Denmark's image has taken a beating after a Danish newspaper published cartoons of the Prophet Mohammed last year that angered Muslims around the world. The results of a survey of 35 countries showed that Denmark was the only country to have its image hurt during the past six months.
The cartoons affected Denmark's image mainly in Muslim countries, but the survey also showed an image drop in other parts of the world, including eastern and central Europe, and South Africa. Denmark's image as "open, generous, tolerant, democratic, strongly oriented on human rights and fairness" has suffered, said one of the people who did the study.
The online survey is done every three months. It questions 25,000 people of different ages, incomes and education levels. The respondents come from 35 countries, including the largely Muslim nations of Egypt, Malaysia, Turkey and Indonesia. Egyptians had the worst opinion of Denmark, and Denmark's image has also dropped in Turkey.
PHOTO: AFP
People who took the survey were asked what they thought about the cultures, politics and economies of different countries. For example, one of the questions asked what they thought about exports from a certain country, and if they "actively seek out or avoid" products from that country.
Political questions asked them to rank countries according to how competent and fair they thought their governments were.
Respondents were also asked which adjectives best described the government of each country. In Egypt, less than one-fifth believed the adjectives "trustworthy" or "honest" described Denmark. (DPA)
丹麥的形象自去年一家丹麥報紙刊載先知穆罕默德的漫畫,激怒全球穆斯林後便大受打擊,而一項涵括三十五國的問卷調查結果顯示,過去六個月來,丹麥是唯一形象受損的國家。
漫畫對丹麥形象的影響主要在穆斯林國家,不過調查顯示,在世界其他地區也有下滑的情形,包括東歐、中歐和南非,一名參與研究者表示,丹麥「開放、慷慨、寬容、民主、強烈人權及公平導向」的形象已遭到破壞。
這項網路問卷每三個月調查一次,訪問來自三十五國的兩萬五千名不同年紀、收入和教育程度的受訪者,包括主要穆斯林國家,如埃及、馬來西亞、土耳其和印尼的受訪民眾。埃及民眾對丹麥的評論最差,而丹麥在土耳其的形象亦受創。
受訪者在問卷中被問及對於不同國家間文化、政治和經濟差異的想法,例如,其中一題就問到他們對於來自特定國家的舶來品有何看法,和是否「積極尋找或避用」該國產品。
政治題則要求受訪者依照各國政府能力及公平程度將國家排名。
受訪者也被問到每個國家最適用哪個形容詞。埃及不到五分之一的受訪者認為「值得信賴」或「正直」能用來形容丹麥。 (德通社/翻譯:鄭湘儀)
South Korea’s famous kimchi is falling victim to climate change, with scientists, farmers and manufacturers saying the quality and quantity of the napa cabbage that is pickled to make the ubiquitous dish is suffering due to rising temperatures. Napa cabbage thrives in cooler climates, and is usually planted in mountainous regions where temperatures during the key growing summer season once rarely rose above 25 degrees Celsius. Studies show that warmer weather brought about by climate change is now threatening these crops, so much so that South Korea might not be able to grow napa cabbage one day due to the intensifying heat. “We
It’s widely recognized that there are far more right-handed people than left-handed people in the world. Being right-handed simply means preferring to use one’s right hand for tasks that involve only one hand, such as writing and eating. But have you ever wondered about the possible reasons behind the global dominance of the right hand over the left? As with many complex biological questions, multiple factors appear to be at play. First, one reason seems to be genetics. __1__ Therefore, the global dominance of right-handedness is something that has been passed down through many generations of humans. Next,
A: What’s even more horrible is that the five suspects who purposely supplied ketamine to actor Matthew Perry were all his “friends.” B: Who exactly are the five suspects? A: They include Matthew’s two doctors, a broker, a drug dealer, and even his live-in assistant. B: Those scumbags should go to jail. A: Yeah, one of the doctors may be sentenced to up to 120 years in prison. A: 更可怕的是,提供男星馬修派瑞「K他命」的5人全是他的「朋友」。 B: 嫌犯是誰啊? A: 其中包括他的2位醫生、1位仲介、1位毒販、甚至他的同居助理! B: 那些人渣真該去坐牢。 A: 對啊,其中1位醫生可能面臨120年徒刑。 (By Eddy Chang, Taipei Times/台北時報張聖恩)
Continued from yesterday(延續自昨日) https://www.taipeitimes.com/News/lang Finally, cultural influence also plays a role in which hand people prefer. Historically, items that require physical manipulation have been designed for right-handed use. For example, tools like scissors and musical instruments are often constructed with right-handers in mind, making it difficult for left-handers to use them. __4__ While these factors offer some explanation, they remain speculative. The precise reasons for the global prevalence of right-handed people continue to be debated. Nevertheless, left-handedness will remain a phenomenon of great curiosity among scientists and researchers for many years to come. 最後,文化影響也在人們偏好哪一隻手上扮演一角。歷史上,需要用到肢體操作的物品都被設計來供右手使用。舉例來說,像是剪刀、樂器等工具常常就是考慮到右撇子而打造的,造成左撇子難以使用這些工具。因此,許多天生就是左撇子的人可能就必須透過學習使用右手來適應。 雖然這些因素都提供了一些解釋,但它們仍是推測而已。全球右撇子如此普及,確切的原因仍持續被爭論著。不過,在未來的許多年裡,左撇子依然會是科學家和研究人員相當好奇的一個現象。 What Did You Learn? (A) Specifically, different areas of