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Englishman's Home
英國人的家
Some people would say that the Englishman's home is no longer his castle; that it has become his workshop. This is partly because the average Englishman is keen on working with his hands and partly because he feels, for one reason or another, that he must do for himself many household jobs for which, some years ago, he would have hired professional help.
有人會說，英國人的家不再是他們的城堡了，而變成了他們的車間。這一方面是因為一般的英國人熱衷于用自己的雙手工作，另一方面是因為他覺得，不管什么原因，有許多家庭工作他必須自己動手去做，而這些工作在幾年前都會由雇傭的專業人士幫忙完成。
The for this is a financial one: the high cost of labor has meant that builders' and decorators' costs have reached a level which makes them so high that the house-proud English people of modest means hang back. So, if they wish to keep their houses looking bright and smart, they have to deal with some of the repairs and decorating themselves. As a result, there has grown up in the post-war years what is sometimes referred to as the "Do-It-Yourself Movement".
這種現象的主要原因是經濟因素：高成本的勞動力意味著建筑工人和裝修工人的費用達到了非常高的水平，使得節儉的、講究家里擺設的英國人退縮了。因此，如果他們想讓他們的房子保持明亮整潔的話，他們不得不自己去做一些修理和裝修工作。這樣，在戰后幾年里，在英國形成了一種運動，有時被稱為“自己動手運動”。
The "Do-It-Yourself Movement" began with home decorating but has since spread into a much wider field. Nowadays there seem to be very few things that cannot be made by the "do-it-yourself" method.
“自己動手運動”由家庭裝修開始，但從那時候起到現在，已經擴展到了更多的領域。如今，似乎沒有什么事情不能通過“自己動手”的方法來解決。
A number of magazines and handbooks exist to show hopeful handymen of ages just how easy it is to build anything from a coffee table to a fifteen-foot sailing boat. All you need, it seems, is a hammer and a few nails. You follow the simple instructions step-by-step and, before you know where you are, the finished article stands before you, complete in every detail.
有許多雜志和手冊向不同年齡段的心靈手巧的人展示，制作從咖啡桌到15英尺（4.5米）的獨梔小艇等一切東西是多么容易，只需一把榔頭和幾枚釘子就可以了。你只要一步一步地跟著簡單明晰的指示做，還沒等你反應過來，成品就會出現在你面前，所有的部分一應俱全。
