Abstract:This thesis is based on nowadays social situation which indicates that etiquette is widely applied in daily life. In social ocassions, people’s behaviour shows that etiquette is the image of one person. Table etiquette usually appears in numerous occasions as well. Concerning the image of people’s own table etiquette has become one of their important parts in the communication between Chinese and British. As the growing desire for tracing reasons in every aspect of people’s daily life, people want to find out the source of differences in different etiquette. People need to figure out not only the reasons in the surface, but the radical and original ones. Therefore, in this thesis, elements and differences of table etiquette are not discussed as the major point, but the reasons why the differences exist. This thesis consists of five parts that indicate the source of the differences between Chinese and British table etiquette. After reading the thesis, people can have a general understanding on the topic-differences between Chinese and British table etiquette.

Key words: table etiquette; cause; tableware; seat; lifestyle

中文摘要:本论文根据目前社会上，礼仪在日常生活中广泛应用的情况进行论述。在社交场合中，人的行为往往表明礼仪是一个人的形象。在众多场合中，也经常有餐桌礼仪出现。在中外友人交往时，关注个人在餐桌礼仪和形象已经成为了人们的重要部分。随着人们对日常生活各方面追根究底的想法越来越强烈，人们想要找出不同的餐桌礼仪中差异的来源。人们不仅想找出最表面的缘由，更想找出最根本的原因。因此，本论文中最主要讨论的重点并非餐桌礼仪的各要素及不同点，而是这些不同点之所以存在的原因。论文由五个部分组成，论证了中英餐桌礼仪差异的来源。通过阅读全篇论文，人们便可以对本文的论题，即中英餐桌礼仪差异来源有一个概括性的了解。

关键词：餐桌礼仪；来源；餐具；席位；生活方式