冬日英伦的冷与暖

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听说我们要在冬季的1月奔赴英国，在英国留学3年的大赵姐姐瞪大了眼睛：英国的冬天可冷了！

剑桥大学街道

接着，她花了大约10分钟时间向我们讲述，英国的天气是如何潮湿寒冷，终年难见阳光；又花了大约10分钟时间与我们分享，英国的食物是如何超越想象的难吃；最后，又花了剩下的10分钟与我们感叹，大英博物馆如何集人类文明之大成，叹为观止。

幸与不幸，大赵姐姐的三个段落，在我们这一趟续命的年度旅行中，都得到了印证。

When we mentioned that we were about to visit Britain in January, Ms. Zhao who has studied in Britain for 3 years exclaimed with her eyes wide open, “The winter in Britain is freaking cold !”

She spent around 10 minutes talking about how wet and cold Britain was and how rare it was for you to catch a glimpse of sunshine; She spent another 10 minutes sharing her life experience in Britain and said that the disgusting food in Britain was beyond your imagination; Finally, she spent the last 10 minutes marveling at how the British museum has managed to capture the greatness of human civilization.

Fortune or not, we became the witness of what Ms.Zhao said in our journey to Britain.

风雪不停，是对冬天最起码的尊重

Formidable Wind and Snow:Minimum Respect for Winter

这一行的导游Mrs.Wang是四川人，娇小可爱，五官精致，圆溜溜的眼睛眨巴眨巴，泛着“老司机”的光芒。

长年累月的英国线带团经历，为她积累了足够丰富的经验来对付这帮游客。为了让我们这帮任你如何提醒一定懒得塞一把雨伞在行李箱里、但一下雨就吵吵嚷嚷要找雨伞的游客从善如流，她会十分认真地告诉我们，“纯正的英国人，下雨都不撑伞。”

当然，我们并不是一般的游客，我们大都随身带了一把精致的折叠伞。然而，后来的事实告诉我们，折叠伞在英国暴虐的寒风中，就像是脆生生的枯树枝，不堪一击。爱丁堡城堡外，我们就像一朵朵花儿一样，随着翻来覆去的折叠伞在风中旋转。

剑桥大学图书馆

爱丁堡市区

在英国走了一路，风雨几乎没停，但曼城却给了我们最大的惊喜：入夜，竟纷纷扬扬地下起雪来。

因为下雪，天色昏暗了许多，风雪之中，街灯闪烁，典型的欧式建筑低低矮矮地分布在街道两侧，黑色的老式出租车一闪而过，那一幕浪漫至极，只差25岁的裘德洛了。

说真的，如果我是王尔德，在遇见貌美如花的波西时，漫天风雪里也只有把对方拥入怀中的情迷，哪还顾得上雨水湿衣衫呢。

“恨是盲目的，爱亦然。”

The tour guide, Mrs.Wang, a Sichuan native, was petite and cute. She had delicate features and round eyes.You could tell that she was an experienced guide when you made an eye contact with her.

After spent years of working as a guide, she has accumulated rich experience and was well capable of handling tourists. As visitors, we used to putting an umbrella in a luggage in case of raining, yet when it rains,we often find ourselves scrambling to find umbrellas.Knowing this, Mrs.Wang kindly reminded us that “Authentic Britons never use umbrellas when it rains”. ”

Of course, we are not ordinary tourists, most of us took a delicate folding umbrella. But as it turned out,folding umbrellas were like fragile and dry branches in Britain's formidable winds. And we were like flowers twirling in the strong wind with our folding umbrellas outside Edinburgh castle.

As we walked all the way in Britain, the strong wind and rain barely stopped. Yet our biggest surprise came from Manchester where snow started to fly as the night fell.

It was getting dark because of the snow. Street lights were flickering in the snow, when the black old-fashioned taxi flashed past the classic and lowrise European-style buildings lined on each side of the road, you felt like you were in the most romantic scene.It would be perfect if you had 25 year old Jude Law by your side.

Indeed, if I had been Wilde and had met the beautiful Pawsey, my mind would be focused on taking her into my arms regardless of being caught wet in the snowy day.

“Hatred is blind, as well as love. ”

食在英伦，意料之外的中餐馆

Food in Britain, An Unexpected Chinese Restaurant

“英国大概有着全欧洲最好的中餐馆。”Mrs.Wang这样说的时候，我还没意识到这件事会带来的后果。直到旅行结束、回家上称的那一刻，我才意识到，节制这件事，并不能因为舟车劳顿就有所松懈。

前年在西班牙噎下的那个散发着洗衣粉味道的馒头，还在大脑沟回里萦绕不去。同样是团餐，英国的中餐体验可以用“出人意料的好”来形容。

在北爱尔兰，我们甚至吃到了特别地道的回锅肉，感动得差点留下小费。

这一份出人意料带来的另一个后果就是，全团不少从国内带过去的咸菜老干妈，面临被“遣返”的危险。

当然，这个结果只能间接说明常住英国的中国人对自我有着更高的要求，除此之外的英国食物，都是“匪夷所思”的化身。

在温德米尔湖区放风的时候，Mrs.Wang格外用心地为我们安排了一顿英国传统美食：fish&chips（炸鱼和薯条）。如果是川渝以外的客人来品尝，大概也就是一句“口味有点清淡”，但当二楼坐满了来自美食之都重庆的客人时，场面就变得十分滑稽：大家纷纷用各自带来的辣椒面洒满整条鱼，桌面上的胡椒罐几乎被掏空，有人还试图把薯条泡进酸菜罐里。我几次瞟到旅行团的大巴车司机——一个肯尼亚裔的英国汉子，坐在角落里，嚼着炸鱼，眼神飘忽，仿佛闯进了一个新世界。

