Interesting Europe, starting with the tongue

Eating is the earliest material life-I said this in a play. One day, I realized that I was actually talking about a European tradition.

In medieval Europe, life was hard. Without electricity and heating, winter is even more difficult. What makes people feel interesting is cooking and eating. When active outdoor life stimulates appetite, people never flinch in the face of mountains of delicious food. According to records, Henry VIII had a dinner from five o'clock in the afternoon until three o'clock the next morning. Only then did all the participants feel that it was appropriate to quit. Therefore, it has become a custom that there should be rich dishes at banquets, and the more food the better. It has become a fashion, and overeating has also become a social fashion.

Because overeating can make people feel uncomfortable, the Romans pioneered the method of scratching their throats with feathers to make them vomit, and then spit out what they ate first in a long banquet and start from scratch. Centuries later, in Britain, elegant overeating has also become a fashion in communication. It was not until Queen Elizabeth's time that people realized that overeating was a threat to health.

Today, the taste of food in Europe has also undergone a fundamental change. For example, a bottle of 82-year-old Boer red wine, a piece of miscellaneous grains bread, a lavender dish, and a love contract with the beloved in Provence. This has obviously become an elegant style. Such a typical life scene does not need to be in a certain place in Europe, that is, Asia, or even Shanghai and Peking in China, and an elegant, fresh, quiet and tasteful life can be achieved.

Luigi? In his book Difficult Europeans, bassini summed it up as: calm Englishman, fickle German, quarrelsome French, flexible Italian and cautious Dutch. An Australian psychologist conducted a "honking study" in Germany, France, Spain and Italy: when the green light was on, his car deliberately stopped to observe the patience of the driver behind him. As a result, Germans are the most civilized, and it takes an average of 7 minutes to whistle. Italians are the most impatient, with France and Spain in the middle. Others have specially studied the "European queuing style". The results show that the British, Russians and Poles are recognized as the best people in the queue. They think that when there are many people, queuing is more time-saving and fairer than crowding. Italians and Spaniards, on the other hand, lack the awareness of queuing. They think that queuing limits the development of human nature and devalues the freedom of human nature.

Another man did an experiment in the street of a city in Germany. He put the words "male" and "female" on telephone booths on both sides of the road, and then hid to observe. They saw that all the men who called entered the telephone booth with the word "male" on it, while the women entered the telephone booth with the word "female" on it. After a while, the "male" telephone booth lined up; The "female" telephone booth is empty. After a while, a man in a hurry saw this scene and pushed open the door of the "female" telephone booth without hesitation. The experimenter came forward to ask, it turned out that this was French, and all the people in line were Germans. The French say a telephone booth is not a bathroom. What are men and women? The Germans said that since the words were posted, there must always be a reason. Before we know the reason, we must first abide by the rules.

The most European life may not be an example, but it is a mirror.

Eat and drink Europe, pay tribute to your lips.

What are the characteristics of European food culture? I think it can be accurately summed up in two words: "effectiveness", just like their pragmatic style. European recipes for three meals a day: bread, cheese, jam, butter and raw vegetables are essential for breakfast. If convenient, a small amount of cooked beef, fruit or snacks. Of course, not everyone eats these foods, but they help themselves and get what they need, whether at home or in restaurants. Lunch in Europe is the simplest and most hurried. The so-called "working lunch" is only one hour at noon, so it is impossible to eat anything in a hurry. Because they have to work in the afternoon, most people don't drink at lunch, and they often eat steak at lunch. Dinner is the most leisurely meal in Europe. Europeans get off work early, usually from 4: 30 to 5: 00 in the afternoon, so everyone has enough time to prepare dinner.

Europeans are used to buffet or set meal. Even if many people have a meal together, they will eat their share and settle the bill after eating AA. At home, although I didn't pay the bill, it was for everyone. No matter where we eat, everyone consciously takes the amount as needed. If you put too many dishes in your own dish and can't finish the rest, it will be considered rude and uncivilized. At this point, Europeans have formed a tacit code of conduct.

It is an indisputable fact that there are many pubs in Europe. They have to drink three meals a day before, during and after meals. When you go home from outside, you should drink "wine at the door" and drink "wine before bed" when you sleep. At any time, they are forgetful and self-centered when drinking. They never pay attention to other people's emotions when drinking, but only drink for their own emotions and get drunk for their own emotions. Buying people a drink is no exception. They invited people to the bar. They don't order wine for their guests, clink glasses with them or pay for them.

In fact, this is a style of respecting others on the premise of respecting yourself.

Digital Europe, breathing in a white shirt

According to a survey conducted by Wilhelmer Thule, a human resources consulting company, most European cities rank among the best in the global quality of life ranking. This study surveyed 2 15 cities, and measured the quality of life of each city with 39 different standards, ranging from politics and economy to medical care, public services, entertainment, shopping, schools, housing and environment.

It was found that eight European cities ranked first 10. Zurich has the highest quality of life, followed by Vienna and Vancouver. Sydney and Geneva tied for fourth place. Frankfurt, Auckland and Copenhagen tied for sixth place. Bonn and Munich tied for ninth place. London tied with Washington and new york for 4 1. Tokyo ranks 25th, Singapore 35th and Hong Kong 69th.

You can think of an answer. Where is the cheapest place to live in Europe?

Therefore, you should live in Athens, eat in Madrid, dress in London, play in Dublin and get sick in Paris. This way of life is the cheapest in Europe. This is what Eurostat recently revealed to People. The living price index in Europe is increasing gradually from south to north.

