The english character
No englishman believes in working from book learning. He suspects all theories, philosophical or other. He suspects evertihing new, and dislikes it, unless he can be compelled by the force of circumstances to see that this new thing has advantage over the old. Race-experience is what he invariably depends upon, whenever he can, whether India, in Egypt, or in Australia. His statesmen do not consult historical precedents in order to decide what to do: they first learn the facts as they are; then they depend upon thir own common sense, not at all upon thir university learning or upon philosophical thories. And in the case of the English nation, it must be acknowledged that this instinctive method has been extremely successfulThe last people from whom praise can be expected, even for what is worthy of all praise, are the English. A new friendship, a new ideal, a reforma noble action, a wonderful poet, an exquisite pintiong ------any of these things will be admired and praised by every other people in Europe long before you can get englishmen to praise. The enlishman all this time is studying, considering, trying to find fault. Why should he try to find fault? So that he will not make any mistakes at a laterday. He has inherited the terrible caution of his ancestors in regard to mistakes. It must be granted that his caution has saved him from a number of very serious mistakes that other nations have made. It must also be acknowledged that he exercises a fair amount of moderation in the opposite direction--- this modern Englishman; he has learned caution fo another kind, which his ancestors taught him. "Power should be used with moderation, for whoever finds himself among valiant men will discover that no man is superior to others." And this is a very important thing for the strong man to know ----that however strong, hecannot be the strong; his match will be found when occasion demands is. Not only Scandinavian but English rulers have often discovered this fact to their cost.
The judgment of the Englishman by all other Eurpean peoples is that he is the most suspicious, the most reserved, the most unreceptive, the most unfriendly, the coldest-hearted, and the most domineering of all western peoples. American, what he thinks about Englishmen; and every one of them will tell you the very same thing. This is precisely what the charcter of men would be come who had lived for thousands of years in the conditions of northern society. But youwould find upon the other hand that nearly all nations would speak highly of certain other english qualities-------energy, courage, honour, justice( between themselves) . They would say that slthough no man is so difficult to make friend with, the friendship of an Englishman once gained is more strong and true than any other. And as the battle of life still continues, and must continue for thousands fo years to come, it must be scknowledged that the english character is especially well fitted for the struggle . Its reserves, its cautions, its doubts, its suspicions, ist brutality ---these have been for it in the past, and are still in the present, the best social armour and panoply of war. It is not a lovable nor a frendly character:it is not even kindly. The englshman of the best type is much more inclined to be just than he is to be kind, for kindness is an emotional impulse, and the englishman is on his guard against every kind of emotional impulse. But with all this, the character is a grand one, and its success has been best proof of its value.
这是一篇关于英国人的文章，初读感觉他在另一个角度评价了一个民族，感觉很
好。每一民族都有她的优点和缺点，但 这种优点和缺点是没有定规的。
同学
下回请发到“说”或者“读”哈 好的，谢谢你。 这篇文章很好，用词很讲究，应该是外国人写的吧，嘻嘻
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