2.Занятие – Лекция

MEETING PEOPLE

Americans have a minimum feeling for " rank", especially socially. Most do not themselves enjoy being treated with special respect for the age or position; it makes them uncomfortable. Many Americans find even the terms "Mr", "Mrs", or " Miss" stiff and formal. You hear people well beyond middle age say - even to quite young people - "Just call me Sally (or Henry or Don). Being on first - name terms is taken as a sign of acceptance and friendliness. What do we use, however, are occupational titles. These are considered to be different, denoting a recognition that has been earned, not merely inherited. Occupations that most frequently carry titles include: diplomats, members of the Senate, judges of the courts, military officers, medical doctors, ranking professors, priests. Examples would be: Ambassador Jones, Senator Smith, Governor Rockefeller, Judge Harley, General Clark, Doctor Brown, Father White. One often hears of the Englishman's "reserve"; how he likes to" keep himself to himself; and how on a long railway journey, with four Englishmen in the carriage, often there won't be a word spoken during the whole journey. I'm sure that wouldn't be the case in America.

The Englishmen think it is ill-mannered to ask personal questions. The American doesn't feel that at all. In the short ride between the boat on which you arrived in New York and the hotel to which you are driven, the taxi driver will have told you all about himself, his wife and family and probably the towns in England that he was in during the war. He will inquire where you have come from, what your job is, how you like America and how long you are staying in New York. The Englishmen prize privacy, the American prefers sociability. I think the same feeling shows itself in the houses in the two countries. The Englishmen's suburban house has its little garden with a hedge or a fence all round it to shut him off from his neighbours. "The Englishman's home is his castle."

The Americans houses have no hedges or fences separating them from the pavement or from each other. There are none of those little shut-off gardens; generally just a strip of grass with trees on it. The American in his home doesn't object to being-seen by everyone- he actually likes it. And inside the house, instead of the separate hall, living-room, so typical of the English house, the American has the "open plan" house, just one large room where all the family activities (usually noisy) go on with.

With the sociability goes overwhelming hospitality. I don't think any door in the world is more open to the stranger than is the American's. You are taken to parties at the houses of your friends and your friends' friends; you are invited to theatres, dinners, sports meetings; from the first minute you are on " first name" terms with the people you meet; they all show the keenest interest in your affairs.

The Americans like new things, a new car every year, the latest thing in television.