1.The origins of etiquette-----the convention rules of behavior and ceremonies observed in polite society-------are complex .one of them is respect for authority. From the most primitive times, subjects showed respect for their ruler by bowing ,prostrating themselves on the ground ,not speaking until spoken to, and never turning their backs to the throne . some monarchs developed rules to stress even further the respect due to them. The emperors of Byzantium expected their subjects to kiss their feet . when an ambassador from abroad was introduced , he had to touch the ground before the throne with his forehead . Meanwhile the throne itself was raised in the air so that ,on looking up , the ambassador saw the ruler far above him , haughty and remote
在上流社会，行为举止、各种庆典仪式都有传统的惯例，其起因相当复杂，他们的起因之一，是要对当权者表示尊重。在远古时期，臣民对统治者的膜拜表现在深深的鞠躬，匍匐在地，不问不能开口以及绝不能背对王位而行，有些君主为了使臣民对他们更加毕恭毕敬，又制定了许多繁文缛节，拜占庭时期的帝王们就让臣子庶民亲吻他们的双脚，当外交使节被引见的时候，他必须跪拜在王位之前，前额触地，而君主则高高在上，大使只能仰视君主，这样使君主更能居高临下，目空一切，高不可及，
2.Abosolute rules have , as a rule , made etiquette more complicated rather than simpler . The purpose is not only to make the ruler seem almost godlike ,but also to protect him from familiarity, for without some such protection his life ,lived inevitably in the public eye ,would be intolerable. The court of Louis XIV of France provided an excellent
example of a very highly developed system of etiquette .Because the king and his family were considered to belong to France ,they were almost continually on show among their courtiers. They woke, prayed , washed and dressed before crowds of courtiers .Even large crowds watched them eat their meals, and access to their palace which was free to all their subjects
通常情况下，专制的君主，都把礼仪变的更为复杂化，其目的不仅仅在于神化自己，而且他们想通过超凡脱俗来巩固自己的神圣地位，因为没有这种保护要想在众人瞩目之下生活将不堪承受，法国路易十四的王宫中有一套复杂、严明的礼仪，就是一个极其典型的例子，因为国王和王室被认为是属于法兰西的，因而他们无时无刻不把自己呈现在众臣之前，从起床就寝、祈祷神灵到梳洗更衣无一隐蔽，即使每日用餐也在重视之下，所有子民都可自由进入王宫。
3.Yet this public life was organized so minutely ,with such a refinement of ceremonial ,that the authority of the king and the respect in which he was held grew steadily throughout his lifetime . A crowd watched him dress , but only the Duke who was his first valet de chamber was allowed to hold out the right sleeve of his shirt ,only the prince who was his Grand Chamberlain could relive him of his shirt , only the Master of the Wardrobe might help him pull up his breeches . These were not familiarities, nor merely duties ,but highly coveted privileges . Napoleon recognized the value of ceremony to a ruler .When he became Emperor , he discarded the revolutionary custom of calling everyone “citizen”, restored much of the Court
ceremonial that the Revolution had destroyed, and recalled members of the nobility to instruct his new court in the old formal manners
这种公开化的生活安排的非常缜密，非常讲究礼仪，使得他的权威和人们对他的尊敬终生不断增加，国王在众臣面前穿衣服，只有作为他贴身男仆的公爵才有资格伺候他穿内衣，担任国王首席内侍的贵族为他脱晨衣，服饰总管帮他穿上马裤，所有这些不是表示亲近，但也不仅仅是职责范围，而是令人垂涎的特权，拿破仑就意识到这种君王礼仪的价值，当他称帝的时候，他首先废除了“公民”的称呼，这在革命时期可是一种非常流行的相互间的称谓，他还恢复了许多革命时期废除的宫廷礼仪，他甚至还召回贵族们以旧式宫廷礼节专门训练他的大臣，
4.Rules of etiquette may prevent embarrassment and even serious disputes. The general rule of social precedence is that people of greater importance precede those of lesser importance. Before the rules of diplomatic precedence were worked out in the early sixteenth century , rival ambassadors often fought for the most honourable seating position at a function .Before the principle was established that ambassadors of various countries should sign treaties in order of seniority .disputes arose as to who should sign first . The establishment of rules for such matters prevented uncertainty and disagreement , as to rules for less important occasions .For example ,at an English wedding . the mother of the bridegroom should sit in the first pew or bench on the right-hand side of the church. The result is dignity and order
利益可以避免尴尬，甚至防止争执，在正式社交场合中，一般规则是大人物在前，小人物
在后，16世纪初，外交活动中谁先谁后还没有形成惯例，势均力敌的外交使节会在宴会中争抢“上座”，后来定制出了一条规则，各国大使按资历深浅为序签署条约，此前常常因为谁应先签而引起争执，这种重大场合指定的惯例，可以避免无所适从和意见分歧，对于一些次要场合，也是如此，例如，在英国人的婚礼上，新郎的母亲坐在教堂右边的第一个长椅上，它象征着尊严和地位。
5.Outside palace circles, the main concern of etiquette has been to make harmonious the behaviour of equals , but sometimes social classes have used etiquette as a weapon against intruders ,refining their manners in order to mart themselves off from the lower classes
在宫廷外，礼仪的侧重点是维护社会地位相同的人之间的平等和谐，但是有的时候社会各阶层也运用它作为对付入侵的武器，使入侵者懂礼貌，、守规矩，一边改变自己卑微的地位
6.In sixteenth-century Italy and eighteenty-century France ,waning prosperity and increasing social unrest led the ruling families to try to preserve their superiority by withdrawing from the lower and middle classes behind barriers of etiquette .In a community, on the other hand ,polite society soon absorbs the newly rich ,and in England there has never been any shortage of books on etiquette for teaching them the manners appropriate to their new way of life
在16世纪的意大利和18世纪的法国，随着财富的日益减少，社会动荡的不断加剧，贵
族们为确保自己的统治地位便利用礼仪作为屏障与大众及中产阶级保持距离，而在富裕的社会里，讲究礼仪的社会阶层则能迅速接纳新富者，在英国，当时还出版了大量有关礼仪方面的书籍，为的是教新富起来的人们在他们的新型的生活中举止得体。
7.Every code of etiquette has contained three elements: basic moral duties ,practical rules which promote efficiency ,and artificial ,optional graces such as formal compliments to, say, women on their beauty or superiors on their beauty or superiors on their generosity and importance
每种礼仪都有三部分组成：基本道德准则，提高效率的实用规则和表面的、比较随意的客套，例如一些赞誉之词，赞美妇女的美丽，或赞美上级的慷慨及尊贵。
8.In the first category are consideration for the weak and respect for age. Among the ancient Egyptians the young always stood in the presence of older people .Among the Mponguwe of Tanzania, the young men bow as they pass the huts of the elders .In England ,until about a century ago , young children did not sit in their parents presence without asking permission .
