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  3. Political changes in Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union have reduced the threat of direct confrontation between two alli

Political changes in Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union have reduced the threat of direct confrontation between two alli

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问题    Political changes in Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union have reduced the threat of direct confrontation between two alliances led by superpowers. But a critical consequence of reduced tensions between superpowers is the increased likelihood of unrest in places where the boundaries of states do not match those of nationalities.
   Few Germans mourned the extinction of East Germany in 1990. Reunification put an end to many hardships for East Germans, such as the forced separation of families, limitations on civil rights, and harsh economic conditions.
   On the surface, a unified Germany is consistent with the nation-state principle that has governed the organization of the earth’s surface this century. The arbitrary division of Germany into the Democratic and Federal republics resulted from the German defeat in World War II and the cold war that soon followed. Unification of Germany brought together two groups of people who both spoke German and referred to their country as "Germany."
   But Germany is not an especially good example of a nation-state. A state known as Germany was not created until 1871. Before that time, the map of central Europe was a patchwork of small states, more than 300 during the seventeenth century, for example. Under Frederick the Great, the previously obscure state of Prussia was able to control a continuous stretch of territory abutting the Baltic Sea from Memel on the east to beyond the Elbe River on the west. Other consolidations reduced the number of states in the area to approximately two dozen by 1815.
   in 1871, Prussia’s Prime Minister Otto von Bismarck was instrumental in forcing most of the remaining states in the area to join a Prussian-dominated German Empire, which extended west beyond the Rhine River. Bismarck failed to consolidate all German speakers into the empire; Austria, Switzerland, and Bohemia were excluded. The German Empire lasted less than fifty years.
   After it lost World War I, Germany lost much of its territory. While the boundaries of southern European states were fixed to conform when possible to those of nationalities, Germany’s new boundaries were arbitrary. Germany became a fragmented state, with East Prussia separated from the rest of the country by the Danzig Corridor, created to give Poland a port on the Baltic Sea. German takeovers of Austria, Poland, and portions of Czechoslovakia during the 1930s were justified as attempts to reconstruct a true German nation-state.
   After Germany’s defeat in World War II, boundaries were again shifted. Germany lost its eastern territory to Poland, which in turn gave up its eastern territory to the former Soviet Union. In the process, millions of Germans- as well as other nationalities — were forced to give up their property. Germany has been pressured by other states to accept the relocated boundary with Poland — along the Oder and Neisse rivers — but some Germans, especially those forced to move in 1945, resent the concession.
   Germany’s western boundary has been no more stable. France regards the Rhine River as the proper boundary with Germany, but Prussia and more recently Germany have considered the Rhine to be entirely German. The area west of the Rhine, known as Alsace and Lorraine, has passed back and forth between French and German control, depending on who won the latest war. By living on the frontier between two cultures, Alsace (to a greater extent than Lorraine) reflects a mix of French and German language and social customs. Because France was on the winning side in World War II, it now controls the area.
   Germany is not likely to repeat its past policy of territorial expansion through military conquest. Instead, as the most populous and economically strongest member of the European Community, Germany will likely take the lead in setting the political agenda for a united Europe. When the European Community was founded, Germany was a quiet member, content to subsidize inefficient French farmers and impoverished southern Italians in exchange for acceptance as a respectable ally and reliable trading partner. In the future, Germany will probably gain through economic competition what previous generations failed to obtain through military means: to be the most powerful state in the midst of the world’s largest market. This prospect worries its European neighbors.
According to the passage, Germany is most likely to achieve its leading position in Europe through ______.
选项 A、military expansion
B、political efforts
C、cultural exchange
D、business and trade
答案D
解析
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