent to bear malice. He is patient, forbearing, and resigned, on philosophical principles; he submits to pain, because it is inevitable, to bereavement, because it is irreparable, and to death, because it is his destiny. If he engages in controversy of any kind, his disciplined intellect preserves him from the Blundering discourtesy of better, though less educated minds; who, like blunt weapons, tear and hack instead of cutting clean, who mistake the point in argument, waste their strength on trifles, misconceive their adversary, and leave the question more involved than they find it. He may be right or wrong in his opinion, but he is too clear-headed to be unjust; he is as simple as he is forcible, and as brief as he is decisive.

concur [kənˈkɜː] v. (言行)步调一致

bashful [ˈbæʃfl] a. 害羞的，拘束的

unseasonable [ʌnˈsiːzənəbl] a. 不合时宜的

scrupulous [ˈskruːpjələs] a. 一丝不苟的

insinuate [ɪnˈsɪnjueɪt] v. 暗示，旁敲侧击

因此，可以说，他是一个从不使别人遭受痛苦的人，这几乎就是为一个有修养的人所下的定义。这样描述是精妙的，而且，就其本身而言，也是贴切的。他主要致力于为周围的人们排除妨碍他们进行自由而不拘谨的活动时所面临的障碍；他附和他们的行动，而不是自己采取主动。他这样做的好处可以看做类似于所谓人们相互之间作安排时所带来的舒适和便利：就像一把安乐椅或者一个温暖的炉火，它们能驱散寒冷和疲倦，虽然没有它们，大自然也能提供休息和增加体温的方法。同样，一个真正有修养的人总是小心翼翼地避免给他身边的人造成心理上的刺激或震惊——各种意见的分歧，或者情感的不和，种种拘谨，或者疑心，或者愁闷的情绪，或者怨恨；他最在意的是让人们精神放松，感觉舒服。他随时留意和他在一起的人们；他对羞怯的人温柔，对疏远的人和蔼，对荒谬的人仁慈，他能够记得他正在和谁说话；他警惕不说不合时宜的影射的话，也不涉及可能惹人恼火的话题；他与人交谈时很少突出自己，也从不表示厌倦。他对自己做的好事则是轻描淡写，本来是在给予，看上去却像是在接受。除非迫不得已，他从不谈论自己，也从不为了替自己辩护而反驳别人，他从不听流言或蜚语，对于干扰他的人，他从不轻易说他们动机不良，他解释一切事情总是出于好意。与人有了争端，他从不刻薄，也不小气，从不乘人之危，从不为了争辩而误解别人的人格或尖利的言辞，或者暗示那些他不敢说出口的邪恶的事情。他从有远见的审慎的观点出发，遵守古代圣贤的座右铭：我们应该这样对待我们的敌人，好像他终有一天会成为我们的朋友。他明达睿智，不因受辱而激怒；他孜孜不怠，无暇对自己所受的伤害耿耿于怀，也懒于为此而心怀恶意。在哲学的原则上，他表现出耐心、宽容和顺从；他正视痛苦，因为痛苦不可避免，他忍受丧亲之痛，因为失去的亲人不可挽回，他屈从于死亡，因为死亡是他最终的归宿。假如他与人进行争论，他那训练有素的智力使他避免犯那些智力更强然而却缺乏教育的人们常犯的粗鲁和失礼，那些人如同粗钝的武器，乱劈乱砍，而不是公正地争论，他们曲解论点，在枝节问题上浪费精力，他们误解对手，把问题弄得比原来更为复杂。他的意见可能是对的，也可能是错的，但是，他的头脑非常清醒，不至于不公正；正像他强劲一样，他很朴素，正像他果断一样，他很简洁。

约翰·H. 纽曼(1801—1890)，英国神学家，出生在伦敦，他的第一部著作为《四世纪的阿里乌》(The Arians of the Fourth Century，1833)。其他作品有《英国的天主教教义》(The Present Position of Catholics in England,1851)，《各种场合的布道》(Sermons Preached on Various Occasions，1857)，《赞同入门书》(An Essay in Aid of a Grammar of Assent, 1870，写信念的哲学)等。Dating约　会托马斯·哈代(Thomas Hardy) Nevertheless she returned to the beer and drank her share, and they went on their way. It was now nearly dark, and as soon as they had withdrawn from the light of the town they walked closer together, till they touched each other. She wondered why he did not put his arm round her waist, but he did not, he merely said what to himself seemed a quite bold enough thing: “Take my arm.”

