题目内容
I inherited my one litmus test from my father, Jim Alter, who flew 33 harrowing missions over Nazi Germany during World War 11. My father is not just a veteran who by all odds should not have survived. He is a true patriot. His litmus test is the proposal to amend the Constitution to ban flag burning, which will come up for a vote next week in the U. S. Senate. For dad—and me—any member of Congress who supports amending the Bill of Rights for the first time in the history of this country for a nonproblem like flag burning is showing serious disrespect for our Constitution and for the values for which brave Americans gave their lives. Such disrespect is a much more serious threat than the random idiots who once every decade or so try (often unsuccessfully) to burn a flag.
Our understandable outrage at flag burning shouldn't turn our brains to mush. "I feel the same sense of outrage, but I would not amend that great shield of democracy (the Constitution) to hammer a few miscreants," Colin Powell said when the issue last came up (his position has not changed). "The flag will be flying proudly long after they have slunk away." Powell argues that a constitutional ban on flag burning is a sign of weakness and fear.
John Glenn, another of the thousands of combat veterans against the amendment (they have banded together in a group called Veterans Defending the Bill of Rights), notes that "those 10 amendments we call the Bill of Rights have never been changed or altered by one iota, not by one word, not a single time in all of American history. There was not a single change during any of our foreign wars, and not during recessions or depressions or panics. Not a single change when we were going through times of great emotion and anger like the Vietnam era, when flag after flag was burned or desecrated. There is only one way to weaken our nation. The way to weaken our nation would be to erode the freedom that we all share."
Actually, even during the Vietnam War, flag burning was rare. By one count, there have been only 45 such incidents in 200 years, and fewer than half a dozen since it was outlawed in 1989. Should the Constitution be amended, however, the incidence of flag burning is expected to surge as a form. of civil disobedience. What began as a phony issue designed to prove patriotism (usually on the part of those who never served, the primary sponsors) could become a real concern.
The flag-burning amendment, which already passed the House, is apparently just short of the 67 needed in the Senate. With one or two absences, the amendment would be approved. It would then go to the states for ratification, where its chances for approval appear good.
Senators afraid of being seen as soft on flag burners should just adopt the Hillary Clinton dodge: support for a statute, but not an amendment. Another law is a dopey idea (an earlier one was struck down by the Supreme Court), but it's politically safe and better than perverting the Constitution.
To make matters worse, the amendment is vaguely worded, which led to fatuous debate in the Senate over whether a woman wearing a skimpy bathing suit patterned with stars and stripes was guilty of desecration. Bloggers wondered the same thing about President Bush's new habit of autographing flags when he shakes hands on rope lines. Unconstitutional？ With a war on and a hundred other pressing problems, it's nice to see our elected representatives focused on what really counts.
The usual litmus tests-abortion, gun control, Iraq-shouldn't be. Reasonable and sincere people can disagree, w
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Nobody much likes tourists. They have a reputation for being loud, rude and disruptive. They are blamed for everything from prostitution to environmental degradation. "They want to have a good time, they are not well informed and want a short 'wow' factor," says Xavier Font, professor of tourism management at Britain's Leeds Metropolitan University. "Many locals see tourists as stupid."
Yet tourism may in fact be the true salvation of humankind's cultural heritage. After all, it's the main countervailing force to internationalization—that is, the global blah of TV, T shirts, tract housing, fast-food chains, business suits, malls and brand names. Internationalization has, in practice, been a process of everyone's coming to live and act the same; the Japanese gave up their kimonos because they were considered "unmodern". But tourists are looking for something old and something different—and they'll pay for it.
The effect can be seen across the globe, rescuing traditional cities and cultures from the brink of extinction. Just five years ago the indigenous community of the Cayapas lived in little concrete houses with television sets, having moved from file banks of the Canande River in northwestern Ecuador to settle alongside the highway. They had nearly all abandoned the traditional hand-woven garb of their ancestors, and instead donned Nikes. "That's what progress meant to them," says Pedro Armend riz, a tourism and development-planning engineer based in Quito. "It meant wearing tennis shoes and jeans, and having a TV so all the women could watch their soap operas every day."
Thanks to an influx of tourists, things have recently changed for the Cayapas. With visitors coming in search of community, or ethnic, tourism—to eat, work and often even live with the indigenous people—the Cayapas are embracing the nearly forgotten culture of their ancestors. Once again, they are wearing traditional clothes, building old-style. homes and using traditional agricultural techniques. "They have become a sustainable community microbusiness, with a preservationist conscience, because they have understood that their indigenous roots are what interest tourists," says Amend riz. "It makes them value their ancestral culture."
The situation is similar throughout Latin America, where interest in cultural and ecological tourism has been on the rise in recent years. Tourism to Guatemala, for example, with its Mayan heritage, lush rain forests and lakes surrounded by volcanoes, has doubled in the past decade to nearly 2 million foreign visitors a year. Their dollars have kept young indigenous women interested in learning the specialized craft of weaving on the Mayans' backstrap looms, says Alejandrina Silva, head of the Guatemalan Tourism Ministry's Cultural Heritage Office. "Indigenous artisanry forms an important part of the Guatemalan touristic product," she says. "If this were not the case, such crafts could die off and the younger generations would have to look for new trades that would allow them to survive."
