When you start talking about good and bad manners you immediately start
; R0 s' y& \, j- M% E, w meeting difficulties. Many people just cannot agree what they mean. We asked a; n5 r# L2 r9 K4 N. }/ n
lady, who replied that she thought you could tell a well-mannered person on the __1__. K( l; o0 R, x
way they occupied the space around them—for example, when such a person
/ @3 H' _3 ~ g* O& ~3 i/ e2 L walks down a street he or she is constantly unaware of others. Such people never __2__
$ ]5 ]' A9 w# B: _' o3 j( Z8 A bump into other people.
0 v/ [) h- b/ h3 T However, a second person thought that this was more a question of
8 s9 {% L$ L' F m O q civilized behavior as good manners. Instead, this other person told us a story, __3__
, j$ k" K" O( ^2 U7 t5 b4 X! m it he said was quite well-known, about an American who had been invited __4__
Z5 y7 J3 C) \% i6 g to an Arab meal at one of the countries of the Middle East. The American __5__
9 f" I* N8 a* p3 x hasn’t been told very much about the kind of food he might expect. If he had __6__/ M9 {5 t+ ^* W) r' h5 I4 k1 `" z
known about American food, he might have behaved better. __7__3 ?* \; }* N; ~5 i$ \7 \# P
Immediately before him was a very flat piece of bread that looked, to- J& H4 O: i/ u2 p) b
him, very much as a napkin. Picking it up, he put it into his collar, so that __8__, m& R! ^$ m. ^# e* _" X
it falls across his shirt. His Arab host, who had been watching, __9__
$ f% s& L W2 }% w" K& W& y said of nothing, but immediately copied the action of his guest. __10__: ~ N: q6 N; L- D2 ^
% X u- n& Z/ q0 v6 S And that, said this second person, was a fine example of good manners. |