She took it, thoroughly, up to the shoulder. He felt the warmth of her body against his, and putting his stick under his other arm held with his right hand her right as it rested in its place. “Now we are well together, dear, aren't we?” he observed.

“Yes,” said she, adding to herself:“Rather mild!”

“How fast I have become!” he was thinking.

Thus they walked till they reached the foot of the upland, where they could see the white highway ascending before them in the gloom. From this point the only way of getting to Arabella's was by going up the incline, and dipping again into her valley on the right. Before they had climbed far they were nearly run into by two men who had been walking on the grass unseen.

“These lovers — you find them out of doors in all seasons and weathers — lovers and homeless dogs only,” said one of the men as they vanished down the hill.

Arabella tittered lightly.

“Are we lovers?”asked Jude.

“You know best.”

“But you can tell me?”

For answer she inclined her head upon his shoulder. Jude took the hint, and encircling her waist with his arm, pulled her to him and kissed her.

They walked now no longer arm in arm but, as she had desired, clasped together. After all, what did it matter since it was dark, said Jude to himself. When they were half-way up the long hill they paused as by arrangement, and he kissed her again. They reached the top, and he kissed her once more.

“You can keep your arm there, if you would like to,” she said gently.

He did so, thinking how trusting she was.

withdraw [wɪðˈdrɔː] v. 退出

bold [bəʊld] a. 大胆的

gloom [ɡluːm] n. 黑暗

vanish [ˈvænɪʃ] v. 消失

titter [ˈtɪtə] v. 窃笑

clasp [klɑːsp] v. 紧紧抱住

尽管如此，她还是转身端起啤酒杯，把她的那份一饮而尽。随后他们便上路了。天已经快黑了，他们一躲开小镇的灯火，就愈走愈靠近了，直到彼此相触碰。她不知他怎么不用手臂搂着她的腰，可他就是不这么做，仅仅说了一句他自己也觉得很唐突的话：“挽住我的胳膊。”

她齐肩抱住了他的胳膊。他感觉到她的体温传遍他的身体，于是把手杖递到另一只手臂下面，腾出右手在她右臂依偎着的位置搂着她。“这会儿咱们彻底在一起了，亲爱的，对吧？”他说道。“是啊，”她又补一句，“相当温柔！”“我进展得多快呀！”他在想。

他们就这样走着，一直到了山丘脚下，从那里他们可以看到一条白色的公路，在眼前一片苍茫暮色中向上延伸。从这里到阿拉贝拉家唯一的路就是走上这个斜坡，然后再直往下行，进入右边她所在的山谷里。他们还没爬多远，就险些撞上两个一直在草丛里走着、昏暗中看不见的人。“这些小情人——什么季节什么天气你都能在户外看到他们——只有小情人和流浪狗是这样，”其中一人这么说着，他们往山下走去，迅速消失在夜幕中。

阿拉贝拉轻声窃笑着。“我们是小情人吗？”裘德问道。“你最清楚了。”“但你总可以告诉我吧？”

她把头靠在了他的肩膀上算是给出了答案。裘德也立刻领会，用一只手臂搂住她的腰，将她拉近身边热吻起来。

他们现在不再手拉手地走，而是如她所愿，两人身体紧贴着往前走。裘德心里在想，毕竟天都这么黑了，这又有什么关系呢。这长长的山路他们向上爬到一半的时候，如同事先安排好了似的，他们停了下来，他又一次吻了她。当他们到达山顶，他再一次吻了她。“如果你愿意可以把手臂一直放在这里。”她温柔地说。

他照着做了，心想她对自己是多么信任啊。

托马斯·哈代(1840—1928)，英国著名小说家兼诗人。他的小说多写作于19世纪。20世纪以来，因为代表作《德伯家的苔丝》(Tess of the D'Urbervilles)和《无名的裘德》(Jude the Obscure)深刻揭露了当时英国社会的现实矛盾，受到批评家敌视与非难，于是愤然放弃小说创作，从事诗歌写作。他的诗作与小说，都遵循自己的创作原则“多记印象，少写主见”。作品充满了浓厚的生活气息，人物描写细腻生动，富于个性。Despair绝望玛格丽特·米切尔(Margaret Mitchell)

In the dull twilight of the winter afternoon she came to the end of the long road which had begun the night Atlanta fell. She had set her feet upon that road a spoiled, selfish and untried girl, full of youth, warm of emotion, easily bewildered by life. Now, at the end of the road, there was nothing left of that girl. Hunger and hard labor, fear and constant strain, the terrors of war and the terrors of Reconstruction had taken away all warmth and youth and softness. About the core of her being, a shell of hardness had formed and, little by little, layer by layer, the shell had thickened during the endless months.

