英国人经常说,他们的家是他们自己的城堡.意思是家对于他们而言是极为重要和私密的.英国大部分居民居住在一栋栋房屋而不是公寓里,许多人拥有他们自己的住宅.这意味着人们可以让自己的住宅具有自己的个性.他们粉刷住宅的墙壁,按照自己喜欢的样子打扮自己的住宅.多数住宅附带花园,即使空间极小,花园通常惹人喜爱.房子和花园是居住者的私人空间.人们通常喜欢划定一个属于自己的空间.你现在正坐在自己家里还是火车上?你是否曾经在自己四周划定一个属于你的空间?如果正在火车上,你也许会把自己的外套和小包放在邻座.如果你和别人合租一套公寓,你也许会划定一个角落或一把椅子作为自己的私人空间.有一次,我乘火车去伦敦旅行.我当时在一个四人套间里,有一张桌子在大家中间.与我同侧的一位男子完全霸占了原本属于我的桌子边的空间.我生气了.或许他认为整张桌子都是属于他的吧!我正巧读完一本有关“无需动口的交流技巧”的书.于是我从自己包里抽出一叠刊物,放在他的公文包上.当我如此做时,那男子脸色僵硬,两只眼珠子似乎要弹出眼眶了.我已经侵犯了他的空间!几分钟后,我从他的公文包上拿起我的纸质刊物读起来.他迅速将自己的包挪到属于他自己的桌子那边.当然,他可能正打算帮我吧!如果你正在国外旅游,或许会感觉不到自己有任何私人空间.世界各国的旅馆似乎是千篇一律的式样.整天整夜,你与其他人共用各类公共场所.你会看见本地人在自己的私人空间里.你感到孤独,感到自己是“外来客”.本地人可以谈论一些你不知道的事情,从而打造属于他们的私人空间.你甚至可以感受到他们就是喜欢让你呆在“外部”,而他们自己可以更多地享受自己“内部空间”!这是一位旅行者需要克服的困难之一.但如果理解这种“空间感”,你就会释然了.你难道没有体验过作为一个团体的成员、享有一部分“自己的”私人空间的乐趣吗?People often say that the Englishman’s home is his castle.They mean that the home is very important and personal to him.Most people in Britain live in houses rather than flats,and many people own their homes.This means that they can make them individual（个体的）;they can paint them,and change them in any way they like.Most house have a garden,even if it is a very small one,and the garden is usually loved.The house and the garden are the private（私人的）space of the individual.People usually like to mark their space.Are you sitting now in your home or on a train?have you marked the space around yourself as your?If you are on the train you may put your coat or small bag on the seat beside you.If you share a flat you may have one corner or chair which is your own.Once I was travelling on a train to London.I was in a section for four people and there was a table between us The man on the space on my side of the table at all.I was angry.Maybe he thought that he owned the whole table.I had read a book about non-verbal communications o I took various papers out of my bag and put them on his briefcase!When I did this he stiffened and his eyes nearly popped(瞪出)out of his head.I had invaded(侵犯)his space!A few minutes later I took my papers off his case in order to read them.He immediately moved his case to his side of the table.Of course,it is possible that he just wanted to be helpful to me!If you are visiting another country you may feel that you don’t have any private space.Hotel rooms look much the same in every country in the world.All day long ,you share public spaces with other people.You see the local people in their private spaces and you feel lonely and “outside”.Local people can create their private spaces by talking about things you don’t know about .And you even feel that they like you to be outside them so that they will enjoy being inside even more!This is one of the difficulties of being a traveler!But if you understand it then it helps you .Haven’t you enjoyed being part of a group and “owning” a bit of space?