文档介绍：Passage 1
People thank each other everywhere in England, all the time. When people buy something in a shop, customer and shop assistant in most cases thank each other two times or more. In Germany, it would be unusual to hear more than one “thank you” each in such a conversation. British students thank their lecturers when leaving the room. English employers thank their employees for doing their jobs, as opposed to Germans, who would normally think that paying their workers money is already enough.
Another thing I noticed was that English people seldom criticize others. Even when I was working and mistakes were pointed out to me, my employers explained several times that none of their words were meant as criticism. I feel that by avoiding criticism, English people are making an effort to make others fortable. This also showed in other ways: British men still open doors for women, and British men are more likely to treat women for a meal than German men. However, I do need to point out here that this applies to English men a bit more than it would to Scottish men!
Talking about differences between the English and the Scottish, I have found that Scottish people are a lot more like Germans as to politeness. They are more direct, and Scottish men especially are known for being very bad-tempered sometimes. Scottish dialect even has a special word for this: crabbit. Those crabbit Scottish men can be a little bit intense, but at least no one can blame them for pretending to be polite when they don’t feel like it.
This brings me back to English people, and the other side of their politeness coin. One word that easily springs to mind here is “artificial”. As enjoyable as it is to interact with friendly people, it has often made me wonder what the English really think. In fact, this confused me throughout my stay in their country. As everyone seemed to like me, I found it hard to understand who was really my friend and who was just being polite. I also wonder whether thi