Appreciation of the Beauty of the | Tea in England (Excerpt) Author: Xiao Qian Recitation: Wang Hui

Author: Xiao Qian Recitation: Wang Hui

As a way of socializing, I think that tea parties are not only more economical than banquets, but also more affordable and elegant.

The first is the atmosphere, the gathering of friends and friends, mainly to recount the past, talk about the heart, and exchange opinions. The banquet sits down, and a table full of famous wines and good food often overwhelms everything. Especially eating fish: in order to avoid small thorns piercing into the throat, you can only bury your head and chew slowly. At this time, if you pay too much attention to etiquette and only care about coping with the master, if you are not careful, the consequences are not small! I've met people at dinner many times who I really want to talk to, and I have a lot to talk to. The cups and plates on the table are intertwined, steaming, even if it is a neighbor, it is not possible to talk about it. If there are a few people in the middle, there will be no words except frequent toasts to each other and distant expressions of friendship.

I was especially afraid of going to a drunken banquet: a brave general who had cleared the customs and set up the ring would turn the banquet into a drunkenness.

Not so with the tea party. Those who went to the tea party did not bury their heads in snacks or cups of beef drink, and the conversation became the center of the activity. Hosting a tea party is truly a dexterous art. It is necessary to be able to elicit a topic of common concern to everyone, and not to let the desktop stick to a topic. When a question is almost discussed, the host will subtly switch to another seemingly related topic, keeping the atmosphere warm and harmonious on the field from beginning to end. After the tea party, everyone seemed to be smarter and seemed to be more transparent with each other.

At the tea party, it is necessary to be able to show wit and humor, but also to avoid preaching and showing off. The tea party is the most learnable and a great place to train diplomats.

The post made by the British when inviting people to tea parties is the most chic and subtle. Usually just write:

Mr. and Mrs. So-and-So

It will be at a certain time in the afternoon of a certain month of a certain year

At home

Neither "waiting" nor tea parties are indicated. George Bernard Shaw once made a joke. When he received such an invitation, he returned a postcard with the following:

Mrs George Bernard Shaw

Also at home

There is a rule at the English tea party: bread and snacks can be taken by themselves, but the teapot is always in the hands of the hostess (just as the hostess has exclusive rights to the fire of the fireplace). In addition to the teapot, there is also a jar of boiling water. When the hostess poured tea for each guest, she first asked "strong or light". If she answers the latter, she will pour tea and mix it with some boiling water. Before putting in the sugar, also ask, "How many pieces do you want?" "At first, I felt too intimidated, and I didn't know that there was respect for the guests.

The tea party is also the main occasion for the interaction between teachers, students and classmates at Cambridge University, and it can even be said that it is a teaching method. Each student has his or her own mentor. My mentor was Deidie Rylands, and he often asked me to tea in his apartment. As we drank tea, we talked about Virginia Woolf or David Herr. Lawrence.

In those years, in addition to the tea parties of my classmates, I also went to some professors' tea parties from time to time. Among them were Mrs. Robinson, a master of economics, and Joseph Needham, who was studying the history of science in China at that time, and Russell, who went to China in the 1920s to lecture. At such tea parties, other professors were often encountered. After they wrote down my college, they would also come to the appointment, and the relationship was opened.

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