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
(1)Last Friday morning, Britain awoke to the devastation of war. The destruction came not in villages leveled and lives destroye
(1)Last Friday morning, Britain awoke to the devastation of war. The destruction came not in villages leveled and lives destroye
admin
2021-08-05
42
问题
(1)Last Friday morning, Britain awoke to the devastation of war. The destruction came not in villages leveled and lives destroyed, but in me annihilation of a political party. Though Labour still retains control of Parliament, Tony Blair’s party was reduced to a smoking ruin in nationwide council elections.
(2)It’s a sorry end for Mr. Blair, who says he’s ready to step down after a decade as prime minister. The man who re-invented me socialist Labour Party into a modern, third-way political dynamo now sees the Iraq war dismantling one of the most formidable political machines in British history.
(3)When anger fades and regret settles in, historians will judge the Iraq war a tragedy of Shakespearean proportions. Blair is not the first leader to disregard the complicated political history of the Middle East, but Britons expected better of tins deeply intelligent man. Despite all the evidence of perfidy, he seems to have had a noble purpose, but that makes his failure all the more tragic. He believed that Britain, because of its historical status, was duty-bound to intervene and that it was uniquely placed to act as a moderating influence on President Bush. Mr. Bush, however, was immune to moderation. British statecraft was crushed by American adventurism.
(4)The Iraq fiasco muddles the assessment of Blair’s otherwise enormously successful prime ministership. Without the war, Labour would still dominate the polls, and the fate of the Tory Party leader David Cameron would look painfully similar to that of his three hapless predecessors. The past 10 years have brought genuine Labour dominance, and the Tories no longer seem to be the natural party of government.
(5)That achievement will in time come to dwarf the Iraq debacle. The Blair decade will rightly be seen as a revolution in British politics more profound and long-lasting than that of Margaret Thatcher. When I came to Britain in 1980, Ms. Thatcher had cleaved the country, dividing the population into "them" and "us". Politics was a ritual of identity, an expression of antagonism. One knew whom to hate by the sound of their accent.
(6)Today, thanks to Blair, issues are blurred, labels largely irrelevant. Class and party lines are no longer precisely drawn. Tory politicians pretend to be progressive, while Labour promotes illiberal policies such as electronic tagging. The word "socialism" is hardly ever used, certainly never with sincerity.
(7)Thatcher dominated politics in the 1980s by turning acrimony into advantage. She did not seem to mind that more than half the nation hated her. Blair’s domination was entirely different. Like Thatcher, he appeared invincible, yet, unlike her, few cared. The most remarkable feature of the Blair years was the absence of strife. Blair was a consensus politician, the best Britain has ever seen. He removed the dogmatism from politics; he erased the party line.
(8)Consensus came at the cost of ideology. Government today is based not on beliefs, but on short-term considerations of political prudence. Today, British politics is often a case of "may the best cynic win."
(9)Before Blair, the British electoral system forced Labour to be inclusive; in order to have any possibility of governing, it had to embrace socialists, workers, and middle-class liberals. Though a broad church, it always had devout believers. Fervent values restricted the party’s success.
(10)While the Tories knew how to trim their policies to the political wind, Labour was anchored by principle. There were too many party members addicted to the purity of a lost cause—be it socialism or unilateral nuclear disarmament; Blair cured Labour of the "curse" of principle. In his quest, he benefited immensely from the demise of liberalism and the discrediting of socialism across the Western world.
(11)His longevity as leader owed much to the fact that he was not burdened by sacred truths. Nor, it seems, were the British people. As the Blair decade has demonstrated, a people who believe in nothing are immensely easy to govern. And what of the future? Blair will soon hand off to Gordon Brown, his long-serving chancellor of the exchequer, who inherits a party in ruins. Despite his prominence, Mr. Brown remains a mystery man. He is said to have opposed the Iraq intervention.
