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When you start talking about good and bad manners you immediately start
meeting difficulties. Many people just cannot agree what they mean. We asked a
lady, who replied that she thought you could tell a well-mannered person on the __1
way they occupied the space around them—for example, when such a person
walks down a street he or she is constantly unaware of others. Such people never __2
bump into other people.
However, a second person thought that this was more a question of
civilized behavior as good manners. Instead, this other person told us a story, __3
it he said was quite well-known, about an American who had been invited __4
to an Arab meal at one of the countries of the Middle East. The American __5
hasn't been told very much about the kind of food he might expect. If he had __6
known about American food, he might have behaved better. __7
Immediately before him was a very flat piece of bread that looked, to
him, very much as a napkin. Picking it up, he put it into his collar, so that __8
it falls across his shirt. His Arab host, who had been watching, __9
said of nothing, but immediately copied the action of his guest. __10
And that, said this second person, was a fine example of good manners.
