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
Once shame was a very British emotion. It governed people’s lives long after stocks and ducking stools were abolished. Shakespea
Once shame was a very British emotion. It governed people’s lives long after stocks and ducking stools were abolished. Shakespea
admin
2017-12-31
34
问题
Once shame was a very British emotion. It governed people’s lives long after stocks and ducking stools were abolished. Shakespeare mentions it 344 times in his plays: guilt, a far more personal emotion, is used a mere 33 times. Society expected people to behave in a certain way and if they didn’t conform they were humiliated. By the 20th century it had became a highly negative force associated with cultural and sexual dictatorship and moral smugness. Carl Jung called it a "soul-eating emotion". It kept people in check in a way that in itself is now embarrassing. Alan Turing, shamed for committing homosexual acts, committed suicide. Single mothers were ostracised and sometimes incarcerated, their "bastard" children stigmatised. The poor house was a humiliation. The benefits system, when it was established, worked on shame.
Bringing shame on one’s family was even worse than ruining one’s own reputation. The Times story yesterday of mothers who ring the police when their children misbehave could never have happened 50 years ago, when parents saw it as their duty to keep children under control. Men were expected to provide and women to keep their homes pristine or the neighbours would condemn you as slovenly. The same occurred in public life and the professions. Politicians resigned if they were caught misbehaving. A dishonest banker might no longer be sent to the pillory with dough on his head but would be cast out by his peers. There was little room for redemption.
It is easy to see why the British abandoned shame during the latter part of the last century. It was corrosive and pernicious, a social straitjacket. Shameless instead became the new way to live. It was funny when Frank Gallagher in the Channel 4 sitcom promised: "I’ll always be there for you. As long as I’m collecting your benefits. " Fiddling the system was fine. Benefit claimants did it, as did bankers who saw no harm in flaunting their bonuses before and after being bailed out by the taxpayer. Gordon Brown’s elusive "moral compass" sounded outdated. Tony Blair seemed more in tune, refusing to be ashamed as did many MPs caught in the expenses scandal.
But shame’s now back with a vengeance. This month two books have been published about it. So You’ve Been Publicly Shamed, by Jon Ronson, shows how shame is a driving force online. Cyber-lynchings ruin the lives of often naive men and women who don’t deserve international opprobrium for their mildly offensive tweet. The American environmentalist Jennifer Jacquet argues in Is Shame Necessary? that we need to rediscover shame to keep corporations and unscrupulous individuals in check. So do we want to welcome shame back? Not on the Internet. I recently met Monica Lewinsky, one of the first people to be humiliated on the world wide web 20 years ago. The former White House intern was charming, gracious and clever but her experience had been scarring. Her only crime was, at the age of 18, to have been seduced by Bill Clinton, yet she was hounded and bullied mercilessly by those assuming spurious moral superiority.
In his book Ronson outlines a series of victims who have been put in the Internet stocks and pounded with virtual rotten vegetables. "A life had been ruined," he writes of one woman whose sarcastic tweet to friends "Going to Africa. Hope I don’t get Aids. Just kidding. I’m white!" cost her her job after a Twitter storm of protest. "What was it for: just some social media drama?" he asks. It was done for amusement, to belittle someone, watch them lose their job, and feel momentarily righteous. It’s a return to the medieval days of shaming as entertainment. In fact forcing lawbreakers to wear placards round their necks in reality or cyberspace is distinctly un-British. Worst of all is when the cybervictims have done nothing wrong but are vilified not, as they once were, for being gay or illegitimate, but for having cellulite or grey roots.
But there is a need for some shame. Look at some of the corporations that evade paying tax. They appear to feel no embarrassment. And those who, at the other end of the income scale, who take pride in gaming the benefits system. But, as Jacquet writes, the mere threat of identifying and shaming someone can be effective. For many years, California state authorities have publicly listed the 500 wealthiest people who don’t pay their taxes, which has helped it to retrieve $ 395 million in back payments.
