英國式的傲慢:甚至以只掌握一門語言爲榮
說起英國人，人們常常形容他們是緘默而喜歡自嘲的。吹噓自己的成就可以說是一件不禮貌的事情。你大概可以想象，當我看到本文題目裡這個問題時是多麼的氣憤，我難以相信有人會認爲在英國生活的我們更能容忍傲慢。但是當我細細想我對這件事的反應時，我才意識到：哦，這就是一種傲慢。
英國式的傲慢通常與美國式的傲慢表達方式不同，後者（不太公平地說）往往表現爲高傲無禮地大肆吹噓。相反，英國人的這種傲慢常常無聲地體現在一些想當然的固定思維中。就比如說，英國人認爲自己是不可能傲慢自大的。衆所周知，在國外的英國人好像覺得他們遇到的每個人都理應會說英語。有些人甚至以他們只掌握一門語言爲榮，就好像學習另一種語言就是對另一種文化的屈從似的。幸好，不是所有英國人都這麼覺得。
古老的英國教育系統中生長出了另一種表現形式更加招搖的傲慢。大約93%的孩子上免費的公立學校；另外7%去收費的私立學校，大部分是寄宿制學校。有些英國人非常堅信正是這種私立教育助長了英國人的優越感。我們的首相，伊頓公學出身的大衛·卡梅隆便是個極好的例子：確切地說他並不傲慢，但是卻對自己的身份表現出極強的優越感。雖然極端，但真實存在的是，有一小部分接受私立教育的學生確實表現出令人難以忍受的自負，儘管他們並不喜歡誇耀自己，但自恃清高得足以稱得上傲慢。
原文:
The British are often depicted as reserved, and inclined towards self-deprecation. Boasting about one’s achievements is considered impolite. My first reaction to the question of this article was, as you can imagine, indignation that anyone could suggest that we in the UK are unusually tolerant of arrogance. It was only when I thought more deeply that I recognised my reaction for what it was: an example of arrogance.
British arrogance doesn’t always exhibit itself in the brash boasting one might (quite unfairly) associate with America. Instead, it often manifests itself in quiet assumptions. For instance, the assumption that we couldn’t possibly be arrogant. Brits abroad are famed for assuming that everyone they meet will speak English. Some are even proud that they are monoglots – as if it is a mark of subservience to explore another culture. Thankfully not every Brit feels this way.
Private school smugness
But there is also another kind of arrogance – a rather more ostentatious form – that seems to stem from archaic elements in the British education system. About 93% of children attend free ‘state schools’; the other 7% go to private schools, which charge fees and often involve students living at the school during term time. It is a popular belief held by a number of Brits that this “private education” encourages a sense of entitlement. Our Eton-educated Prime Minister David Cameron is a good example of this: not arrogant exactly, but supremely confident in his own skin. At the extreme end of the spectrum, there are a minority of privately educated students that are insufferably overconfident and – though not boastful – so smug as to qualify them as arrogant.
（來源：微信公共號 Kandongsee）