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美国人对英国人的误解有多深
Aside from the bumpy start, Britain and America have long enjoyed a “special relationship”.The two allied countries share close political,economic and diplomatic bonds. And of course we also share a common language and strong cultural ties. But despite friendly relations,Brits are still shocked by how misunderstood they are by Americans -- and it’s not just because of the accent!
除了崎岖不平的开始之外，英国和美国一直保持着“特别的关系”。这两个盟国有着亲密的政治，经济和外交关系。当然我们也有着共同的语言和强大的文化联系。但是尽管双方关系友好，英国人知道了美国人对他们的误解有多深之后仍然大吃一惊——不仅仅是因为口音。
Let’s start with the geography. To be fair it is a little confusing-- for such a small nation we have a lot of names. Terms like The British Isles, the UK and Great Britain actually mean different things. So let’s break it down: The geographic term for the entire collection of islands is The British Isles while the UK or to be specific, The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland -- refers to the political union between the countries of England, Wales,Scotland and Northern Ireland. Finally, Great Britain is the collective name of England,Scotland and Wales but does not include Northern Ireland. Which is why the term UK and Great Britain are not interchangeable. I know that these small distinctions won’t matter to a lot of you but it does matter to people living in the UK.
让我们先从地理开始。坦白地说，确实很容易让人迷惑——这么小的一个国家，却有许多个名字。不列颠群岛，UK和大不列颠实际上代表的是不同的含义。让我们来逐一讲解一下：不列颠群岛是代表整个群岛的地理术语。UK，或者具体地说，大不列颠和北爱尔兰联合王国指的是英格兰，威尔士，苏格兰和北爱尔兰之间的政治联盟。最后，大不列颠指的是英格兰，苏格兰和威尔士的集体名字，而不包括北爱尔兰在内。这就是UK和大不列颠是不可替换的原因。我知道这些细小的差别对你们中的许多人来说无所谓，但是对于居住在UK的人来说却并非如此。
Now Britain gets a lot of stick about food. Traditional fare like spotted dick, haggis, toad-in-the-hole and blood pudding. Don’t really do the nation any favours. Add warm beer to the mix and it’s easy to see why we have such a bad reputation. But British cuisine has come a long way. Cities like London and Edinburgh, are home to some of the world’s best restaurants. And immigrant populations have also influenced British cuisine -- Chicken Tikka Masala has even overtaken fish and chips as the nation's favourite dish.
现在，在饮食方面英国面临诸多指责。传统的饮食包括葡萄干布丁，羊杂，面拖烤香肠和猪血布丁。不要为这个国家辩解。英国却喜欢向这些混合物中加入啤酒，由此显而易见为什么英国的名声这么差了。但是英国菜肴有着悠久的历史。伦敦和爱丁堡等城市有着世界上最好的餐馆。移民也影响着英国烹饪，烤鸡咖喱已经代替鱼和炸土豆条成为英国人最喜爱的美食。
Which brings me to my next misconception. While it’s true that the British population is still predominantly white owing to the nations Anglo-saxon roots, Britain today is incredibly diverse. Its multicultural society has a lot to do with it’s position in Europe as well as its colonial past. At one point Britain had an extensive empire, which included countries like India, Jamaica, Kenya, and today the UK have large populations of each of those groups. Because when those nations later gained their independence, most were also able to hold onto their British Citizenship-- which is exactly what my parents did and how I ended up growing up in London.
这让我想起了另一个误解。尽管英国人口仍然主要是白色人种，然而由于其盎格鲁-撒克逊人根源，英国的人种现在已经非常多样化。其多元文化社会与其在欧洲的位置及其殖民主义历史有关。曾经一度英国是一个非常庞大的帝国，包括印度，牙买加，肯尼亚在内，今天的英国也仍然有着这些国家中的许多人口。因为这些国家独立之后，许多人得以保持英国公民身份——我的父母就是如此，所以我后来也是在伦敦长大。
On the whole Brits have a reputation for being very prim and proper, with a ‘stiff upper lip’ which is probably partly true. And no family personifies that more than the Royal family,who have faced their fair share of adversity and scandal. And throughout all the ups and downs, the queen remains a stoic figure.
总的来说，英国非常循规蹈矩，非常繁荣富强，而“坚定沉着”或许只是部分正确。皇室家族最能体现这一点，他们也有自己的不幸和丑闻。在所有顺境逆境中，女王一直是恬淡寡欲的人。
Speaking of the queen, Brits definitely don’t all speak the ‘queen's English’ nor do we all talk in cockney rhyming slang like Dick Van Dyke from Mary Poppins, shouting “cor blimey guv’nor” at every opportunity.
说到女王，英国人并不是都讲女王式的英语，也不是每个人都说押韵式的俚语，就像《欢乐满人间》里的迪克·范·戴克那样，随时随地高呼“cor blimey guv’nor”。
There are actually a countless number of dialects in Britain which is pretty surprising for such a small country.
英国实际上有数不清的方言，对于这么小的国家来说简直不可思议。