第一部分主要是同情弱者和尊敬老人，在古埃及只要长者在场，年轻人总是站着，在坦桑尼亚的庞姆古威民族中，年轻人路过长辈居住的草棚时必须行礼，在100多年前的英国，父母在场时，小孩未经允许只能站着。
9.Practical rules are helpful in such ordinary occurrences of social
life as making proper introductions at parties or other functions so that people can be brought to know each other . Before the invention of the fork ,etiquette directed that the fingers should be kept as clean as possible .before the handkerchief came into common use ,etiquette suggested that, after spitting , a person should rub the spit inconspicuously underfoot
在一般的社交场合中，实用规则非常有用，人们遵循其规则在聚会中相互介绍认识，餐具中的叉子，还没有发明之前，礼仪规定人们应该尽量保持手指干净，当还没有普遍使用手绢的时候，如果有人在地上吐了痰，吐痰人应该悄悄地用鞋底把痰擦掉。
10.Extremely refined behavior ,however ,cultivated as an art of gracious living ,has been characteristic only of societies with wealth and leisure ,which admitted women as the social equals of men. After the fall of Rome, the first European society to regulate behavior in private life in accordance with a complicated code of etiquette was twelfth-century Provence ,in France
典雅生活培养起来的文雅举止是富足安逸阶层所特有的，该阶层还承认妇女与男子享有平等的社会地位，罗马帝国灭亡后，12世纪法国的普罗旺斯根据复杂的礼仪规范私人生活中的行为，它是欧洲第一个这样做的地区。
11.Provence had become wealthy. The lords had returned to their castles from the crusades, and there the ideals of chivalry grew up ,which emphasized the virtue and gentleness of women and
demanded that a knight should profess a pure and dedicated love to a lady who would be his inspiration ,and to whom he would dedicate his valiant deeds ,though he would never come physically close to her. This was the introduction of the concept of romantic love, which was to influence literature for many hundreds of years and which still lives on in a debased form in simple popular songs and cheap novels today
普罗旺斯的贵族们在完成十字军东征后回到他们的城堡，普罗旺斯因此而繁荣富裕起来，一种理想的骑士风度，也随之在该地区逐步形成和传播开来，它提倡妇女的美德与温柔，要求骑士为自己钟爱的女士表达一种纯真献身的爱，这位女士鼓舞他奋进，他可以为她赴汤蹈火，尽管他永远也不可能和她有身体上的接触，这就是浪漫爱情的起源，千百年来它对文学作品产生了影响，而且这种浪漫式的爱情在今天的流行歌曲和一些廉价小说中任然存在，但被庸俗化了。
12.In Renaissance Italy too. In the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries ,a wealthy and leisured society developed an extremely complex code of manners ,but the rules of behavior of fashionable society had little influence on the daily life of the lower classes . Indeed many of the rules, such as how to enter a banquet room ,or how to use a sword or handkerchief for ceremonial purposes ,were irrelevant to the way of life of the average working man, who spent most of his life outdoors or in his own poor hut and most probably did not have a handkerchief, certainly not a sword ,to his name
14和15世纪的意大利文艺复兴时期，上流社会已经形成了一套极其复杂的礼仪规范，例如怎样步入宴会厅，怎样在仪式上使用剑和手绢，但是它们对下层社会的日常生活却影响很小，有许多礼节的却与一般老百姓的生活无关，他们中的许多人一生绝大部分的时间都是在露天或破旧的草棚中度过的，他们中大多数可能从来没用过一块属于自己的手绢，更不可能拥有一把自己的剑。
13.Yet the essential basis of all good manners does not way. Consideration for the old and weak and the avoidance of harming or giving unnecessary offence to others is a feature of all societies everywhere and at all levels from the highest to the lowest .you can easily think of dozens of examples of customs and habits in your own daily life which come under this heading.
良好举止的最根本的基础大致相同，如对老人和弱者的关心，避免对他人不必要的冒犯和伤害是各地区各社会阶层自上而下所奉行的宗旨，你会在你自己的日常生活中轻而易举的列举出许多风俗习惯方面的例子，这些都是礼仪的一部分。
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