179-6-820
To begin with, the monarchy supposedly responsible for the south’s current troubles was not unlike the governments that for centuries ruled France, Spain, Britain and what was to become Germany. It is not obvious that these countries were held back. True, Italy was created by a small elite at a time when more than 90% of the peninsula’s inhabitants did not speak Italian. But inventing nations, along with spurious myths and traditions to anchor them, was a popular recreation among educated Europeans in the 19th century. Some managed it more successfully than others, but Italy’s experience was not atypical. Indeed, nations are constantly making and unmaking themselves. Metternich, the 19th-century Austrian statesman who famously slighted Italy as a “mere geographical expression”, was ambassador of a country that became an empire and then splintered into many pieces within 60 years of his death. And in the 20th century many European countries suffered horrors that make Italy’s supposedly pernicious historical inheritance seem mild. It can even be argued that Italy’s current lack of national pride is the mark of a civilised place. Earlier outbreaks of jingoistic nationalism led to ill-starred adventures in Abyssinia and the second world war to mourn its absence seems perverse.

A. 어휘
supposedly 아마. inhabitants 주민. spurious 그럴듯한, 가짜의.
myths 신화. anchor 고정시키다, 배를 碇泊(정박)시키다.
atypical 틀에 박히지 않은, 不定形(부정형)의. slight 경멸하다, 무시하다.
splinter 산산조각이 되다. horrors 공포, 戰慄(전율), 慘事(참사).
pernicious 치명적인, 有害(유해)한. inheritance 遺産(유산).
outbreaks 猖獗(창궐), 勃發(발발), 돌발, 폭동.
jingoistic 主戰論(주전론)의, 강경한. ill-starred 불행한.
Abyssinia=Ethiopia. mourn 슬퍼하다, 한탄하다. perverse 잘못된, 외고집의.