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
The decline of civility and good manners may be worrying people more than crime, according to Gentility Recalled, edited by Digb
The decline of civility and good manners may be worrying people more than crime, according to Gentility Recalled, edited by Digb
admin
2010-03-25
37
问题
The decline of civility and good manners may be worrying people more than crime, according to Gentility Recalled, edited by Digby Anderson, which laments the breakdown of traditional codes that once regulated social conduct. It criticises the fact that "manners" are scorned as repressive and outdated.
The result, according to Mr Anderson -- director of the Social Affairs Unit, an independent think-tank -- is a society characterised by rudeness: loutish behaviour on the streets, jostling in crowds, impolite shop assistants and bad-tempered drivers.
Mr Anderson says the cumulative effect of these -- apparently trivial, but often offensive -- is to make everyday life uneasy, unpredictable and unpleasant. As they are encountered far more often than crime, they can cause more anxiety than crime.
When people lament the disintegration of law and order, he argues, what they generally mean is order, as manifested by courteous forms of social contact. Meanwhile, attempts to re-establish restraint and self-control through "politically correct" rules are artificial.
The book has contributions from 12 academics in disciplines ranging from medicine to sociology and charts what it Calls the "coarsening" of Britain. Old-fashioned terms such as "gentleman" and "lady" have lost all meaningful resonance and need to be re- evaluated, it says. Rachel Trickett, honorary fellow and former principal of St Hugh’s College, Oxford, says that the notion of a "lady" protects women rather than demeaning them.
Feminism and demands for equality have blurred the distinctions between the sexes, creating situations where men are able to dominate women because of their more aggressive and forceful natures, she says. "Women, without some code of deference or respect, become increasingly victims."
Caroline Moore, the first woman fellow of Peterhouse, Cambridge, points out that "gentleman" is now used only with irony or derision.
"The popular view of a gentleman is poised somewhere between the imbecile parasite and the villainous one. between Woosteresque chinless wonders, and those heartless capitalist toffs who are.., the stock-in-trade of television."
She argues that the concept is neither class-bound nor rigid; conventions of gentlemanly behaviour enable a man to act naturally as an individual within shared assumptions while taking his place in society.
"Politeness is no constraint, precisely because the manners ... are no ’code’ but a language, rich, flexible, restrained and infinitely subtle."
For Anthony O’Hear, professor of philosophy at the University of Bradford, manners are closely associated with the different forms of behaviour appropriate to age and status. They curb both the impetuosity of youth and the bitterness of old age.
Egalitarianism, he says, has led to people failing to act their age. "We have vice chancellors with earrings, aristocrats as hippies.., the trendy vicar on his motorbike."
Dr Athena Leoussi, sociology lecturer at Reading University, bemoans the deliberate neglect by people of their sartorial appearance.
Dress, she says, is the outward expression of attitudes and aspirations. The ubiquitousness of jeans "displays a utilitarian attitude" that has "led to the cultural impoverishment of everyday life".
Dr Leoussi says that while clothes used to be seen as a means of concealing taboo forces of sexuality and violence, certain fashions -- such as leather jackets -- have the opposite effect.
Dr Bruce Charlton, a lecturer in public health medicine in Newcastle upon Tyne, takes issue with the excessive informality of relations between professionals such as doctors and bank managers, and their clients. He says this has. eroded the distance and respect necessary in such relationships. For Tristam Engelhardt, professor of medicine in Houston, Texas, says manners are bound to morals.
"Manners express a particular set of values," he says. "Good manners interpret and transform social reality. They provide social orientation. ’
According to the passage, the decline of good manners is more worrying because
选项
A、it leads to more crime in society.
B、people view manners as old-fashioned.
C、rudeness on the street cannot be stemmed out.
D、it can seriously affect our daily life.
答案
D
解析
人们对于礼貌水平下降感到格外担忧的原因可以在第二、第三段中找到。第二段说:The result...is a society characterised by rudeness:loutish behaviour on the streets,jostling in crowds,impolite shop assistants and bad-tempered drivers,第三段说:...the cumulative effect of these...is to make everyday life uneasy, unpredictable and unpleasant.As they are encountered far more often than crime, they can cause more anxiety than crime.由于人们每天会遇到这样的不愉快事情,所以会感到格外担忧。
转载请注明原文地址:https://jikaoti.com/ti/Gv4YFFFM
0
专业英语八级
相关试题推荐
Theperiodofadolescence,i.e.,thepersonbetweenchildhoodandadulthood,maybelongorshort,dependingonsocialexpectati
Theperiodofadolescence,i.e.,thepersonbetweenchildhoodandadulthood,maybelongorshort,dependingonsocialexpectati
Scienceisadominantthemeinourculture.Sinceittouchesalmosteveryfacetofourlife,educatedpeople,needatleastsome
A、Tolivetherepermanently.B、Tostaythereforhalfayear.C、Tofindabetterjobtosupportherself.D、Tosellleathergoods
Theteachingsequenceisintendedtohelplearners(1)inwritingshortanswers.Itconsistsofthreestages:(2),thepractice
TheU.S.unemploymentratedroppedinNovember,whilethenation’seconomylostthefewestjobssince200AreportfromtheLabor
A、Weneedn’tsendJeffreytoanartschoolbecauseheisalreadygoodatpainting.B、WeshouldsendJeffreytoanartschoolbec
A、InaschoolB、Onthephone.C、Ataneducationfair.D、Inastreet.B
A、Employmentinthefishingandwhalingindustries.B、Nineteenth-centuryseacaptains.C、Theeconomicimportanceofsailingship
A、Doubtful.B、Reserved.C、Indifferent.D、Supportive.D
随机试题
以下哪种病变增强CT检查对诊断有帮助
属于非离子型造影剂的是
一臀位娩出婴儿,生后发现左大腿肿胀、缩短畸形,并有异常活动。
下列关于描述统计分析方法的表述错误的是()。
某保险公司开展了一项3年期的储金业务。2005年5月,月初的储金余额为1000万元,月末的储金余额为1500万元。人民银行公布的一年期存款的年利率为2%,3年期存款的年利率为2.5%,则该保险公司当月“储金业务”的营业额为()。
下列各句中,没有语病的一句是()。
内部感觉包括_________、_________、_________。
西汉诸侯国的政权机构和中央基本上相同,其中需要中央直接任命的有()
甲午夜开车送朋友乙回家,因超速驾驶,刹车不及时,将经过人行横道的周某撞倒。乙对甲说:“没有人看到,快走。”甲加速离去。周某随即被他人送往医院,但因抢救无效,于当晚死亡。甲将乙送回家后,心里不安,便返回肇事地点,并向在事故现场取证的警察交代了上述事实。请根据
制定测试计划应该在______阶段进行。
最新回复
(
0
)