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
Nobody has a good word for apathy. Arnold Toynbee, a historian, thought it defined the penultimate stage of decadence. Civilisat
Nobody has a good word for apathy. Arnold Toynbee, a historian, thought it defined the penultimate stage of decadence. Civilisat
admin
2017-03-15
82
问题
Nobody has a good word for apathy. Arnold Toynbee, a historian, thought it defined the penultimate stage of decadence. Civilisations proceed, he said, from bondage to spiritual faith; from spiritual faith to courage; from courage to liberty; from liberty to abundance; from abundance to selfishness; from selfishness to apathy; from apathy to dependency; and from dependency back to bondage. Apathy is also anti-democratic: democracy requires the informed consent of the governed, and will not last if voters can’t be bothered.
Europe’s leaders also fret that apathy is anti-European. Popular indifference, they fear, leaves the European Union’s institutions vulnerable to the gusts of popular indignation. Their worry is understandable. The polling evidence, for what it is worth, shows that people who say they know a lot about the EU tend to support it. Those who know nothing and care less tend to be Eurosceptics. So governments and public institutions naturally seek to combat Euro-apathy as much as they can: by public-relations campaigns, by exhortations that Europe must dream (Jacques Delors’s admonition against indifference)—or by stunts such as last weekend’s birthday bash in Berlin to mark the 50th anniversary of the EU’s founding Treaty of Rome.
If apathy were indeed a threat to European integration, there would seem to be much reason to worry. Apathy is lolling about everywhere. Voter turnout has fallen in every election to the European Parliament since the institution was created. In the most recent one, in 2004, it slumped below 50%—a lower rate than India’s parliamentary polls. The gap between turnout in national elections and in European ones is widening, so the problem seems especially acute for the EU.
Britain’s Prime Minister, Tony Blair, has a website where people can file online petitions. It is an unscientific measure of popular concerns, but intriguing nonetheless. A recent petition asking Britain to hold a referendum on any EU constitution got a few thousand electronic signatures. One opposing road pricing got a few million.
It is hard to measure degrees of apathy non-anecdotally because people tend to react badly to polling questions such as "Do you care two hoots about the EU?" But lack of knowledge might be taken as a proxy for lack of concern. Here too the evidence is discouraging. Some three-quarters of Europeans, asked to rate their own knowledge of the EU, say it is modest or non-existent, and this share is rising, not falling.
Yet is it really true that apathy is an obstacle to European integration? A certain amount of apathy is understandable, perhaps inevitable. The EU’s institutions are remote and deliberately complex (deliberately in the sense that they seek to balance pan-European decision-making with national checks and balances). Most voters have no idea who represents them in the European Parliament and would not recognise a European commissioner if one turned up on their doorstep.
There are also reasons why apathy might have grown. Historically, the term entered common use after the First World War, when it was associated with shell-shock and depression. The EU is suffering from the bombshell when French and Dutch voters rejected the draft constitution in 2005. It can also be argued that economic sluggishness and high unemployment (at least until the current recovery) have led to a continent-wide depression.
More important, apathy has its compensations, especially for Europhiles. Without it, European integration would not have gone as far as it has. There was almost no debate about the content of the constitution in the referendum campaigns in Spain or Luxembourg, which approved it by wide margins. The voters who looked most closely at the text were in France and the Netherlands. Similarly, Britain debated the merits of the single currency more extensively than any other country. But Britain stayed out, while others adopted it without discussion.
European integration can proceed without popular enthusiasm because of its character: the EU has a large regulatory component and much integration proceeds through rules-based co-operation. Rules and technical standards are peculiarly unsuited to mobilising popular opinion, whether for or against.
Most people are content to leave them to experts. Integration by regulation proceeds under the voters’ indifferent gaze. In that sense, apathy is the Europhiles’ best friend.
Angela Merkel, the German chancellor, has learned this lesson. The "Berlin declaration" to mark the 50th birthday was written in secret and signed only by the EU’s own representatives: Ms. Merkel as holder of the EU presidency and the heads of the European Commission and Parliament. It seems likely that any revised constitutional treaty- will also be cooked up in semi-secret, with the aim of ratification by national parliaments, not referendums. Let sleeping voters lie.
But there is a further manifestation of apathy to consider: a behavioural condition associated with it, known as "learned helplessness". In 1965 a psychologist, Martin Seligman, subjected two groups of dogs to electric shocks. The first group could end the punishment by pressing a lever. These dogs recovered quickly; in a subsequent experiment, they learned to avoid further shocks by jumping a low wall. The second group had a lever that did nothing. They became apathetic and in the subsequent experiment simply cowered on the electrified floor, unable to escape the shocks. They had "learned helplessness".
