Who says British men aren't sexy?
I was so impressed with one particular British guy that I moved here to be with him and I've been here ever since. I couldn't disagree more with MaryCatherine Lader. I've met hundreds of British men and they are extremely wellmannered,refined and culturedmuch more so than American men.
They're a lot easier to converse with. They seem to have much more knowledge about theatre, arts, cultural issues and politicsand they do have a fantastic sense of humour. Americans have a sense of humour too, but it's much more puerile. British men have much better wit.
They're also much more gentlemanly. I couldn't believe it when I met my first British boyfriend. He would open doors for me and do all the things you read about in books but didn't think ever actually happened. On our first date, he seemed to do everything right. It was Valentine's day and he presented me with flowers, took me to dinner and just chastely kissed me goodbye. There was no untoward behaviourin fact, I've often had to make the first move in that department.
By contrast, American men have a real lack of awareness about how to treat a lady. I dated this one American guy who was so miserly that at the end of the evening he would tot up on the back of his napkin what I owed him down to the last cent.
They are very competitive and are faster movers in all aspects of their lives. It's what I call the Jerry Maguire mentalitygo for what you want regardless of the methodand that applies as much to women as anything.
British men aren't brought up that way and so they're much more measured. They also have a more mature approach to alcohol; they've grown up with it so they don’t get quite as boorish as American men when they are drunk.
I think British men are rather shy,which is why I suspect that MaryCatherine is misinterpreting the behaviour of the boys she meets. When she says British ones are difficult and sulky, I think they're probably just reserved. If she made more of an effort to get to know the boys around her, she'd soon reap the rewards.
[參考譯文]一位英國男士給我印象很好，所以我遷到英國和他一起生活至今。我最不贊成瑪麗凱瑟琳·雷德說的話。我遇見過成百上千的英國男人，他們舉止得體，態(tài)度文雅，很有涵養(yǎng)——比美國男人強(qiáng)多了。
與他們交談要容易得多。比起美國男人，他們在戲劇、藝術(shù)、文化和政治等方面的知識要多得多。他們還有很強(qiáng)的幽默感。美國人也有幽默感，但過于幼稚，英國人更富于機(jī)智。
他們還更具紳士風(fēng)度。當(dāng)我遇到我的第一個英國男朋友時，我簡直無法相信。他為我開門，所有你在書中讀過但認(rèn)為不可能會真正發(fā)生的事，他都為我做了。我們第一次約會時，他做的每一件事情似乎都很合適。那天是情人節(jié)，他獻(xiàn)給我鮮花，帶我去吃晚餐。告別時還有禮貌地吻了我一下。沒有任何不宜之舉——事實(shí)上，在這方面倒常常是我采取主動。
相比之下，美國男人倒真是不懂得如何對待女士。我約會的那個美國人竟如此吝嗇，晚上約會結(jié)束時他都會在紙巾背面計(jì)算我用了他多少錢，細(xì)到一個美分都不放過。
美國人富于競爭性，在生活的各個方面都行動迅速。這就是我所說的杰里·麥古爾式的思維——為了獲得不擇手段——這種態(tài)度也不折不扣地被他們用到了女人身上。
英國男人成長的環(huán)境不一樣，因此他們很有分寸。在喝酒問題上，他們的態(tài)度比美國男人成熟得多；他們可謂喝酒長大，因此他們喝醉時就不會像美國人喝醉時那樣表現(xiàn)得粗魯。
我覺得英國男人表現(xiàn)得羞怯，所以我推測瑪麗凱瑟琳也許誤解了她接觸到的男青年的行為。她說英國男孩老繃著臉，很難相處，我想很可能他們是拘謹(jǐn)緘默。如果她多作些努力去認(rèn)識周圍的男孩，她一定很快會有收獲。