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
Things You Can’t Say in Canada A) Attacking our sacred cows (things or people that cannot be criticized) may turn you into o
Things You Can’t Say in Canada A) Attacking our sacred cows (things or people that cannot be criticized) may turn you into o
admin
2016-10-07
45
问题
Things You Can’t Say in Canada
A) Attacking our sacred cows (things or people that cannot be criticized) may turn you into one looked down upon by all others—but it can also be a lot of fun. Every culture has its unacknowledged taboos—the things you are forbidden to say or do in polite company, the accepted truths you are not allowed to doubt. You might think that a liberal, open-minded country like Canada would be free of such taboos, but you’d be wrong. In spite of our belief in our own civilized tolerance, some things are simply not open to debate. If you try, you’re bound to shock the neighbors.
B) It’s risky to question the wisdom of the tribe. You might get stoned. On the other hand, some people might walk secretly up to you afterwards and tell you that they secretly agree. So here’s a challenge to a few of our nation’s most widely held beliefs. You say these things in public at your own danger. I will be elaborating on these points over the months to come. Feel free to stone me or secretly agree—or, even better, add to the list. At the very least, they’re sure to start a good dinner-party fight.
C) Margaret Atwood writes some really awful books. The queen of Canadian literature dominates the literary world like a giant. Nobody has won more awards than she has, and nobody is more feared. There is no such a thing as a bad review of a Margaret Atwood book in Canada That’s too bad, because many of her books are tedious and unreadable, full of unpleasant characters and plot filled with torture. Why will no one say so? Because we’re grateful that she has put us on the global map. And because if they do, they’ll never work in this country again.
D) Recycling is a waste of time and money. Once upon a time it was easy to put out the trash. Today, the Garbage Gestapo rules our lives. Every household has become a mini version of the village dump, and every one of us has become a garbage picker, carefully separating our organic waste from our bottles and papers, and worrying about where our different kinds of garbage are supposed to go. Don’t try to sort a wine bottle into the wrong bag! The trash police will punish you. The truth about recycling is that it’s a giant waste of dollars and doesn’t help the environment. But don’t tell your kids. They won’t believe you. They’ve been brainwashed.
E) Only private enterprise can save public health care. Tommy Douglas, the CBC’s Greatest Canadian, brought us universal health care. But even his plan didn’t originally pay for everybody’s minor diseases, such as ingrown toenails. His primary goal was to make sure nobody faced financial ruin if they got sick. Today we have a system where controlling costs is more important than treating patients, and where ideology is disabling us. In some places, including Toronto, people go blind waiting for cataract (白内障) surgery. The government could restore their sight tomorrow simply by sending them to a private clinic instead of to a hospital. The cost to the government would be exactly the same. But in Canada, "private" is a dirty word, and so the government would rather you go blind. Poor Tommy would be spinning in his grave.
F) David Suzuki is bad for the environment. From global warming to farmed salmon and genetically modified crops, David Suzuki has just one message: The end is near. He is our homegrown prophet of doom, who can predict what will happen in the future. He advocates the essential wickedness of the human race. Like a modern Savonarola, he warns that unless we cast our material possessions into the bonfire, we’re all going to hell. The trouble with this predicting vision is that people are starting to isolate from the environment. And our hugely expensive investment in the unworkable Kyoto treaty, which Mr. Suzuki tells us doesn’t go nearly far enough, will wipe out more practical measures to cut smog and clean up our waste sites.
G) A national daycare program won’t do a thing to help poor kids. Cheap national daycare! Who could be against it? It’s supposed to give kids a better start in life, and nobody can object to that. But in Quebec, where the program started, universal daycare has turned out to be nothing more than a giant (and extremely costly) subsidy for relatively well-off middle-class parents. Few poor parents use the system. No doubt convenient daycare is a gift sent by god for many people. But so far there is no definitive evidence that kids who go to daycare go on to do better in school or in life. So if we want to invest billions in helping kids, why are we spending it on the kids who need help the least?