(12)Do not, however, bet on the rebirth of ideology in Britain. Brown’s success will be determined largely by his willingness to abandon principle. In years to come, historians will argue whether Blair was an architect of destiny or a floater on the tide of circumstance. History students will assess his credentials as a great man. No one, however, will doubt his status as a harbinger of an age when ideology is nothing and power everything.
Which of the following is NOT the impression Blair has given to the public?
选项
A、Intelligent.
B、Successful.
C、Competent.
D、Progressive.
答案
D
解析
第6段第3句提到,正当保守党政客们故作进步之时,工党却推行诸如电子跟踪之类的狭隘政策,说明布莱尔并未留下“进步”形象,故选D。第6、7段提到,布莱尔采取了与撒切尔夫人不同的方法称雄政坛,表现出睿智和能干;第5段第2句提到,布莱尔执政的10年被视为比撒切尔夫人更深层次、影响时间更长的政治革命,说明布莱尔给人留下了成功的印象,故A、B、C均不能选。
转载请注明原文地址:https://kaotiyun.com/show/yWIK777K
0
专业英语八级
相关试题推荐
Forcountlesstimesinhistory,peoplehaveexploredtherelationshipbetweenscienceandclassics.Thepioneersoftheteachin
Forcountlesstimesinhistory,peoplehaveexploredtherelationshipbetweenscienceandclassics.Thepioneersoftheteachin
Ineveryeconomicsystem,entrepreneursandmanagersbringtogethernaturalresources,labor,andtechnologytoproduceanddi
Technologiescollapsethedistancebetweenadesireanditsfulfillmentbyreducingeitherthetimeortheeffortinvolved.Thi
Technologiescollapsethedistancebetweenadesireanditsfulfillmentbyreducingeitherthetimeortheeffortinvolved.Thi
WhydosomanyAmericansdistrustwhattheyreadintheirnewspapers?TheAmericanSocietyofNewspaperEditorsistryingtoa
Miserymaylovecompany,butthiswasridiculous.MorethanamillionIBMstockholderslastweektookanightmarerideonasto
AlongtimeaidetoPresidentBushwhowroteoccasionalguestcolumnsforhishometownnewspaperresignedonFridayeveningafte
AlongtimeaidetoPresidentBushwhowroteoccasionalguestcolumnsforhishometownnewspaperresignedonFridayeveningafte
(1)OnJuly7th,IwastravelinginLondon.IwashavingbreakfastatahotelverynearLiverpoolStreetStationwhenthefirste
随机试题
患者,男性,60岁,既往无便秘习惯,近1个月排便不畅,2天前腹痛、腹胀,停止排气、排便,腹X线平片检查示回肠气液平面。查体:腹膨隆,无明显压痛、反跳痛及肌紧张。该患者最可能的诊断为
A、聚乙烯醇B、大豆磷脂C、单硬脂酸甘油酯D、无毒聚氯乙烯E、丙烯酸树脂Ⅳ号制各不溶性骨架片
正常生理条件下,乳牙在口腔内存在时间最长者可达
某火力发电厂装机容量为2×600Mw,通过4回220kV线路与主网相联,主设备参数如下表所列,其电气主接线如下图所示。关于该电厂220kV断路器重合闸的表述中,()是正确的。
“申报日期”栏应填()。“运费”栏应填()。
“人的天赋就像火花,它既可以熄灭,也可以燃烧起来。而逼使它燃烧成熊熊大火的方法只有一个,就是劳动,再劳动。”从人生价值观的角度来看,高尔基的这句至理名言强调的是()。
下列有关军事武器及其作用的描述,错误的一项是()。
害虫天敌的存在,调节着动植物的数量,是保持生态平衡的一种自然控制力。人们利用天敌昆虫防治农作物病虫害,大面积提高农作物产量。这种做法说明()。
Terryboastedthathecouldfinishtheprojectbyhimselfinnotime.
EveryonecomplainsthatcorporateAmericais【C1】______tohireadditionalworkers.Far【C2】______attentionhasbeenpaidtothefl
最新回复
(
0
)