BBC Learning English – Ask About Britain
About this script
Please note that this is not a word for word transcript of the programme as
broadcast. In the recording and editing process, changes may have been made which
may not be reflected here.
关于台词的备注：
请注意这不是广播节目的逐字稿件。本文稿可能没有体现录制、编辑过程中对节目做出的改变。
Mysterious Chinese? 神秘的中国人?
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A: For hundreds of years the Chinese had this reputation of being inscrutable.
B: I do think that generally speaking there is a tradition in Britain of people thinking
the Chinese are a little mysterious.
C: The Chinese are very disciplined, very hard-working, very productive, which is
why British people think they are mysterious.
Finn: Hello and welcome to Ask About Britain. Today’s question is about
what British people think about Chinese people. I’m Finn.
Yang Li: 大家好，我是杨莉。今天的英国问答节目我们将回答Jessica 通过电子邮件提出
的问题:由我们的同事Feifei 代读：
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What do the British people think about Chinese people? Do they think we are (来源：EnglishCN.com)
mysterious？
Yang Li: 英国人对中国人怎么看，是不是觉得中国人具有神秘感？
Finn: Well, the first English person we talked to is Barry who works as a
cultural consultant in London:
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For hundreds of years the Chinese had this reputation of being inscrutable, which
means they are mysterious, which means no one knows what they are thinking.
Finn: According to Barry the Chinese have a reputation for being inscrutable,
another way of saying mysterious:
Yang Li: 难以理解的 inscrutable；神秘的mysterious.
Finn: But why do they have this reputation?
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The answer is, I think, to do with two things – facial expression and body language.
It’s quite well-known now, that Chinese people don’t normally smile unless there’s
something to smile about; whereas Westerners smile even if they don’t have
something to smile about, because they want to show friendliness. The second thing,
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I think, is that the Chinese also don’t use strong body language unless they are
angry.
Yang Li: Barry 觉得这种所谓神秘感的背后主要有两个原因：
Finn: Facial expression and body language.
Yang Li: 面部表情和肢体语言。
Finn: He said that Chinese people don't normally smile and they don't use
strong body language unless they are angry.
Yang Li: 首先中国人不面带笑容。其次，除非在生气的时候，中国人很少使用夸张的肢体语
言strong body language.
Finn: Well, Li to be honest, I’m not sure I entirely agree with him, because I
can see that you are smiling right now.
Yang Li: That’s because I am presenting this programme with you.
Finn: But of course. Next we talked to two students from the London School
of Economics:
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A: In general I think Chinese are very disciplined, very hard-working, very
productive, which is why British people think they are mysterious because they work
long hours and study very, very hard.
B: They are very, very hard-working, very goal-orientated, they’re just really very
focused and I think that’s a massive difference between the Chinese and maybe
more European side of the world I’d say.
Finn: They suggested that British people’s impression of Chinese as being
mysterious may have something to do with the following
characteristics: firstly, being hard-working.
Yang Li: 勤奋的。
Finn: And focused.
Yang Li: 专注的。
Finn: And goal-orientated.
Yang Li: 有追求的。
Finn: As well as disciplined.
Yang Li: 能够自律的。这两个女学生认为上述这些与西方人不同的特点，往往给人造成了中
国人具有神秘感的印象。
Finn: The final clip is from our colleague William who shared an amusing
story with us:
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And I was very amused to learn very recently that about 150 years ago, when British
sailors were trading with Chinese merchants, a lot of them thought that the Chinese
language was basically something the Chinese had made up in order to confuse them
– and I think that’s partly because British people just couldn’t possibly conceive of a
language as difficult as Chinese.