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
"ILL Fares the Land" is poignant and arresting, both for who wrote it and for what it says. Its author, a British 20th-century h
"ILL Fares the Land" is poignant and arresting, both for who wrote it and for what it says. Its author, a British 20th-century h
admin
2012-12-30
66
问题
"ILL Fares the Land" is poignant and arresting, both for who wrote it and for what it says. Its author, a British 20th-century historian at New York University, is dying of motor-neurone disease that has robbed him of movement and will soon rob him of speech. He dictated this cri de coeur about the need for social democracy to an amanuensis.
Social democracy, which Tony Judt calls "the prose of European politics", is what Americans call liberalism. Though wounded as a theory, it limps on under assumed names as the practice of government on both sides of the Atlantic for want of credible alternatives. As an idealist, Mr. Judt hopes for a revived social democracy that will again speak its name. As a realist, he recognises that it may be grievously, even terminally vulnerable.
He writes, he says, for the young, who have to deal with the mess he believes his own generation has made of Western society. He scolds it for letting inequalities grow. Not everyone will like the tone, although such charges are today harder to brush off than in the boom years. Preaching aside, his key point is sound:neither right nor left has any longer a plausible story to tell about the state.
Whichever label you use, liberalism or social democracy was the bipartisan outlook that underpinned American and European politics for 30 years after 1945. It achieved a balance between market and state. It oversaw a fruitful truce between business and labour that produced a golden period for capitalism with benefits all round.Then came stagflation, taxpayer revolts, fiscal crisis and a triumphant revival of free-market ideas. For the next 30 years, a new shrink-the-state "paradigm" ruled, with its own promise of open horizons and benefits all round. Now weakened and indebted governments are counted on for handouts from every side, banks and businesses included. Nobody is sure what to believe.
Though many will agree with that diagnosis, Mr. Judt himself is hesitant about the cure. Ideally he wants another post-1945 social compact. But he is too aware of the internal conditions that made it possible—economic depression, sacrifice in war, the totalitarian shadow—to think it restorable on the earlier terms. The external conditions have changed utterly as well. The West has lost economic eminence. Increasingly social democracy must borrow from foreigners to pay for itself. That cannot last.
The future is not inevitably bleak for the Euro-American way. As the rest of the world grows richer, perhaps it too will see the benefits of a compact that, for those lucky enough to enjoy it, struck a unique balance between economic growth, social equity and personal freedom. Then again, perhaps not, he says. Mr. Judt explores neither possibility in depth, ending instead with an eye cast back to the past century. How easily, he reminds readers, stable-looking societies can totter. His final case for social democracy is a "show-me-a-better-foxhole" plea. Nothing else looks more desirable. Without it, much that Western people value may be lost. "If social democracy has a future, " Mr. Judt concludes, "it will be as a social democracy of fear."
Which of the following statements about social democracy is INCORRECT?
选项
A、People didn’t know what to follow in the past 30 years.
B、It once boosted the development of the Western countries.
C、Liberalism was replaced due to the economic depression.
D、American and European governments failed to keep their promises.
答案
A
解析
细节题。根据试题顺序定位至第四段。最后两句指出“Now weakened and indebted govern.ments are counted on for handouts from every side,banks and businesses included.Nobody is surewhat to believe.”,此处是说人们现在感到无所适从,而[人]时态指过去,与原文矛盾,故为答案。
转载请注明原文地址:https://kaotiyun.com/show/R8aO777K
0
专业英语八级
相关试题推荐
Patents,saidThomasJefferson,shoulddraw"alinebetweenthethingswhichareworthtothepublictheembarrassmentofanexc
AmericanIndianMovement(AIM)isanorganizationdevotedtopromotingculturalawarenessandpoliticalself-determinationforN
Teachersandotherspecialistsinearlychildhoodeducationrecognizethatchildrendevelopatdifferentrates.Givenanythingt
A、askthepatientabouthisexpectationfirstB、askthepatientabouthispastexperiencewithcancerfirstC、tellthepatientd
A、Theytrytohelpcancerpatientsovercomefright.B、Theyhelpdoctorsbecomesensitivetopatients’feelings.C、Theyhavebeen
TheEnglisharemainlydescendantsof______,whowereagroupofpeoplethatoccupiedlandsstretchingfromtheBritishIslest
Teachersandotherspecialistsinearlychildhoodeducationrecognizethatchildrendevelopatdifferentrates.Givenanythingt
Physicalfitnessistheresultofmanyfactors—goodmedicalcare,propernutrition,adequaterestandrelaxation,andsensiblep
TheGreatDepressionof______to______shooktheU.S.andthewholecapitalistworldtoitsfoundations.
朋友关系的存续是以相互尊重为前提的,容不得半点强求、干涉和控制。朋友之间,情趣相投、脾气对味则合、则交;反之,则离、则绝。朋友之间要熟悉、再亲密,也不能随便过头、不恭不敬。不然,默契和平衡将被打破,友好关系将不复存在。每个人都希望拥有自己的私密空间,朋友之
随机试题
定时限压持续气流型呼吸机适合于
下列选项中,属于产品责任的承担方式的有()。
在茶艺演示冲泡茶叶过程中基本程序是:备器、煮水、备茶、温壶(杯)、置茶、()、奉茶、收具。
中国新民主主义革命理论最基本的内容是()。
甲公司与乙公司签订了一份手机买卖合同,约定:甲公司供给乙公司某型号手机1,000部,每部单价1,000元,乙公司支付定金30万元,任何一方违约应向对方支付合同总价款30%的违约金。合同签订后.乙公司向甲公司支付了30万元定金.并将该批手机转售给丙公司,每部
下列关于房产图的表述中,正确的有()。
根据是否考虑资金时间价值,盈亏平衡分析可分为()。
在等腰三角形、平行四边形、椭圆和抛物线四个图形中,是中心对称图形的有()。
所有的灰狼都是狼。这一断定显然是真的。因此,所有的疑似SARS病例都是SARS病例,这一断定也是真的。以下哪项最为恰当地指出了题干论证的漏洞?
【B1】【B18】
最新回复
(
0
)