There is turmoil in the strange world of citizenship tests. The UK is planning to revise its test for would-be Britons, adding questions on crucial issues such as the life of the poet Robert Browning. In France’s test, introduced this month, applicants must obviously know about Brigitte Bardot. Meanwhile a recent survey by Xavier University found that more than one-third of Americans would fail their own country’s naturalisation test. Only 8 per cent could name even one author of the Federalist Papers. And Denmark is quietly scrapping its test. No wonder that no country seems quite happy with its citizenship test. Being a citizen has little to do with what’s in your head.
千奇百怪的公民入籍考試領域目前出現了動蕩。英國正計劃修訂針對入籍申請者的考試，增加一些關鍵的問題，如詩人羅伯特?勃朗寧(Robert Browning)的生平。在本月推出的法國公民入籍考試中，申請者顯然必須了解碧姬?巴鐸(Brigitte Bardot)。與此同時，澤維爾大學(Xavier University)最近的一項調查顯示，超過三分之一的美國人可能通不過本國的入籍考試。只有8%的人能夠說出《聯邦黨人文集》(Federalist Papers)的任何一名作者。同時丹麥正在悄悄放棄該國的入籍考試。難怪沒有哪個國家似乎對其公民入籍考試非常滿意。成為一個國家的公民與頭腦里裝了什么沒有太大關系。