“Manners Make the Man.”, as an English saying goes. But in the modern world, where Man is concerned with so many serious global problems, do manners really matter any more? Some modern writers and thinkers believe that they do, and have recently decided to explore the subject, convinced that manners are as desirable as they were in the past, or maybe even more so, in our busy and overcrowded urban societies. For many years manners were associated with a highly restrictive code of behavior. A hundred years ago correct behavior was, in fact, often used to enforce the class system. Of course, many of the old rules are also unsuitable for modern society. “Always open the door for a lady” is both patronizing and sexist. “Children should be seen and not heard” has always been much too severe! However, many people would like to return to the days when we were more openly respectful of each other, and used the words please and thank you in conversations with strangers and friends. However, we often seem to associate manners with weakness. People who are considerate are ridiculed and laughed at as being old-fashioned, conformist and conservative, rather than civilized, respectful, courteous, and thoughtful – merely interested in improving the quality of our lives. But surely motorists should not have to fight for a place on the road, shoppers should not have to argue with “the clever people” pushing into the queue, and teachers should not be afraid of their students.
【題組】46. According to the first paragraph, which of the following
statements is true about “manners”?
(A) Modern writers are convinced that global issues should be put
at the top of the priority list.
(B) Manners are more important in the past than in the modern
society.
(C) Manners are still important from some modern thinkers’
perspective.
(D) Some writers believe that modern people are too busy to be
concerned with manners.
【題組】47. The author creates the discussion in the second paragraph by
(A) categorizing types of behaviors
(B) analyzing conversational rules
(C) explaining the class system
(D) explaining old rules
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