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 England is the least patriotic country in Europe, with just one in three British people aware of the date of St George's Day a survey has shown. |
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England is the least patriotic country in Europe, with just one in three British people aware of the date of St George's Day a survey has shown. Only a third of people were aware that the celebration of St George was this Friday, while forty percent did not know why he is the patron saint, a study revealed on Monday. Political correctness and a fear of appearing racist were said to be the main factors in the apparent lack of patriotism in England, along with the increasing influence of the European Union. Six percent of English men and women are "scared" to fly the St George's Cross, while one in six fear they would be told to take it down according to the report, commissioned by This England magazine. Twenty percent blamed a broken society for their lack of patriotism, while half said they had been patriotic in the past. The survey, which questioned 5,820 adults in nine European countries including Scotland, Wales and The Republic of Ireland, found that The Netherlands was the most patriotic European country. Respondents were questioned on several aspects of national pride, with English people judging their overall level of patriotism to be 5.8 out of ten on average – the lowest of the nine nations. One in four English adults said 'political correctness' had left them feeling ashamed to be English, while forty percent said they felt England had completely lost its national identity. Just ten percent said they would happily fly the national flag on their house or in their garden, compared to more than a third of Dutch people, with more than a quarter saying they feared being called racist if they did so. However, forty percent of English people said they were happy to express their national pride in private, with a similar number saying they felt patriotic during big sporting events such as the world cup and the Olympics. Three out of ten said they felt waves of patriotism in the wake of terrorist attacks on British soil. Stephen Garnett, editor of This England magazine, said: "We're incredibly disappointed that English people are afraid of displaying the St George's Cross on our patron saint's day. "It was quite shocking to see some of the results, particularly the amount of people that don't fly the flag because of fear of being judged. "It just shows what political correctness has done to the English people over the years." The study, which was carried out between the 7th and 14th April, was published to celebrate St. George's Day this Friday. Scottish people ranked their patriotism at 7.1 out of ten, the Welsh at 7.06 and the Irish at 6.72, while the Dutch were the most patriotic on 7.18. (Read by Renee Haines. Renee Haines is a multimedia journalist at the China Daily Web site.) (Agencies) |
一項調查顯示，英國是歐洲最不愛國的國家，只有三分之一的英格蘭人知道本國的國慶日圣喬治節是哪天。 這項于周一公布的調查顯示，僅有三分之一的英格蘭人知道本周五是圣喬治節，40%的人不知道為什么把圣喬治稱為英格蘭的守護神。 堅持政治上的正確性和害怕被貼上種族主義的標簽是英格蘭人愛國精神缺失的主要原因，歐盟影響力的日益增強也是其中一個因素。 據這份由《英格蘭》雜志委托開展的調查顯示，6%的英格蘭人不敢懸掛圣喬治紅十字旗，六分之一的人擔心別人會讓他們把旗子取下來。 20%的人認為社會分裂是導致人們缺乏愛國心的主因，一半的人稱自己過去很愛國。 這一調查對包括蘇格蘭、威爾士和愛爾蘭共和國在內的九個歐洲國家的5820名成年人進行了訪問，結果發現荷蘭是其中最愛國的國家。 受訪者在有關民族自豪感的幾個方面接受了訪問。英格蘭人對自己的總體愛國水平評分平均為5.8分（滿分是10分），在九個國家中最低。 四分之一的英格蘭人說保證“政治上的正確”讓他們失去了民族自豪感，40%的人覺得英格蘭已經完全喪失了國家認同感。 只有10%的人愿意在自家的房子上或花園里懸掛國旗，而荷蘭的這一比例為三分之一。另外，超過四分之一的英格蘭人說他們擔心如果懸掛國旗會被認為有種族主義傾向。 但40%的英國人說他們愿意在私下里表達自己的民族自豪感，相同比例的人說他們在國家舉行世界杯和奧運會這樣的大型體育賽事時會感到很自豪。 十分之三的人說他們在恐怖主義分子襲擊英國后迸發出強烈的愛國熱情。 《英格蘭》雜志的編輯史蒂芬?加內特說：“英格蘭人不敢在我們的國慶日懸掛紅十字旗，這讓我們非常失望。 “有些調查結果令人震驚，尤其是這么多的人因為害怕遭到指責而不敢掛國旗。 “由此可以看出，這些年來堅持政治上的正確性對英格蘭人都產生了什么樣的影響。” 該調查在4月7日至14日期間開展，旨在紀念本周五的圣喬治節。 蘇格蘭人對自己的愛國心評分為7.1分（滿分10分），威爾士人為7.06分，愛爾蘭人為6.72分，荷蘭人最愛國，達7.18分。 相關閱讀 （中國日報網英語點津 陳丹妮 編輯蔡姍姍） |
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Vocabulary: St George's Day: 圣喬治日即4月23日，是一個帶有強烈宗教色彩的紀念日，主要在一些將圣喬治作為主保圣人的國家和地區間舉行，包括英國、德國、格魯吉亞、保加利亞、葡萄牙以及加泰羅尼亞。在英國，圣喬治日同時也是英格蘭地區的國慶日。公元303年的這一天，圣喬治因試圖阻止羅馬皇帝對基督徒的迫害而被殺。 political correctness: the principle of avoiding language and behaviour that may offend particular groups of people 政治上正確（言行避免有歧視之嫌） in the wake of: 隨……之后而來；跟隨在……后 |
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