完形填空 Generally speaking, a British is widely regarded as a quiet, shy and conservative (保守的) person who is 1only among those with whom he is familiar. When a stranger is present, he often seemsnervous，2embarrassed. You have to take a commuter train (通勤车)any morning or evening to 3 the truth of this. Serious－looking businessmen and women sit reading their newspapers or 4off in a corner; hardly anybody talks, sinceto do so would be considered quite offensive (冒犯的)．
5 ， there is an unwritten but clearlyunderstood code of behavior, which, once 6 ， makes the offender immediately theobject of7.
One of the few things we can say about the British with certainty is that a Britishtakes a(n)8 to the discussion of their weather and that, if given achance, he will talk about it9. Some people argue that it isbecause the British weather10 follows forecast and thus becomes asource of interest to everyone. This may be so. Certainly a British cannot havemuch 11 in the weathermen, whose predictions, in many cases,12to be wrong! The man in the street seems to be as accurate—or as inaccurate—asthe weathermen in his 13.
Foreigners may be surprised at the number of references 14 weather that theBritish make to each other in the course of a single day. Very oftenconversational greetings are 15 by comments on the weather. “Niceday, isn't it？”“Beautifulday！”may well be heard instead of “Good morning, how are you？”16 the foreigner mayconsider this exaggerated (夸大的)and comic, it is worthwhile pointing out that it could be used to his17.If he wants to start a conversation with a British but is 18 to knowwhere to begin, he could do well to mention the state of the weather. It isa(n)19 subject to which a response may well be 20 ofeven the most reserved of the British.
