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Generallyspeaking, aBritishiswidelyregardedasaquiet, shyandconservativepersonwhois ___1___ onlyamongthosewithwhomheisacquainted. Whenastrangerisatpresent, heoftenseemsnervous, ___2___ embarrassed. Youhavetotakeacommutertrainanymorningoreveningto ___3___ thetruthofthis. Serious-lookingbusinessmenandwomensitreadingtheirnewspapersordozinginacorner; hardlyanybodytalks, sincetodosowouldbeconsideredquiteoffensive. ___4___, thereisanunwrittenbutclearlyunderstoodcodeofbehaviorwhich, ___5___ broken, makestheoffenderimmediatelytheobjectof ___6___.
IthasbeenknownasafactthattheaBritishhasa ___7___ forthediscussionoftheirweatherandthat, ifgivenachance, hewilltalkaboutit ___8___. SomepeoplearguethatitisbecausetheBritishweatherseldom ___9___ forecastandhencebecomesasourceofinterestand ___10___ toeveryone. Thismaybeso. ___11___ aBritishcannothavemuch ___12___ intheweathermen, who, afterpromisingfine, sunnyweatherforthefollowingday, areoftenprovedwrong ___13___ acloudovertheAtlanticbringsrainyweathertoalldistricts! Themaninthestreetseemstobeasaccurate---orasinaccurate---astheweathermeninhis ___14___.
Foreignersmaybesurprisedatthenumberofreferences ___15___ weatherthattheBritishmaketoeachotherinthecourseofasingleday. Veryoftenconversationalgreetingsare ___16___ bycommentsontheweather. Niceday, isntit? Beautiful! maywellbeheardinsteadofGoodmorning, howareyou? ___17___ theforeignermayconsiderthisexaggeratedandcomic, itisworthwhilepointingoutthatitcouldbeusedtohisadvantage. ___18___ hewantstostartaconversationwithaBritishbutis ___19___ toknowswherestobegin, hecoulddowelltomentionthestateoftheweather. Itisasafesubjectwhichwill ___20___ ananswerfromeventhemostreservedoftheBritish.
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