英语文化：昔日骄傲不在 今朝以此为耻
发布:佚名 时间:2010-5-24 11:19:00 来源:京翰教育中心 录入:李 人气:105
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Two out of every three young Britons feel ashamed of their nationality, in part because of violence and hooliganism, according to a magazine survey published on Thursday.
In multi-racial, modern Britain, the survey showed that one in four young people did not know what it meant to be British and one in five did not even care.
"What it means to be British has fundamentally changed," said editor Neil Stevenson in the survey carried out by one of Britain's famous youth magazines, The Face.
"Notions of 'Britishness' are in decline. In the face of this declining commodity a new set of self-defining values are emerging. It will be interesting to see how the Jubilee and the World Cup have affected young people's attitudes to their country."
The survey shows pride that does exist is based on former glories like the British Empire, great inventions and football.
Over 83 percent of youngsters want to quit the country and 76 percent thought the government did not listen to their views.
"Young people care about political and social issues but are extremely disengaged from the political system," said Stevenson.
"Disenfranchisement is the problem, not apathy -- perhaps if young people thought the Liberal Democrats had a chance, they'd go out and vote?"
The survey revealed the Liberal Democrats were narrowly the most popular party, with 25 percent support ahead of Labour on 23 percent. However 24 percent would not bother voting at all.
6月20日英国一家杂志公布了一项调查结果，表明三分之二的英国年轻人为自己身为英国人而感到惭愧，其中的部分原因是如今国内横行的暴力和流氓犯罪活动。
这项调查还显示，在多民族、现代化的英国，有四分之一的年轻人不知道身为英国公民意味着什么；而五分之一的年轻人则对是否身为英国公民压根不在乎。
进行此次调查的英国著名青年人杂志《The Face》的编辑尼尔·史蒂文斯顿说："基本上英国公民这个身份的意义已经改变了。"
史蒂文斯顿说道："如今'英国'这个词的定义已经越来越模糊了。这种身份正在日益贬值，与此同时出现了一种全新的自我定义的价值观。看看在英女皇登基50周年纪念和世界杯球赛期间，年轻人们对自己国家的态度就知道了。"
这项调查显示，曾经的身为"大英帝国公民"的那种骄傲和自豪来自英国昔日的光辉历史，例如从前强大的大英帝国，那些伟大的发明以及令人骄傲的英国足球。
此外，调查结果还表明，超过83％的年轻人想要摆脱自己的国家，76％的年轻人认为政府根本就不理睬他们的意见。
史蒂文斯顿说："年轻人们关心政治和社会问题，但是却被完全地挡在了政治体系的大门之外。"
"现在的问题是年轻人们根本没有选举权，而不是他们对政治漠不关心。难道如果他们认为自由民主党能够胜出的话，他们就能够投票吗？"
据这项调查结果显示，自由民主党基本上是目前英国国内最受欢迎的政党，23％的年轻人支持该党，得票数领先了工党25％，不过还是有24％的年轻人根本对这种投票不感兴趣。