童言笑話：4、 A gentleman 紳士

4. A gentleman

Dick was seven years old, and his sister, Catherine, was five. One day their mother took them to their aunt's house to play while she went to the big city to buy some new clothes.

The children played for an hour, and then at half past four their aunt took Dick into the kitchen1. She gave him a nice cake and a knife and said to him, "Now here's a knife, Dick. Cut this cake in half and give one of the pieces to your sister, but remember2 to do it like a gentleman."

Like a gentleman? Dick asked. "How do gentlemen do it?"

They always give the bigger piece to the other person, answered his aunt at once.

Oh. said Dick.

He thought about this for a few seconds. Then he took the cake to his sister and said to her, "Cut this cake in half, Catherine."

Notes:

1. kitchen 廚房

2. remember 記得

紳　士

迪克七歲，他的妹妹凱瑟琳五歲。一天，媽媽把他們帶到姨媽家去玩，自己就到大城市去買(mǎi)些新的衣服。

孩子們玩了一個(gè)小時(shí)，在四點(diǎn)半的時(shí)候，姨媽領(lǐng)著迪克走進(jìn)了廚房。她交給迪克一塊精美的蛋糕和一把刀子，并對(duì)他說(shuō)：

“喏，迪克，給你刀子，把這塊蛋糕一分為二，給你妹妹一塊。不過(guò)，你得記住要做得像一個(gè)紳士那樣。”

迪克問(wèn)：“像一個(gè)紳士？紳士怎樣做呢？”

他姨媽馬上回答說(shuō)：“紳士總是把大的一塊讓給別人。”

迪克說(shuō)了一聲“噢”。

他對(duì)此想了一會(huì)，然后，他把蛋糕拿給妹妹，并對(duì)她說(shuō)：“凱瑟琳，你來(lái)把這塊蛋糕切成兩塊吧?！?

Useful link:

“紳士”源于17世紀(jì)中葉的西歐，由充滿俠氣與英雄氣概的“騎士”發(fā)展而來(lái)，后在英國(guó)盛行并發(fā)展到極至。紳士風(fēng)度倡導(dǎo)傳統(tǒng)文化與自我存在的價(jià)值觀，追求品味與人性化的生活方式，代表西方經(jīng)濟(jì)發(fā)展的一種新社會(huì)思潮，是中上層階層男士所追求的一種社會(huì)風(fēng)尚：出類拔萃，風(fēng)度不凡。著裝考究，舉止文雅，尊重女性，尊重人格，繼承與發(fā)揚(yáng)傳統(tǒng)文化，追求與建造生活質(zhì)量，彰顯男人的剛毅、堅(jiān)韌、含蓄、深沉與寬宏大量的人格之美。