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TEXT A
Despite Denmark’s manifest virtues, Danes never talk about how proud they a re 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-indulgen ce 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 yo urself.
It is the land of the silk safety net, where almost half the national budg et goes toward smoothing out life’s inequalities, and there is plenty of money f or schools, day care, retraining programmes, job seminars-Danes love seminars: t hree 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 barel y be understood by Copenhageners. It is the land where, as the saying goes,“ Fe w have too much and fewer have too little, ”and a foreigner is struck by the swe e t 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 planner. Trains run on time. Things operate well in general.
Such a nation of overachievers — a brochure from the Ministry of Busines s and Industry says, “Denmark is one of the world’s cleanest and most organize d countries, with virtually no pollution, crime, or poverty. Denmark is the most c orruption-free society in the Northern Hemisphere. ”So, of course, one’s heart l ifts at any sighting of Danish sleaze: skinhead graffiti on buildings(“Foreigne r s Out of Denmark! ”), broken beer bottles in the gutters, drunken teenagers slu mped in the park.
Nonetheless, it is an orderly land. You drive through a Danish town, it co mes to an end at a stone wall, and on the other side is a field of barley, a nic e clean line: town here, country there. It is not a nation of jay-walkers. Peopl e stand on the curb and wait for the red light to change, even if it’s 2 a.m. a n d there’s not a car in sight. However, Danes don’ t think of themselves as a w ai nting-at-2-a.m.-for-the-green-light people——that’s how they see Swedes and Ge r mans. 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 n atural 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 me s sy or lonely than yours or mine, and no Dane would tell you so. You can hear ple nty 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 c an not 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 f o r taking what you’re entitled to, you’re as good as anyone else. The rules of th e welfare system are clear to everyone, the benefits you get if you lose your jo b, 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 witho ut a sense of crisis.
16. The author thinks that Danes adopt a ___ attitude towards their country.
A. boastful
B. modest
C. deprecating
D. mysterious
17. Which of the following is NOT a Danish characteristic cited in the pa ssage?
A. Fondness of foreign culture.
B. Equality in society.
C. Linguistic tolerance.
D. Persistent planning.
18. The author’s reaction to the statement by the Ministry of Business a nd Industry is ___.
A. disapproving
B. approving
C. noncommittal
D. doubtful
19. According to the passage, Danish orderliness ___.
A. sets the people apart from Germans and Swedes
B. spares Danes social troubles besetting other people
C. is considered economically essential to the country
D. prevents Danes from acknowledging existing troubles
20. At the end of the passage the author states all the following EXCEPT that ___.
A. Danes are clearly informed of their social benefits
B. Danes take for granted what is given to them
C. the open system helps to tide the country over
D. orderliness has alleviated unemployment
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