But until this very day, two hopes had been left to sustain her. She had hoped that the war being over, life would gradually resume its old face. She had hoped that Ashley's return would bring back some meaning into life. Now both hopes were gone. The sight of Jonas Wilkerson in the front walk of Tara had made her realize that for her, for the whole South, the war would never end. The bitterest fighting, the most brutal retaliations, were just beginning. And Ashley was imprisoned forever by words which were stronger than any jail.

Peace had failed her and Ashley had failed her, both in the same day, and it was as if the last crevice in the shell had been sealed, the final layer hardened. She had become what Grandma Fontaine had counseled against, a woman who had seen the worst and so had nothing else to fear. Not life nor Mother nor loss of love nor public opinion. Only hunger and her nightmare dream of hunger could make her afraid.

bewilder [bɪˈwɪldə] v. 迷惑，使为难

brutal retaliations 野蛮的报复

counsel [ˈkaʊnsəl] v. 忠告，规劝

在冬季朦胧的暮色中，她来到了这条漫长道路的尽头，他动身上路的时候，正是亚特兰大城失陷的那个夜晚。她初登此路时，还是个矫情、自私、未经世面的闺秀，充满青春气息，热情洋溢，极易为生活的绚丽多彩迷惑。此时的她站在漫漫大路的尽头，昔日青春感念已化为乌有。内战与重建家园的双重恐怖卷走了她全部的热情、青春和温柔，剩下的只有饥饿、苦役、惧怕和压抑。在她心灵内核周围，形成了坚硬的外壳，随着无尽岁月的流逝，这层外壳，一点点、一层层，不断增厚。

但直到今天，还剩下两个希望支撑着她。她曾希望战争结束后，生活会逐渐恢复原样。她曾希望阿什利的归来会给生活带回一些意义。现在两个希望都破灭了。看到乔纳斯·威尔克逊走在开赴前线的队伍中的时候，当时她就意识到，对于她，对于整个南方，这场战争永远不会结束。最激烈的战斗，最残忍的报复，才刚刚开始。而阿什利永远被军令剥夺了自由，这种军令比任何监狱的禁令都森严强硬。

和平的实现与阿什利的归来，都未能如她所愿，两者又都发生在同一天。这就好像在禁锢她心灵的外壳上，能够渗透一线希望之光的罅隙弥合了，最后一层也变得坚硬了。方丹奶奶曾经劝诫她莫要成为“历尽万难天不怕”的女人，此刻她偏偏成了这么个女人。生活，母亲，爱情的丧失，公共舆论的责难，她已经全无顾忌。使她害怕的只有饥饿和挨饿的噩梦。

玛格丽特·米切尔(1900—1949)，美国南方女小说家，出生于佐治亚州亚特兰大城，其长篇小说《乱世佳人》(Gone with the Wind)(即《飘》)，名闻遐迩。Disappointment失望亨利·詹姆斯(Henny James) A gulf had opened between them over which they looked at each other with eyes that were on either side a declaration of the deception suffered. It was a strange opposition, of the like of which she had never dreamed — an opposition in which the vital principle of the one was a thing of contempt to the other. It was not her fault — she had practised no deception; she had only admired and believed. She had taken all the first steps in the purest confidence, and then she had suddenly found the infinite vista of a multiplied life to be a dark, narrow alley with a dead wall at the end. Instead of leading to the high places of happiness, from which the world would seem to lie below one, so that one could look down with a sense of exaltation and advantage, and judge and choose and pity, it led rather downward and earth-ward, into realms of restriction and depression where the sound of other lives, easier and freer, was heard as from above, and where it served to deepen the feeling of failure.

