The English do shake hands with each other, but as little as possible. With acquaintances once in a lifetime is often considered enough. The preferred English handshake is a brief, vigorous affair with no hint of lingering. The standard greeting”How do you do”and the reply”How do you do”signal the end of the ritual. Foreigners who assume that “How do you do”comes with a built-in question mark and respond accordingly become socially isolated.

英国人之间确实是握手的，只不过是越少越好。一般认为，与相识的人握手，一生中一次就够了。英国人喜欢握手时简短、有力、毫无拖延之意。标准的问好和回答都是说How do you do,礼节也就到此为止了。外国人如果以为How do you do内含一个问号，而做出相应的回答，那在社交上就无人理会了。

Most Englishmen never hug or kiss other men. They leave that to football players and foreigners. Women may kiss on one or both cheeks; if they do, the kisser makes a kissing gesture with appropriate sound-effects in the air in the general region of the recipient’s ear. Men may also kiss women in greeting,but only on the cheek.

大多数英国男士从不与其他男士拥抱或亲吻，那是留给足球运动员和外国人去做的。女士可以吻一边或两边面颊；亲吻时，吻者用嘴做一个亲吻的口形，发出适当的响声，并正好在接受者能听到的范围之内。男士在问好时也可吻女士，但也仅限于面颊部位而已。

In public places, the English make strenuous efforts not to touch strangers even by accident. If such an accident should occur, apologies are fulsome but should never be used as an excuse for further conversation. On crowded public transport where it is sometimes unavoidable, physical contact with a stranger is permitted, but in such circumstances, eye contact should be avoided at all costs.

在公共场合，英国人极力避免与生人有肌肤的接触，即使无意的接触也要避免。万一发生了这种情况，不必过分道歉，但决不能借此便交谈起来。在拥挤的公交车上，有时情况难免，与陌生人有肢体接触是允许的。但在这种情况下，无论如何要避免眼神的接触。

The queue is one of the few places where the English are allowed to talk to each other without having been formally introduced. The others are when taking the dog for a walk. Being trapped with an English person in ,say, a tunnel in an underground train, might result in community singing, even the exchange of confidences – but it is not an invitation to a more permanent intimacy.

排队时是英国人可以不经正式介绍就互相交谈的几种场合之一，此外还有如遛狗的时候。如果与英国人一同陷入某种困境，比如在地铁隧道之类的地方，可以一起唱歌，甚至交谈知心话，但就不并不意味着双方打算建立长久的亲密关系。