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What's the attitude of British people towards life values?
Viola, China

What do British people value?
What does it mean to be British and what are the things people in Britain value?

There are lots of stereotypes linked to British people.

The most common image people have is a man wearing a bowler hat and reading the Times newspaper.

The Americans also think Brits have very bad teeth.

And many countries think the British are very reserved and polite.

In this programme Feifei and Helen find out more about British people’s life values.

They ask several British nationals what values they think modern British people have and what kind of things they hold dear to their hearts.

Helen: Hello. This is Ask About Britain from BBC Learning English. I’m Helen.
Feifei: 大家好，我是冯菲菲。欢迎收听英国问答 Ask About Britain, 我们在这个节目中专
门回答有关英国文化习俗的各种问题。
Helen: Viola sent us a thoughtful question about British people’s values in life.
Feifei: Life value 人生观。Viola 同学问英国人对人生有什么看法？ What’s the
attitude of British people towards life value?
Helen: I think this is not an easy question to answer. We all have different
ideas about what’s important to us in life.
Feifei: 是啊，大家的观点肯定有所不同，一个人的看法不可能代表所有的人的看法。
Helen: So, we’ll ask a few people what they think about British people’s attitude
towards life. First let’s hear from Amy.
Insert
So I would say that British people are governed a lot more than other cultures, in
terms of what is right and quite traditional values. We’re quite proud as a culture,
and I think we get embarrassed very easily by things, we’re not very brash.
Feifei: Amy 觉得英国和其他一些国家相比，英国人受到的约束更多一些。Govern 就是管
理，管制。
Helen: People have set ideas of what’s right and what are traditional values.
Feifei: 英国人对什么是正确的，什么是可以接受的行为比较重视。同时英国人也尊重传统的
观点 traditional values.
Helen: Amy also mentioned that British people are quite proud, they pride
themselves on being British.
Feifei: Proud 自豪，骄傲；pride 自尊心，自豪。英国人很自豪，以自己是英国人为荣。
Helen: But even small things can easily embarrass British people, they’re not
very brash.

Feifei: Embarrassed 觉得不好意思，尴尬的。有时候很小的事情就足以让英国人觉得难为
情，不好意思。英国人不是很轻率类型的人，brash 就是做事轻率，鲁莽，没礼
貌。
Helen: That’s Amy’s view on what British people are like. Let’s hear from Ben.
Insert
I think people are still concerned for their family and their friends and just trying to
make their lives as good as they can. People work very hard in the UK. I think we
have some of the longest working hours in Europe. And people are working to try
and improve their lives, and to try and improve the lives of the people they love.
Feifei: Ben 是一名演员，他说当代英国人对家庭和朋友还是很重视的， they’re
concerned for their family and friends.
Helen: People are doing their best to try to make their life as good as they can.
Feifei: 和欧洲其他国家相比，英国人的工作时间还是很长的。大家都想让自己的家人们过
上好日子。
Helen: Ben’s friend Simon has his own take on British life values.
Insert
I think so, I think we bear it, but we also whinge an awful lot about it, but I think,
in a way that is characteristic of us. I think there’s a tendency for other countries
and cultures to perceive us as quite glum and maybe a little bit miserable really.
But our dryness and resilience and stoicness I think is probably what sets us apart
from other nations. And that’s something that I personally am proud of.
Feifei: Simon 形容英国人对生活总是会有些抱怨， whinge 就是不停的抱怨，这是英国人
的特征之一。
Helen: To moan about life and to whinge about life is one of the characteristics
of Brits according to Simon.
Feifei: 所以很多其他国家的人会觉得英国人看上去老是闷闷不乐的 glum, 或者是有些意志
萧条，忧郁的miserable.
Helen: But in fact Brits are not always like that, they’re different to other
nations’ perception. British people have a dry sense of humour, they’re
resilient and stoic.
Feifei: Simon 对英国人的形容还挺复杂的。他说英国人特有的干幽默 dry sense of
humour 是其他人不能完全领悟的；另外英国人不怕挫折，适应力强 resilience,
而且性格还很坚忍 stoic.
Helen: Simon is very proud of these characteristics of Brits.
Feifei: 我们还能听到其他英国人对生活的看法吗？
Helen: Anthony thinks the number one important thing in life is health.

Insert
Health, as long as you are healthy, you go out there, you meet people, you enjoy
them and take every moment as it comes.
Feifei: Anthony 认为健康是最重要的，有了好身体，就有机会多出去结交朋友，把握机会
to take every moment as it comes.
Helen: For Nicola, family comes first.
Insert
For example, for me, it would be my family, my work, my country, it would be
making sure everyone’s ok. But my family would probably come first, but that
might not be the same for everybody so I can’t really comment for the whole of the
UK. It would be very different.
Feifei: 在Nicola 的生活中家庭，工作和国家都很重要。和大多数人一样，她也把家庭放在
第一位 family comes first.
Helen: I think wherever we come from, or whatever nationalities we are, there
are certain life values we share. But we have differences too.
Feifei: 英国人的价值观是什么，希望透过今天中几位英国人的个人观点，使大家对英国人
的价值观有了一些了解。
Helen: That’s all from us. Please visit our website: www.bbcukchina.com for
more Ask About Britain programmes.
Feifei: 我们下次节目再会。
Helen: Bye bye.
Glossary
brash 轻率，鲁莽 to bear 承受
whinge 抱怨，唠叨 glum 闷闷不乐的
moan 埋怨，嘀咕 resilience 有弹性，恢复力
stoic 坚忍 humour 幽默
proud 自豪 pride 自尊心