首页
登录
职称英语
Despite Denmark’s manifest virtues, Danes never talk about how proud they are
Despite Denmark’s manifest virtues, Danes never talk about how proud they are
游客
2025-04-13
31
管理
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 tire 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 programs, job seminars-Danes love seminars: Three days at a study center 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 over-achievers-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 clean 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 troth 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. [br] The author’s reaction to the statement by the Ministry of Business and Industry is _______.
选项
A、disapproving
B、approving
C、noncommittal
D、doubtful
答案
C
解析
disapproving不赞成的;approving赞成的;noncommittal不表示明确意见的,含糊的; doubtful怀疑的。在谈到商业和工业部对丹麦的描述时,作者紧接着举了一些表现丹麦的肮脏破败的事实,但是作者并没有明确表明态度,所以选C。
转载请注明原文地址:http://tihaiku.com/zcyy/4036021.html
相关试题推荐
Theyignoredhim,despitehisrepeated______thathewasnotonthesceneofmurd
Theprotestwentaheaddespitegovernmentassurancesthattheywouldpressfor__
Lincoln,whomanyregardasoneofourgreatpresidents,wasoften______despite
Despitethefactthattodayvirusareknowntocausecancerinanimalsandi
Despiteanoverlayofquasi-literaryFrenchvocabularystemmingfromtheNorman
Hisevident______tohiswifedespiteherindiscretionprovedhimtobeamano
DespiteDenmark’smanifestvirtues,Danesnevertalkabouthowproudtheyare
DespiteDenmark’smanifestvirtues,Danesnevertalkabouthowproudtheyare
DespiteDenmark’smanifestvirtues,Danesnevertalkabouthowproudtheyare
Despitethefactthattheywere____whentheymarried,after30yearstheyliveto
随机试题
HowtoBuildYourVocabularyEffectivelyVocabularyist
有钱消费的新兴中产阶层快速崛起、交通枢纽的改善、签证限制的逐渐减少以及有利的政府政策,所有这因素促成中国旅游业在国内外的繁荣。从2010年至2020年,
随着人们生活水平的提高,孩子们有更多的机会外出就餐,他们无法抵制美食的诱惑,结果不可避免地胖起来。Withtheimprovementofpeople’
____是当代中国发展进步的根本制度保障。A.中国特色社会主义道路 B.中
19世纪的社会生活和理智生活发生了巨变,主要表现在( )。A.19世纪早期出现
森林与水血脉相依,森林作为陆地生态系统的主体和自然界功能最完善的资源库,具有调节
共用题干 某公司2011年度销售收入为4800万元,年初流动资产为800万元,
前期物业合同中关于专项维修资金的主要内容包括这部分资金的()。A:保管B:管
下列说法中正确的包括()。多选A.人格是个体各种心理特点的总和 B.个体
根据《生产是安全事故应急预案管理办法》,对于某一种类风险,生产经营单位应根据存在
最新回复
(
0
)