Indeed, the souvenir trade—often maligned for promoting kitsch—can almost single-handedly keep fading cultures alive. In the Tatra National Park in Zakopane, in southern Poland, the highlander tradition of making smoked sheep cheese—dying out among the younger generation—has earned a new lease on life thanks to tourists' desire for unforgettable souvenirs. Highlanders make the cheese, or oscypek, in theft huts, forming it by hand and smoking it over a fire. Visitors feel free to chat with the locals as they watch, have a taste of the cheese and a glass of fresh goat's milk; most leave some money. They also snatch up the traditional clothing, wool hats, slippers and jackets—as well as sheep and goat cheese—on sale all over the city.
Tourism is not just about preserving old cultures; it can also influence modem ones. Catering to tourist whims provides a quick education for fledgling ent
听力原文： Clothes play a critical part in the conclusions we reach by providing clues to who people are, who they are not, and wilt) they would like to be. They tell us a good deal about the wearer’s background, personality, status, mood, and social outlook. Since clothes are such an important source of social information, we can use them to manipulate people’s impression of us. Our appearance assumes particular significance in the initial phases of interaction that is likely to occur. An elderly middle class man or woman may be alienated (疏远……) by a young adult who is dressed in an unconventional manner, regardless of the person’s education, background, or interests.
People tend to agree on what certain types of clothes mean. Adolescent girls can easily agree on the lifestyles of girls who wear certain outfits (套装), including the number of boyfriends they likely have had and whether they smoke or drink. Newscasters, or the announcers who read the news on TV, are considered to be more convincing, honest, and competent when they are dressed conservatively. And college students who view themselves as taking an active role in their inter-personal relationships say they are concerned about the costumes they must wear to play 'these roles successfully. Moreover, many of us can relate instances in which the clothing we wore changed the way we felt about ourselves and how we acted. Perhaps you have used clothing to gain confidence when you anticipated a stressful situation, such as a job interview, or a court appearance.
In the workplace, men have long had well defined precedents and role models for achieving success. It has been otherwise for women. A good many women in the business world are uncertain about the appropriate mixture of "masculine" and "feminine" attitutes they should convey by their professional clothing. The variety of clothing alternatives to women has also been greater than that available for men. Male administrators tend to judge women more favorably for managerial positions when the women display less "feminine grooming(打扮)—shorter hair, moderate use of make-up, and plain tailored clothing. As one male administrator confessed, "An attractive woman is definitely going to get a longer interview, but she won’t get a job."
According to the passage, the way we dress ______.
A．It is proved to be efficient in helping employers make decisions.B．All companies in
What worries me about the stench coming from Corporate America is not its impact on the economy, because America's resiliency is awesome. It isn't that scandals may be causing the dollar to sink, because the greenback was overvalued anyway. Nor am I concerned that errant CEOs will escape punishment, since the feds are finally on the case.
No, what bothers me most is something not so easily fixed—the erosion of the equality-based culture that emerged in recent years.
Given the extent of corporate malfeasance, the only way to restore investors' confidence is for both CEOs and Washington to push sweeping reforms. Most of the necessary elements are contained in the proposals coming from the New York Stock Exchange, the Securities & Exchange Commission, Congress, and various business groups. Here are some key imperatives:
Regulate auditors. A new oversight body must be established, reporting to the SEC. It should set auditing standards, license auditor, and have power to punish transgressors. To guarantee its independence and resources, it should be funded by every publicly listed company.
Revamp CEO compensation. The magnitude of stock options—and the fact that they were not treated as a company expense—gave excess too much incentive to cut comers to pump up stock prices in the short term. In the future, options should not be exercisable for five years, and not unless company performance exceeds the S&P500. They should also be charged against corporate income when they are cashed in. Better yet, executives should be rewarded in stock that must be held for a number of years so CEOs can win and lose with the rest of long-term shareholders.
Make CEOs and boards accountable. The SEC should endorse national guidelines for all publicly listed companies doing business in the U.S.. Among the provisions: CEOs and CFOs must personally warrant that financial statements paint a full and accurate picture of their companies' positions, including critical underlying trends. Not only must boards be more independent but also audit, compensation, and governance committees ought to be held more clearly accountable for the basic policies of the companies they represent.
Keep up pressure on Wall Street. Among the most egregious conflicts of interest, analysts have been pressured and paid to recommend stocks simply to curry favor with the issuing companies. Until it's clearer how effectively Wall Street will police itself, the SEC should issue public progress reports on investment banks' moves to eliminate conflicts.
Modernize accounting. Accounting needs to deal with a global, financially complex, knowledge-based economy, including derivatives, off-balance-sheet assets, and intangible assets such as research-and-development capabilities. The best ideas from around the world must be combined into one high-grade set of international standards.
According to the author, the stench coming from Corporate America impact______.
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