Britain needs to differentiate between good and bad shame. Individuals should rarely be singled out, especially if they have not yet been tried for any alleged crime. The paedophile witch hunts against elderly men, tacitly encouraged by some in the police, can destroy lives before a trial. But the guilty -whether individuals or corporations—should feel shame. As Jonathan Swift said: "I never wonder to see men wicked, but I often wonder to see them not ashamed. "
When Jonathan Swift said ". . . but I often wonder to see them not shamed"(para. 7), he implied that______.
选项
A、the wicked people should be sentenced for their guilty behaviour
B、the guilty people should feel shame for what they had committed
C、the guilty people never know the difference between good and bad shame
D、the wicked people have never learnt to express shame for their wrong doings
答案
B
解析
转载请注明原文地址:https://kaotiyun.com/show/lvSO777K
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
上个世纪70年代末,我参加了第四次全国文代会,大会上小平同志致辞时获得的长时间的热烈掌声给我留下了极深的印象。这次大会是文艺界经历十年浩劫后的第一次盛会,也是小平同志复出后第一次代表党中央、国务院同广大文艺工作者见面。1960年的第三次文代会后,
Manyyoungpeopledoubtthattheirdreamsforthegoodlifecouldevercometrue.
Accordingtothepassage,whathasmadeAmerica’ssystemofhighereducationagreatsuccess?
A、Bankinginstitutions.B、Run-downbranches.C、Chineserestaurants.D、Souvenirshops.A理解重要短语的含义,有助于正确理解句义,并作出正确推断。本题原文使用短语every
A、Theystressthepracticalvalueofthethingstheysell.B、Theytrytoimprovethequalityofthethingstheysell.C、Theystr
Whyarehackersneededinscience?
Itlooksunlikelythatmedicalsciencewillabolishtheprocessofageing.Butitnolongerlooksimpossible."Inthelongr
Thecentralideaofcellphonesisthatyoushouldbeconnectedtoalmosteveryoneandeverythingatalltimes.Thetroubleist
OnSaturdaymorningsIworkedinthefamilyshop.IstartedcyclingdowntotheshopwithDadonSaturdayassoonasIwasbige
A、692million.B、25.25billion.C、330million.D、358million.A
随机试题
A.血、尿、大便常规检查B.病理检查C.内镜检查D.影像学检查E.肿瘤标志物直接观察肿瘤
甲公司和乙公司都是上市公司;甲公司为了开拓业务需要,欲通过证券交易所交易对乙公司进行收购。下列说法正确的是:()
背景由某企业承建某多功能现代化商务综合大厦,地上46层,地下3层,全现浇钢筋混凝土框架一剪力墙结构,主体结构采用泵送混凝土等新技术。建筑物周边都十分接近规划用地红线,周边建筑及地下管线对因工程基坑开挖引起地层变形移动影响十分敏感,且基坑北面邻近地铁。该工
我A公司于某年7月15日收到欧洲某国B公司发盘:“马口铁500公吨,每公吨545美元CFR青岛,9月份装运,即期信用证付款,限20日复到有效。”我方于16日复电:“若单价为500美元CFR青岛,可接受500公吨马口铁。履约中若有争议,在中国仲裁。”B公司当
上市公司的盈利性会影响股价变动,而衡量盈利性最常用的指标包括()。Ⅰ.销售收益率Ⅱ.每股收益Ⅲ.净资产收益率Ⅳ.资产周转率
商业银行组织架构是银行(包括一切机构和部门)按照一定的()组成的一个有机系统。
甲公司为了开发新的项目,急需筹资20000万元,甲公司拟采取发行附带认股权证债券的方式筹资并初拟了筹资方案,相关资料如下:(1)发行10年期附认股权证债券20万份,每份债券面值为1000元,票面利率为6%,每年年末付息一次,到期还本。债券按面值发行,
著作权法保护的作品包括()。
写实绘画雅俗共赏,亦容易出现弊端。种种弊端正在败坏中国还没有成熟的艺术市场。反过来,不成熟的艺术市场与不重视绘画审美的收藏机构又混乱了艺术的真价值。某些肤浅媚俗、苍白琐碎的作品亵渎了写实绘画的学术名声,某些概念化符号化的简单形象泛化了写实绘画的学术价值和精
Directions:Forthispart,youareallowed30minutestowriteashortessayentitledOnDialects.Youshouldincludeinyoures
最新回复
(
0
)