至于用餐感受，我脑海中反复响起那句“试了后悔一阵子、不试后悔一辈子”的文字鸡汤。以至于当天晚上我们腻得放弃了晚餐。

“Britain probably has the best Chinese restaurants in Europe. “As Mrs.Wang said this, I didn't pay much attention to what she meant. It wasn't until I got home from my trip and stood on the weighing scale that I realized that I couldn't let go of my restraint just because I was tired.

Memories of eating a steamed bun with washing powder smell in Spain were still fresh. What we had for food this time was also the group meal. Yet the Chinese food experience in the UK can be described as “Overwhelming”.

In Northern Ireland, we even had the authentic dish “Chinese double cooked pork”. We were so excited that we had strong intentions to leave tips.

Another unexpected consequence of this was that many of us who took Lao Gan Ma chili sauce with them risked of taking these chili sauce back to China.

Of course, the tasty Chinese food indirectly reflected higher requirements of those Chinese residents in Britain. In addition to Chinese food, other food in Britain were “outrageous”.

During our break at Lake Windermere, Mrs.Wang arranged a traditional English meal with utmost care: fish&chips. If you were not tourists from Sichuan and Chongqing, you might thought that the dish “tasted a bit light”; Yet it would hilarious when you had all Sichuan and Chongqing visitors packed on the second floor of the restaurant:everyone filled the fish with their own chili sauce,the pepper cans on the table were nearly empty, and someone even tried to dip the fries into the sauerkraut can. Several times I caught a glimpse of the tour bus driver, an English- Kenyan man, sitting in a corner, chewing Fried fish, his eyes wandering as if he was in a new world.

As for its dining experience, the poisoned chicken soup “You would regret for a while after trying this, yet you would regret for your lifetime if you don't try it at all.” kept ringing in my head. And that night we were so tired that we gave up dinner.

街头巷尾，遇见现代与传统的混搭

The Mix of Modernity and Tradition on the Streets

阴冷潮湿、食不知味以外的英国，亦有许多美妙之处。

转角处偶遇的银发老太太，绿色套装、礼帽，单手挎着小坤包，踩着女王鞋在街头漫步的样子，优雅得摄人心魄；伦敦街头，三两步就能遇到街头卖艺者，就地而立，甩着头发唱着歌，全情投入地还原着音乐本身的魅力；在城市街头穿行的轨道电车是另一道风景，狭窄的街道中间，传统的欧式建筑与现代交通工具的混搭，时时给人以魔幻的错觉，难怪哈利波特会出生在英国；沿袭至今的明信片文化，则是英国礼仪最温情脉脉的表达，花样繁复之中、一撇一捺之间，自是你来我往的深情厚谊。

以及，给了我致命一眼的是，我们最后一程的大巴车司机、一个干瘦的中年英国男子，穿着小马甲与白衬衣，笔挺地坐在人声鼎沸的中餐馆里吃工作餐，不疾不徐，姿态优美，仿佛在切割一块上好的牛排。那一刻，我深感汗颜，默默地咽下了最后一口猪蹄。

至于大英博物馆之宏伟、之雄浑、之震撼，确非文字所及。

温德米尔湖区

这座外表并不起眼的英国建筑里，珍藏着我们对人类最诚挚的敬意。现场匆匆一瞥，并未能触及其凤毛，便不在此班门弄斧了。

最后，不管怎么样，我觉得没有必要去尝试炸鱼和薯条。

There are also many wonderful places waiting to explore in this cold, wet Britain where people have light tastes for food.

At the corner, you would encounter a silverhaired old lady in green suit, top hat, and one hand with a small clutch, walking in her queen's shoes on the street, radiating the elegance; On the London streets, you would easily encounter street buskers.They stand on the spot, singing with devoted hearts and hair shaking, demonstrating the glamour of music; The tram running through the city streets is another scenery. In the middle of the narrow streets,the mixture of traditional European architecture and modern transportation tools always gives people a magic illusion. Little wonder why harry potter was born in Britain; The postcard culture inherited so far is the most gentle expression of British etiquette.You can find deep friendship from various floral patterns and beautiful characters in the postcard.

And, what impressed me most was the bus driver for our last-leg. The thin, middle-aged English man in a small waistcoat and white shirt, sat upright in a noisy Chinese restaurant for a working meal, unhurried and graceful, as if he were cutting a fine steak. At that moment, I felt ashamed and silently swallowed the last bite of pig's trotter.

As for the magnificent and marvelous British museum, it is beyond words.

What lies in this modest-looking British building is our utmost respect. As we only took a quick glance at it, I would save your time from describing it with my limited knowledge about it.

Finally, as for fish&chips dish, you really don't have to try.