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  3. Pardon me: how are your manners? 1 The decline of civility and good manners may be worrying people more than crime, accordi

Pardon me: how are your manners? 1 The decline of civility and good manners may be worrying people more than crime, accordi

admin2008-12-13  47
问题                                     Pardon me: how are your manners?
1      The decline of civility and good manners may be worrying people more than crime, according to Gentility Recalled, edited by Digby Anderson, which laments the breakdown of traditional codes that once regulated social conduct. It criticizes the fact that "manners" are scorned as repressive and outdated.
2      The result, according to Mr.  Anderson — director of the Social Affairs Unit, an independent think-tank — is a society characterized by rudeness, loutish behavior on the streets, jostling in crowds, impolite shop assistants and bad-tempered drivers.
3      Mr. Anderson says the cumulative effect of these — apparently trivial, but often offensive- is to make everyday life uneasy, unpredictable and unpleasant. As they are encountered far more often than crime, they can cause more anxiety than crime.
4      When people lament the disintegration of law and order, he argues, what they generally mean is order, as manifested by courteous forms of social contact. Meanwhile, attempts to re-establish restraint and self-control through "politically correct" rules are artificial.
5      The book has contributions from 12 academics in disciplines ranging from medicine to sociology and charts what it calls the "coarsening" of Britain. Old-fashioned terms such as
"gentleman" and "lady" have lost all meaningful resonance and need to be re-evaluated, it says. Rachel Trickett, honorary fellow and former principal of St Hugh’s College, Oxford, says that the notion of a "lady" protects women rather than demeaning them. 6      Feminism and demands for equality have blurred the distinctions between the sexes, creating situations where men are able to dominate women because of their more aggressive and forceful natures, she says, "Women, without some code of deference or respect, become increasingly victims."
7      Caroline Moore, the first woman fellow of Peterhouse, Cambridge, points out that "gentleman" is now used only with irony or derision.
8      "The popular view of a gentleman is poised somewhere between the imbecile parasite and the villainous one:  between Woosteresque chinless wonders, and those heartless capitalist toffs who are... the stock-in-trade of television."
9      She argues that the concept is neither class-bound nor rigid conventions of gentlemanly behavior enable a man to act naturally as an individual within shared assumptions while taking his place in society.
10     "Politeness is no constraint, precisely because the manners.., are no ’code’ but a language, rich, flexible, restrained and infinitely subtle."
11     For Anthony O’Hear, professor of philosophy at the University of Bradford, manners are closely associated with the different forms of behavior appropriate to age and status. They curb both the impetuosity of youth and the bitterness of old age.
12     Egalitarianism, he says, has led to people failing to act their age.  "We have vice- chancellors with earrings, aristocrats as hippies... the trendy vicar on his motorbike."
13     Dr. Athena Leoussi, sociology lecturer at Reading University, bemoans the deliberate neglect by people of their sartorial appearance.
14     Dress, she says, is the outward expression of attitudes and aspirations. The ubiquitousness of jeans "displays a utilitarian attitude" that has "led to the cultural impoverishment of everyday life".
15     Dr. Leoussi says that while clothes used to be seen as a means of concealing taboo forces of sexuality and violence, certain fashions — such as leather jackets — have the opposite effect.
16     Dr. Bruce Charlton, a lecturer in public health medicine in Newcastle upon Tyne, takes issue with the excessive informality of relations between professionals such as doctors and bank managers, and their clients.  He says this has eroded the distance and respect necessary in such relationships. For Tristam Engelhardt, professor of medicine in Houston, Texas, says manners are bound to morals.
17     "Manners express a particular set of values," he says, "Good manners interpret and transform social reality. They provide social orientation."
选项 A、it leads to more crime in society.
B、people view manners as old-fashioned.
C、rudeness on the street cannot be stemmed out.
D、it can seriously affect our daily life.
答案D
解析 <1>traditional code传统道德准则或规范
<2>think-tank智囊团，思想库
<3>loutish乡下气的，粗鲁的
<4>When people lament the disintegration of law and order，he argues，what they generally mean is order，as manifested by courteous forms of social contact．  当人们为法规和秩序的分离而惋惜时，他们通常惋惜的是秩序(的失去)，如同各种礼貌形式的社会交往所体现的那样。
<5>The book...charts what it calls the "coarsening"，of Britain．该书描述了所谓英国的“粗糙化”。
<6>poise使平衡，使平稳
<7>the imbecile parasite and the villainous one低能的寄生虫和凶恶的寄生虫
<8>toff纨绔子弟，花花公子，有钱人
<9>stock-in-trade手法，伎俩，办法
<10>impetuosity急躁，狂暴，狂热
<11>trendy时髦的
<12>sartorial裁缝的，缝纫的
<13>ubiquitousness无处不在
<14>utilitarian有效用的，实用的，功利主义的

此题为细节理解题。据第3段两句可知。一方面，the decline of good manners使日常生活不安定、不可预知、不愉快；另一方面，人们每天都会碰到这些不愉快的事，故D。
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