首页
外语
计算机
考研
公务员
职业资格
财经
工程
司法
医学
专升本
自考
实用职业技能
登录
外语
Despite Denmark’s manifest virtues, Danes never talk about how proud they are to be Danes. This would sound weird in Danish. Whe
Despite Denmark’s manifest virtues, Danes never talk about how proud they are to be Danes. This would sound weird in Danish. Whe
admin
2014-03-03
0
问题
Despite Denmark’s manifest virtues, Danes never talk about how proud they are to be Danes. This would sound weird in Danish. When Danes talk to foreigners about Denmark, they always begin by commenting on its tininess, its unimportance, the difficulty of its language, the general small-mindedness and self-indulgence of their countrymen and the high taxes. No Dane would look you in the eye and say, "Denmark is a great country." You’re supposed to figure this out for yourself.
It is the land of the silk safety net, where almost half the national budget goes toward smoothing out life’s inequalities, and there is plenty of money for schools, day care, retraining programmes, job seminars -- Danes love seminars: three days at a study centre hearing about waste management is almost as good as a ski trip. It is a culture bombarded by English, in advertising, pop music, the Internet, and despite all the English that Danish absorbs -- there is no Danish Academy to defend against it – old dialects persist in Jutland that can barely be understood by Copenhageners. It is the land where, as the saying goes, "Few have too much and fewer have too little," and a foreigner is struck by the sweet egalitarianism that prevails, where the lowliest clerk gives you a level gaze, where Sir and Madame have disappeared from common usage, even Mr and Mrs. It’s a nation of recyclers -- about 55% of Danish garbage gets made into something new -- and no nuclear power plants. It’s a nation of tireless planners. Trains run on time. Things operate well in general.
Such a nation of overachievers -- a brochure from the Ministry of Business and Industry says, "Denmark is one of the world’s cleanest and most organized countries, with virtually no pollution, crime, or poverty. Denmark is the most corruption-free society in the Northern Hemisphere." So, of course, one’s heart lifts at any sighting of Danish sleaze: skinhead graffiti on buildings ("Foreigners Out of Denmark!"), broken beer bottles in the gutters, drunken teenagers slumped in the park.
Nonetheless, it is an orderly land. You drive through a Danish town, it comes to an end at a stone wall, and on the other side is a field of barley, a nice clear line. town here, country there. It is not a nation of jaywalkers. People stand on the curb and wait for the red light to change, even if it’s 2 a.m. and there’s not a car in sight. However, Danes don’t think of themselves as a waiting-at-2-a, m.-for-the-green-light people -- that’s how they see Swedes and Germans. Danes see themselves as jazzy people, improvisers, more free-spirited than Swedes, but the truth is (though one should not say it) that Danes are very much like Germans and Swedes. Orderliness is a main selling point. Denmark has few natural resources, limited manufacturing capability; its future in Europe will be as a broker, banker, and distributor of goods. You send your goods by container ship to Copenhagen, and these bright, young, English-speaking, utterly honest, highly disciplined people will get your goods around to Scandinavia, the Baltic States, and Russia. Airports, seaports, highways, and rail lines are ultramodern and well-maintained.
The orderliness of the society doesn’t mean that Danish lives are less messy or lonely than yours or mine, and no Dane would tell you so. You can hear plenty about bitter family feuds and the sorrows of alcoholism and about perfectly sensible people who went off one day and killed themselves. An orderly society cannot exempt its members from the hazards of life.
But there is a sense of entitlement and security that Danes grow up with. Certain things are yours by virtue of citizenship, and you shouldn’t feel bad for taking what you’re entitled to, you’re as good as anyone else. The rules of the welfare system are clear to everyone, the benefits you get if you lose your job, the steps you take to get a new one; and the orderliness of the system makes it possible for the country to weather high unemployment and social unrest without a sense of crisis.
Which of the following is NOT a Danish characteristic cited in the passage?
选项
A、Fondness of foreign culture.
B、Equality in society.
C、Linguistic tolerance.
D、Persistent planning.
答案
A
解析
本题问以下四选项中哪一个不是丹麦人的特点。B项是丹麦人的特点之一,答案可以在第二段中找到:It is the land where,as the saying goes,‘Few have too much and fewer have too little,...”C项也可在第二段中找到:“...and despite all the English that Danish absorbs——there is no Danish Academy to defend against it-...”D项所指的特点也包括在第二段中:“It’s a nation of tireless planners. Trains run on time.Things operate well in general.”相比之下,只有A项未提及。事实上第三段中提到光头帮成员在建筑物上涂写“外国人滚出丹麦!”
转载请注明原文地址:https://www.kaotiyun.com/show/mKZO777K
0
专业英语八级
相关试题推荐
Duringthenextfewweekspublisherswillreleaseacrushofbooks,pilethemontodeliverylorriesandfighttogetthemonthe
Bytheyear2100,globaltemperaturesareanticipatedtorisebybetween0.8and3.5degreeCelsius.Thatmaynotseemlikemuch
Scienceisgenerallytakenasmeaningeither(a)theexactsciences,suchaschemistry,physics,etc.,or(b)amethodofthough
Sevenyearsago,anEnvironmentalProtectionAgencystatisticianstunnedresearchersstudyingtheeffectsofairpollutiononhe
Justas【1】______isfamousforthetango,soAmerican【1】______iswell-knownforjazz,atypicalAmericaninvention.Unliketra
Forthreefrustratingdecades,CBShasbeenthebiggestloserinthemorning.Now,ratherthantryingtobeatTodayandGoodMor
______isthecenterofBritishfinancingsystem.
Australiaispoliticallydividedinto______statesand______territories.
AdvertisementsAnintelligentpersonwillnotallowhimselftobeinfluencedbyadvertisements.Instead,hewilltrytoget
然而,我们知道,衣食无忧仅仅是生活的一个方面,人们对生活的要求是多侧面的,文明程度越高,人们的心理需求就越高。尤其是老年人,他们和青年人一样.也有文化的需要,娱乐的需要,尊严的需要,成就感的需要,更何况他们已经走过了生命的大部分历程。他们要在生命的最后一个
随机试题
下列资料中不属于多媒体素材的是________。
A.T淋巴细胞B.B淋巴细胞C.T和B淋巴细胞D.NK细胞E.肥大细胞
男,70岁。服用氟桂利嗪3个月后出现动作徐缓,僵硬,手部震颤,跌倒一次。美多巴治疗无效。查体:智能正常,面具脸,四肢肌力正常,肌张力高。最可能的诊断是
患者,男,21岁,头部外伤后昏迷5分钟,清醒后2小时再次昏迷,查体:血压增高、脉搏减慢,左侧瞳孔散大,右侧肢体瘫痪。首选治疗原则是
招标人要给予所有投标人平等的机会,使其享有同等的机会,并履行同等的义务,不歧视任何一方,这是工程项目招标投标的()
《中华人民共和国城市规划法》于()起施行。
下列关于风险转换的说法中正确的有()。
湖心亭看雪张岱崇祯五年十二月,余住西湖。大雪三日,湖中人鸟声俱绝。是日更定矣,余挐一小舟,拥毳衣炉火,独往湖心亭看雪。雾凇沆砀,天与云与山与水,上下一白。湖上影子,惟长堤一痕、湖心亭一点、与余舟一芥,舟中人两
主持行政处罚听证程序的应当是()。
2006年上半年中国整个网络广告的市场规模约为()。零散中小网站网络广告收入约为新浪、网易、TOM网络广告收入之和的()。
最新回复
(
0
)