H) Group of Seven artists are overexposed genre (类型) painters. I like A.Y. Jackson as much as you do. His paintings remind me of when I went to summer camp. I grew up with a reproduction of The West Wind hanging in our living room. (That was by Tom Thomson, who wasn’t really a member of Group of Seven, but never mind.) Group of Seven were the first artists to depict the wild Canadian landscape, and they were bold young rebels in their time. But that time was 80 years ago. Today their work is the essence of bourgeois picture-postcard art—the kind of art it’s safe to take your mother to see. Enough, already. Maybe it’s time we moved on.
I) The United States is the greatest force for ever the world has ever known. Of all the shocking things you can say around the dinner table, this is the most shocking one. After all, America-criticizing is part of our national identity. At best, we see our neighbor as a well-intentioned but arrogant and wrong-doing bully (欺负弱小者) that throws its weight around too much. At worst, we see our neighbor as one of the most evil nations in the world. And yet, right now, hundreds of millions of people in desperately poor parts of the world are being liberated from millennia of suffering and serfdom. Why? Because of the United States, which has spread its idea of economic freedom—and its purchasing power—around the world.
David Suzuki believes that "the end is near", and he is regarded as a local prophet of doom.
选项
答案
F
解析
根据题目中的David Suzuki和the end is near定位到F段。该段第2句的one message里的信息同题目中他认为的内容一致,故可判断题目信息来源于F段。
转载请注明原文地址:https://jikaoti.com/ti/54pFFFFM
0
大学英语四级
相关试题推荐
UniversitiesBranchOutA)Asneverbeforeintheirlonghistory,universitieshavebecomeinstrumentsofnationalcompetitionas
ThefloodofwomenintothejobmarketboostedeconomicgrowthandchangedUSsocietyinmanyways.Manyin-homejobsthatused
Livinginatimewhenanever-increasingnumberofnewsproviderspushaconstantstreamofheadlinesatuseveryday,peopleca
Shouldgirlsgotoschoolonlywithothergirls?Isitbetterforboystoattendallboys’schools?Educatorsatschoolforgirl
Asmoredatafromaroundtheworldemergesandnewgenerationsofworkersseektoliveanddowellatonce,investmentsinyoung
Businessesarestructuredindifferentwaystomeetdifferentneeds.The【B1】______formofbusinessiscalledanindividualorso
AuniquelaboratoryattheUniversityofChicagoisbusyonlyatnight.Itisadreamlaboratorywhereresearchersareatworks
Politicsisanemotionalbusiness.Still,manypeoplefoundthemselvesunusuallymovedbythehistoricpresidentialinauguration
Politicsisanemotionalbusiness.Still,manypeoplefoundthemselvesunusuallymovedbythehistoricpresidentialinauguration
A、Ithelpsstudentsexploretheirhobbies.B、Itprovidesstudentswithopportunitiestodofieldpractice.C、Itoffersposition
随机试题
抗日战争时期,中国共产党开展延安整风运动最主要的任务是()
关于水利水电工程施工分包,下列说法中正确的是()。
混凝土拌合物的和易性通常包括()。
甲公司委托开户银行收款时,发现其持有的由乙公司签发金额为10万元的转账支票为空头支票。根据《支付结算办法》的规定,甲公司有权要求乙公司支付赔偿金的数额是( )。
个人独资企业解散的,财产清偿的内容包括()。
在资本化期间内,下列有关借款费用会计处理的表述中,正确的有()。
A公司是一家上市公司,该公司2014年和2015年的主要财务数据以及2016年的财务计划数据如下表所示:假设公司产品的市场前景很好,销售额可以大幅增加,贷款银行要求公司的资产负债率不得超过60%。董事会决议规定,以权益净利率高低作为管理层业绩评价的尺度
在下列旅游动机中属于地位和声望动机的有()。
根据布朗芬布伦纳(U.Bronfenbrenner)的生态系统理论,学校和家庭对孩子教育的一致性程度属于()
ships16世纪时第一个码头被建成,并在这里制造船只,使得伦敦东区(EastEnd)成了大的国际贸易中心(thefocusofmassiveinternationaltrade)。录音中的thedockWasdug对应题目中的const
最新回复
(
0
)