Passage1Asregardssocialconvent-名校题库网

Passage 1

As regards social conventions,we must say a word about the well-known English class system.This is an embarrassing subject for English people,and one they tend to be ashamed of,though?during the present century class-consciousness has grown less and less,and the class system less?rigid.But it still exists below the surface.Broadly speaking,it means there are two classes,the"middle class"and the"working class".(We shall ignore for a moment the old"upper class",including the hereditary aristocracy,since it is extremely small in numbers;but some of its members?have the right to sit in the House of Lords,and some newspapers take surprising interest in their?private life.)The middle class consists chiefly of well-to-do businessmen and professional people of?all kinds.The working class consists chiefly of manual and unskilled workers.

The most obvious difference between them is in their accent.Middle-class people use slightly?varying kinds of"received pronunciation"which is the kind of English spoken by BBC announcers?and taught to overseas pupils.Typical working-class people speak in many different local accents?which are generally felt to be rather ugly and uneducated.One of the biggest barriers of social?equality in England is the two-class education system.To have been to a so-called"public school"immediately marks you out as one of the middle class.The middle classes tend to live a more formal?life than working-class people,and are usually more cultured.Their midday meal is"lunch"and?they have a rather formal evening meal called"dinner",whereas the working man′s dinner,if his?working hours permit,is at midday,and his smaller,late-evening meal is called supper.

As we have said,however,the class system is much less rigid than it was,and for a long time it?has been government policy to reduce class distinctions.Working-class students very commonly?receive a university education and enter the professions,and working-class incomes have grown