Quora精選：英國人為什么不把自己當歐洲人？

Why do the British not feel European?英國人為什么不覺得自己是歐洲人？

 

獲得39.7k好評的回答 @Stuart Aitken：

I spent a year living in an international dormitory in China, with students from all over the world. “Birds of a feather flock together”, as they say. Of all the various categorisations that could be made based on the way people formed their groups, the most obvious collections were:我在中國住了一年留學(xué)生宿舍，那里有來自世界各地的學(xué)生。人們常說：“人以群分”，在各種小團體形成的分類方式中，最明顯的分類是：Westerners - (European and American mainly)西方人（主要是歐美人）East Asians - (Thailand, Korea, Japan, Vietnam)東亞人（泰國、韓國、日本、越南）South Asians - (India, Pakistan, Nepal, Bhutan)南亞人（印度、巴基斯坦、尼泊爾、不丹）Middle-easterners/Arabic - (Iran, Yemen etc)中東/阿拉伯人（伊朗、也門等）Slavic/Central Asian - (Russia, Ukraine, Kazakhstan etc)斯拉夫人/中亞人（俄羅斯、烏克蘭、哈薩克斯坦等）People really do gravitate into groups based on ethnic and cultural identity. At that time, I knew more than ever that I was a European. The way I as a Brit acted, thought was entirely in tune with the Europeans I spent time with.人們進入一些交際圈真的是因為種族和文化的區(qū)別。那時我才第一次更明確地知道自己是歐洲人，作為英國人的我行為和思維方式都和身邊的歐洲人一樣。I am definitely European.當然我是歐洲人。Before this experience, I’ll admit I wasn’t hugely aware of this.留學(xué)之前，我承認自己沒有真正意識到這一點。As to why most Brits don’t feel European, I suspect it’s because of the rather large stretch of water that separates us from the mainland. So Brits not identifying as European is quite a standard phenomenon, I believe.至于為什么大多數(shù)英國人都不把自己當歐洲人，我懷疑是因為在我們和大陸之間有大片水域相隔，所以我認為英國人不把自己當歐洲人是很正常的現(xiàn)象。

 

獲得10.7k好評的回答 @Geoffrey Thorndyke：

Why do the British not feel European?為什么英國人不覺得自己是歐洲人？I am answering the question from a purely personal view. First I regard myself as “English” not British. Secondly I do not feel European as Europe is “abroad”. I have been there, Germany, Austria, France, but not since 1961.我要從很私人的角度來回答這個問題。首先我把自己看作是英格蘭人，而非英國人。其次我不認為自己是歐洲人因為歐洲是“外國”，我去過歐洲，到過德國、奧地利、法國，但1961年以后就再沒去過。However the question! - Europe is other countries, other languages, other histories Interesting but different. I do not feel any connection with these other countries, and certainly do not feel part of any group or association of other countries.無論怎樣，歐洲就是其他國家，說其他語言，有其他有趣但和我們不同的歷史。我不認為和這些“其他國家”有任何關(guān)系，當然也不覺得自己是“其他國家”任何小團體的一部分，或跟他們有任何關(guān)系。Living a quiet life in a rural part of England, I do not have much contact with citizens of other countries. I do not dislike them or object to them, they simply do not impact on my life.我在英格蘭鄉(xiāng)村過著安逸的生活，和其他國家的人沒有多少交集。我不是不喜歡他們或反對他們，只不過他們對我的生活一點影響都沒有。It is the same with Europe, I know it’s there, know a reasonable amount about it, but have absolutely no contact with it.對歐洲也是如此，我知道它在那兒，關(guān)于歐洲我也適當了解一點，但跟它絕對一點關(guān)系都沒有。

 

（翻譯：能貓）

(來源:滬江)