In Europe, the treaties of Maastricht and Nice were rejected by Danish and Irish voters, only to be largely implemented later. If the constitution is successfully revived—a big if—it would continue this pattern. Some EU leaders may hope that, if they do this often enough, apathetic voters will learn that they are helpless to stop further integration, even when they want to.
What lesson does Angela Merkel, the German chancellor, learn?
选项
答案
European integration can proceed without popular enthusiasm because of its character. EU has a large regulatory component and rules-based co-operation. Rules and technical standards unsuited to mobilising popular opinion. Integration by regulation proceeds under the voters’ indifferent gaze.
解析
转载请注明原文地址:https://kaotiyun.com/show/ffSO777K
本试题收录于:
NAETI高级口译笔试题库外语翻译证书(NAETI)分类
0
NAETI高级口译笔试
外语翻译证书(NAETI)
相关试题推荐
Sleephasoftenbeenthoughtofasbeinginsomewayanalogoustodeath.
ItwaseventuallytobeovertakenbyanewschoolofthoughtknownasFunctionalismthathadbeenpresentsincetheturnofthe
Thehistorianmayhopethatlaboratoriesmayhavehadcapaciouscupboardsintowhichunusedpieceshavebeenstuffedandthuspr
中国的对外开放是“引进来”与“走出去”相结合的对外开放。中国政府在鼓励外商来华投资的同时,支持并鼓励有实力的中国企业到海外投资。在中国政府的大力推进下,近年来,中国企业实施“走出去”战略实现了较大跨越。截至2006年底,中国企业在160多个国家和地区投资设
旅游是一项集观光、娱乐、健身为一体的愉快而美好的活动。旅游业随着时代进步而不断进步。从20世纪中期起,现代旅游业在全世界迅速发展。游客人数不断增长,旅游业规模持续扩大,旅游经济地位显著提升,旅游活动愈益成为各国人民交流文化、增进友谊、扩大交往的重
如果你认为多媒体只是可以在家中单独享用的东西,你应该再想一想。银行处在“信息高速公路”的前沿,因为它们对这种技术比任何其他类型的民用企业投资更多。以资产在美国银行中排列第四的摩根公司为例。它开发了一种系统,借助一支电子笔就能在计算机屏幕上快速完成
AIDSisoneofthemaindeadlydiseasesaffectingpeoplearoundtheworld.
A、IwillbuildabranchinBelgiumwiththeboardadvisors.B、IhavedeterminedthatMr.Johnson’splanshouldbeadopted.C、Mr.
WhenDanaHaleadoptedhersonfouryearsago,shesaysshehadto"playhardball"withherbosstogetthesamepaidleavegran
ThestylethatUrreahasadoptedtotellTeresita’s—andMexico’s—storyinhisbook"TheHummingbird’sDaughter"partakesoft
随机试题
根据()对象和应用范围的不同,生产测井方法可分为生产动态测井、产层评价测井和工程技术测井三大类。
在高温高压系统的法兰或换热器的连接中,螺栓的材质可以选为()。
胆道蛔虫病除剑突下阵发性绞痛外,还常伴有
近年国务院制定了我国十大产业振兴规划。下列选项中未被纳人的行业有()。
岩石质量指标(RQD)是指回次钻进所取岩芯中,()的比值。
证券公司应向()报送年度报告。Ⅰ.中国证监会Ⅱ.公司住所地的中国证监会派出机构Ⅲ.中国证券业协会Ⅳ.中国证券登记结算公司
著名历史学家费正清在《伟大的中国革命》中描绘了这样一个农民形象:“…普通农民大概一半是自耕农,一半兼做佃农。不管怎样,他和他的家人在相隔不远的三四块田地里劳动,带着锄头和镰刀来来回回,主要为他们自己的生存干活……还可以种点卖钱的作物。”这反映了自耕农(
简述性格的特征差异。
离开北京前的夜晚,_______打算走一整条环线,看要用多长时间。在复兴门上车的时候,人流呼啦啦涌上去,进去以后才发现其实还有好些空间可以站立——一但,也许有个座位对许多人来说是件重要事情吧。列车猛然停住时,我________着下意识地揪住了面前某个陌生男
在VisualFoxPro的表中,如果要用一个字段来存放图形、电子表格、声音等多媒体数据,应将该字段的类型定义成______。
最新回复
(
0
)