deception [dɪˈsepʃn] n. 欺骗

contempt [kənˈtempt] n. 轻视

vista [ˈvɪstə] n. 远景，展望

a sense of exaltation 兴奋感

deepen [ˈdiːpən] v. 加深

他们之间绽开一条鸿沟，彼此隔着鸿沟对视，带着一种眼神，仿佛哪一方都在宣布自己是受骗者。这是一种奇怪的敌对，是她从来梦想不到的那一类敌对，在这种敌对中，彼此把对方做人的主要原则加以蔑视。这不是她的过失——她没有玩过欺骗；她只有钦佩和信赖。她以最纯洁的自信，迈出过所有的第一步，而后她突然发现，自己对美好生活的无限憧憬，一下子变成昏暗狭窄的胡同，在尽头又被一堵墙堵死。她原以为两人之间的信赖，会把他们带入幸福快乐的至高境界，可以居高临下，兴高采烈，富有优越感地评头论足，挑三拣四，施舍同情。但万万没想到，美好的梦一落千丈，堕入俗世，进入处处受制、时时郁闷难当的境界。在那里，消闲自由的上层人士传来欢声笑语，足以加深她的失落感，使她大大失望。

亨利·詹姆斯(1843—1916)，美国作家，西方现代心理分析小说的开创人之一。他写的多半是关于“品德高尚”的富豪、小姐、阔少。其作品心理分析多，冗长烦琐，甚至晦涩，所以一度失去读者。后来针对颓废主义文学的兴起，一批新的批评家又把他抬出来，奉为“文学大师”，至今他对欧美文学界还有一定影响。Flattery on Women恭维女人菲利普·D. 斯坦霍普(Philip D. Stanhope) Women have, in general, but one object, which is their beauty; upon which scarce any flattery is too gross for them to follow. Nature has hardly formed a woman ugly enough to be insensible to flattery upon her person; if her face is so shocking that she must, in some degree, be conscious of it, her figure and air, she trusts, make ample amends for it. If her figure is deformed, her face, she thinks, counterbalances it. If they are both bad, she comforts herself that she has graces, a certain manner, a je ne sais quoi still more engaging than beauty. This truth is evident from the studied and elaborate dress of the ugliest woman in the world. An undoubted, uncontested, conscious beauty is, of all women, the least sensible of flattery upon that head; she knows it is her due, and is therefore obliged to nobody for giving it her.

Do not mistake me, and think that I mean to recommend to you abject and criminal flattery: no; flatter nobody's vices or crimes: on the contrary, abhor and discourage them. But there is no living in the world without a complaisant indulgence for people's weaknesses, and innocent, though ridiculous vanities. If a man has a mind to be thought wiser, and a woman handsomer, than they really are, their error is a comfortable one to themselves, and an innocent one with regard to other people; and I would rather make them my friends by indulging them in it, than my enemies by endeavoring (and that to no purpose) to undeceive them.

gross [ɡrəʊs] a. 粗鄙的，粗俗的

shocking [ˈʃɒkɪŋ] a. 糟糕的，丑陋不堪的

a je ne sais quoi ［法语］内在的气质

abject and criminal flattery 卑鄙恶劣的恭维

indulgence [ɪnˈdʌldʒəns] n. 纵容，迁就

undeceive [ˌʌndɪˈsiːv] v. 使醒悟，使不受欺骗

一般来说，女人只有一个追求的目标，那就是自身的美；对于她们的美，很少有什么恭维之辞，使她们感到粗俗而难以接受的。大自然的鬼斧神工，造就了女人之美，很少有丑得一无是处，不堪入目，无法恭维的。她可能觉得自己长得其貌不扬，但是她相信自己的体形、气质对此作了补偿。如果身体残疾，她的面孔又会作抵消。就算不幸两者都差，她的优雅举止，优秀气质，使她更可以受人恭维。这个显而易见的事实，从世界上最丑的女人穿上经过潜心设计、精心制作的服装，就能体会到。在所有的女人中，一个公认的、自我感觉貌美绝伦的美女，对于别人的恭维最不以为然；她知道这种恭维她当之无愧，因此就不算别人的小恩惠。

不要误解我，别以为我企图向你推荐卑鄙无耻的恭维；不，不要恭维任何人的劣迹或恶行；恰恰相反，要憎恶劣迹，劝阻恶行。但是如果对人们的缺点、无知，哪怕是荒唐的虚荣，不给予宽容，那么这个世界上就没法生存了。将男人之智、女人之貌拔高于现实，这种误差对其本人是宽慰，对他人也无害。我宁可带偏差宽容他们的虚荣，跟他们结为好友，而不想方设法（这样做也无用）实情相告，跟他们结怨成仇。