The survey shows that the quality of life in Europe is indeed the best in the world. So it can be said that given a chance to choose again, at present, Europe is a "paradise" for human beings to live a better life, because there, you can breathe the blue sky in a white shirt.

European style, rational romance

The most European features first appeared in the architectural features:

The circular arch is the most revolutionary representative of European architecture. It was once praised as one of the most beautiful forms in the history of human architecture, and developed from a circular arch to the construction of a wide and tall architectural space.

Column. From the simple colonnade to the most fundamental form of European architecture, the column has become the most important feature of European architecture, just like the columns extending outward on both sides of the Vatican church.

The fountain presents the comfort inspired by European life. Fountain has been one of the most romantic protagonists in European living space since ancient Greece and Rome. The expressive and charming statue pool is like the most famous fountain on the Roman coast.

Square. Europe has always been a country that advocates freedom. Therefore, from private space to public space, the square has always been the core protagonist. It not only provides a place for residents to meet and socialize, but also creates a leisurely and open life image, just like the world-famous Italian St. Kyle Square.

Sculpture is an angel wing that falls into the mortal world. From European palaces and museums to ordinary streets, you can see some large and small sculptures. Therefore, these sculptures are almost integrated with the building itself and become the most tasteful corner in the space, just like the common street statues or Venus statues in Europe.

The roof is the most typical beautiful ambassador in the sky. The roof of European architecture is like a work of art, the dome of Renaissance, the spire of Goethe, and the flat roof of neoclassicism at the end of 19. The totem on the roof represents the spirit of an era or the prosperity of a family. For example, the French royal lily totem is embedded in the architectural appearance.

Speaking of people, it is most appropriate to take the romantic French as an example, but I think it is easier to see the essence of Europe from the Germans. There is a joke that one of the most annoying things in the world is to hire a German as a chef. Because German chefs can cook the worst food in the world with ingredients accurate to the gram. This is, of course, poking fun at the Germans, showing that they are rigid and inflexible, lacking the romance of the French and the appetite of the China people. Therefore, they are a group of people who are very tired in the world.

In fact, as long as you walk around Germany, you will find the previous stereotypes ridiculous. For example, Frankfurt has a huge image of "turning into a human form". This simple, linear, China-like paper-cut female image was set up in the square in front of the Frankfurt International Exhibition Center. She is about five or six stories high, and seems to be beating something with a hammer in her hand. Then she moved away. It turned out that the clever engineer turned her into an electric man and installed gears on the joints of her body, so that her body would slowly complete the whole process of "hammering" under the driving of electricity and the lubrication of gears. Using the superb level of manufacturing industry to personify, concretize and animate rigorous, rational and rigid things is another kind of romance of Germans. What is this?

In front of the statue of the Goddess of Justice in Rome's Berg Square, and in the pub where Munich music and beer were swallowed together, I saw the bright and romantic side of the Germans again and again. Why can Goethe create a series of famous works such as Young Werther? Because the Weimar Republic where he lived all the year round, with its quiet atmosphere and tolerant mentality, Goethe was able to live carefree, roam freely in the romantic sky of literature and show his joys and sorrows to the fullest. The difference is that the French are good at exaggerating all their achievements, while the Germans like to hide and "moisten things quietly".

The most Europeanization constitutes a rational romantic style.

The gap in Europe begins with people.

As long as you look around, you will always hear such remarks: Cape Town is the most European city in South Africa; Melbourne is the most European city in Australia; Boston is the most European in the United States-it enjoys the reputation of "Athens in the United States"; Macao is the most European city in Asia. Recently, in some metropolises in China, Europeanization has been derived from the business behavior model and has become a popular concept. For example, in Beijing, there is a cotton city in the southwest and a Pearl River scenic spot in the east, which has completely played the brand of townhouse community with the theme of European town customs and culture.

In fact, in China, discerning people suddenly realized that Shanghai, a city that was smoked by the European wind at the beginning of the last century, was the closest to the European flavor. Peace Hotel, the granite building of Chicago School Gothic architecture on the Huangpu River, is always full of dim and heavy yellow lights, the yellowed white marble is fresh and elegant, passing by the lobby, brown tall furnace panels, yellow copper railings, romantic curly black cast iron patterns of youth buildings, as well as coffee from Vienna, black stockings from new york, perfume from Paris and white Russian princess from Petersburg.

However, all this is only the beginning or preliminary to imitate and yearn for the most Europe.

There is no doubt that Europe attaches importance to etiquette and law. Generally, people there have such distinctive characteristics: gentleman style-very polite and friendly, taking the tram during work hours in the morning, except for students, almost all men wear suits and ties; Asking for directions on the road or asking passers-by to take pictures will definitely get the help of enthusiastic people.

Not long ago, European countries held a symposium in Lausanne, Switzerland to discuss the characteristics of "the most perfect woman". Through comparison and identification, the result shows that the most perfect woman should have: Italian hair, Egyptian eyes, Greek nose, American teeth, Thai neck, Australian chest, Swiss hands, Scandinavian thighs, China feet, Austrian voice, Japanese smile, British skin, French curve, Spanish gait and German. It can be seen that each nation has its own characteristics, even unique advantages. What we can do is to respect its characteristics and learn its advantages. Only in this way can we make ourselves more perfect.

Finally, it needs to be clarified that living with the most European symbols is not about worshipping foreign things. Because, as Asia, we have accepted the material beauty of Europe as soon as possible, and at the same time, Europe is being spiritualized by Asia-the real cosmopolitanism is that everyone lives in the beauty of enjoyment.