Цитатник Англофила по выходным - 5: Джереми Паксман об английском характере
Хоть и с опозданием на день (доступа к Интернету в выходные у меня не было).. еще об английском характере, на этот раз от современного автора:
Being English used to be so easy. They were one of the most easily identified peoples on earth, recognazed by their language, their manners, their clothes and the fact they drank tea by the bucketload...
Once upon a time the English knew who they were. They were such a ready list of adjectives to hand. They were polite, unexcitable, reserved and had hot-water bottles instead of a sex life: how they reproduced was one of the mysteries of the western world. They were doers rather than thinkers, writers rather than painters, gardeners rather than cooks. They were class-bound, hidebound and incapable of expressing their emotions. They did their duties... Their most prized possession was a sense of honour. They were steadfast and thrustworthy. The word of an English Gentleman was as good as a bond sealed in blood.
Jeremy Paxman, from "The English. A portrait of a people"
Being English used to be so easy. They were one of the most easily identified peoples on earth, recognazed by their language, their manners, their clothes and the fact they drank tea by the bucketload...
Once upon a time the English knew who they were. They were such a ready list of adjectives to hand. They were polite, unexcitable, reserved and had hot-water bottles instead of a sex life: how they reproduced was one of the mysteries of the western world. They were doers rather than thinkers, writers rather than painters, gardeners rather than cooks. They were class-bound, hidebound and incapable of expressing their emotions. They did their duties... Their most prized possession was a sense of honour. They were steadfast and thrustworthy. The word of an English Gentleman was as good as a bond sealed in blood.
Jeremy Paxman, from "The English. A portrait of a people"