菲利普·D. 斯坦霍普(1694—1773)，英国政治家、演说家；除了《教子信札》(Letters to His Son)之外，还出版了若干其他书信散文集。The French and the English法国人和英国人G. K. 切斯特顿(G. K. Chesterton)

The thing can only be made clear to Englishmen by turning it round. Suppose a Frenchman came out of democratic France to live in England, where the shadow of the great houses still falls everywhere, and where even freedom was, in its origin, aristocratic. If the Frenchman saw our aristocracy and liked it, if he saw our snobbishness and liked it, if he set himself to imitate it, we all know what we should feel. We all know that we should feel that that particular Frenchman was a repulsive little gnat. He would be imitating English aristocracy; he would be imitating the English vice. But he would not even understand the vice he plagiarised: especially he would not understand that the vice is partly a virtue. He would not understand those elements in the English which balance snobbishness and make it human: the great kindness of the English, their hospitality, their unconscious poetry, their sentimental conservatism, which really admires the gentry. The French Royalist sees that the English like their King. But he does not grasp that while it is base to worship a King, it is almost noble to worship a powerless King. The impotence of the Hanoverian Sovereigns has raised the English loyal subject almost to the chivalry and dignity of a Jacobite. The Frenchman sees that the English servant is respectful: he does not realise that he is also disrespectful; that there is an English legend of the humorous and faithful servant, who is as much a personality as his master. He sees that the English do admire a nobleman; he does not allow for the fact that they admire a nobleman; he does not allow for the fact that they admire a nobleman most when he does not behave like one. They like a noble to be unconscious and amiable: the slave may be humble, but the master must not be proud. The master is Life, as they would like to enjoy it; and among the joys they desire in him there is none which they desire more sincerely than that of generosity, of throwing money about among mankind, or, to use the noble medieval word, largesse — the joy of largeness. That is why a cabman tells you you are no gentleman if you give him his correct fare. Not only his pocket, but his soul is hurt. You have wounded his ideal. You have defaced his vision of the perfect aristocrat. All this is really very subtle and elusive; it is very difficult to separate what is mere slavishness from what is a sort of vicarious nobility in the English love of a lord. And no Frenchman could easily grasp it at all. He would think it was mere slavishness; and if he liked it, he would be a slave. So every Englishman must (at first) feel French candour to be mere brutality. And if he likes it, he is a brute. These national merits must not be understood so easily. It requires long years of plenitude and quiet, the slow growth of great parks, the seasoning of oaken beams, the dark enrichment of red wine in cellars and in inns, all the leisure and the life of England through many centuries, to produce at last the generous and genial fruit of English snobbishness. And it requires battery and barricade, songs in the streets, and ragged men dead for an idea, to produce and justify the terrible flower of French indecency.

aristocratic [ˌærɪstəˈkrætɪk] a. 贵族的

plagiarise [ˈpleɪdʒəraɪz] v. 抄袭

Hanoverian Sovereigns 汉诺威王朝君主们

chivalry [ˈtʃɪvəlrɪ] n. 骑士精神

Jacobite(英国1688年革命后)英王詹姆斯二世的追随者，拥护詹姆斯二世及其后裔复辟王政的人

largeness [ˈlɑːdʒnɪs] n. 宽容，慷慨

deface [dɪˈfeɪs] v. 损伤……外观，毁损

vicarious [vɪˈkeərɪəs] a. 间接感受到的

candor [ˈkændə] n. 真诚；诚恳；坦率

plenitude [ˈplenɪtjuːd] n. 充足，丰富

要使英国人弄明白英国本身的文化特色，只有靠兜个圈子来解说。假设有个法国人从民主政体法兰西来英国定居，在这里到处都是高楼大厦的投影，在这里甚至自由，也是原汁原味，带着贵族的气息。如果这个法国人看到我们的贵族气派，而喜欢上了它，如果他看到了我们的势利眼处世，也喜欢上了它，如果他又开始努力去仿效它，我们都知道这会给我们什么感受了。大家明白我们都会觉得这么个法国人就是一只讨厌的小飞虫。他将会模仿英国人的贵族气派，会模仿英国人的缺点。然而他甚至都不理解他所剽窃的缺点，尤其不会理解这种缺点跟美德难解难分，混为一体。他不会理解英国人身上有那么些绅士素质，起着抵消他们势利眼处世的态度，使他们很有人情味：乐善好施，殷勤待客，无意中流露出的诗意，那种真正景仰贵族阶层的多愁善感的保守主义。法国的保皇党人看到英国人爱戴他们的国王，但他不确切了解虽然尊崇国王是个起码的事，去尊崇一个无权的国王才接近于高尚。汉诺威王朝的统治者们的无能，已经把忠诚的英国国民培养得接近于有骑士精神和詹姆士二世党人的尊严。法国人看到英国仆人是恭敬的：他没有意识到他也是不恭敬的；他不知道英国还有一个幽默而忠诚的仆人的传说，他有着和他主人一样的个性。他看到英国人确实仰慕贵族；他没有考虑到英国人仰慕贵族的实际情况；他没有考虑到英国人是在贵族表现得不像贵族的时候，最仰慕这个贵族这样一个事实。他们喜欢的是没有主子意识，又和蔼可亲的贵族：奴隶是要低声下气的，但主人决不可高傲。主人就是自己的生活，因为他们很想享受生活；从主人那里渴求得到的欢乐之中，最真诚渴求的无非是慷慨大方，到处给人类施舍钱财，或者用一个中世纪的高雅的词汇“largesse”——慷慨之乐。这就是为什么马车车夫在你如数付清车资时说你不是什么绅士的原因了。伤害的不仅仅是他的口袋，还有他的心灵。你挫伤了他的理想。你损毁了他心目中完美的贵族形象。这一切确实很微妙而且令人难以捉摸；我们很难区分纯粹的奴性和英国式的爱主子的过程中间接感受到的那一种高贵。因而，根本没有一个法国人能够轻而易举透彻了解这一点。他会认为这纯粹是奴性；而且如果他喜欢，就要当一个奴隶。为此，每个英国人肯定（最初）会觉得法国人的直率纯粹是野蛮。如果他喜欢，就成了粗野的人。这些民族的美德不可能轻易被人家理解。要最终培育出英国人的势利眼处世带来的慷慨、给人快慰的果实，就必须要有长年累月的富足和安宁环境，慢慢增加并扩大的大公园，橡木栋梁逐渐风干成材，酒窖和酒馆里的红葡萄酒色泽加深，更加香醇，以及许多世纪以来英国人所有的消闲和生活。而另一方面，需要排炮和街垒，街头的歌声，为某种思想阵亡的衣衫褴褛的兵士，才能产生并且维护那法国不体面的可怕的花朵。

G. K. 切斯特顿(1874—1936)，英国随笔作家、小说家、诗人。他最有影响的作品是文艺评论，对许多知名作家(如罗伯特·布朗宁、萧伯纳、狄更斯、乔叟等)作了热情洋溢的评述，著有二十多部小说和两本诗集。The English Humour英国人的幽默约翰·华生(John Watson)

Fun seems to be the possession of the English race. Fun is John Bull's idea of humour, and there is no intellectual judgment in fun. Everybody understands it because it is practical. More than that, it unites all classes and sweetens even political life. To study the elemental form of English humour, you must look to the school-book. It begins with the practical joke, and unless there is something of his nature about it, it is never humour to an Englishman. In an English household, fun is going all the time. The entire house resounds with it. The father comes home and the whole family contribute to the amusement; puns, humorous uses of words, little things that are meaningless nonsense, if you like, fly round, and every one enjoys them thoroughly for just what they are. The Scotch are devoid of this trait, and the Americans seem to be, too.

If I had the power to give humour to the nations I would not give them drollery, for that is impractical; I would not give them wit, for that is aristocratic, and many minds cannot grasp it; but I would be contented to deal out fun, which has no intellectual element, no subtlety, belongs to old and young, educated and uneducated alike, and is the natural form of the humour of the Englishman.

Let me tell you why the Englishman speaks only one language. He believes with the strongest conviction that his own tongue is the one that all people ought to speak and will come in time to speak, so what is the use of learning any other? He believes, too, that he is appointed by Providence to be a governor of all the rest of the human race. From our Scottish standpoint we can never see an Englishman without thinking that there is oozing from every pore of his body the conviction that he belongs to a governing race. It has not been his desire that large portions of the world should be under his care, but as they have been thrust upon him in the proceedings of a wise Providence, he must discharge his duty. This theory hasn't endeared him to others of his kind, but that isn't a matter that concerns him. He doesn't learn any other language because he knows that he could speak it only so imperfectly that other people would laugh at him, and it would never do that a person of his importance in the scheme of the universe should be made the object of ridicule.

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