The Netherlands means the European part of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. West and north of the North Sea, east of Germany, south of Belgium. The Netherlands is about 300 kilometers long from south to north and about 200 kilometers wide from east to west. The area is 41526 square kilometers, slightly larger than Belgium, one-ninth of Germany. The Netherlands is known as the "Gateway to Europe" because of its ideal location on the continent.
Amsterdam is the capital of the Netherlands, the largest city and the second largest port in the Netherlands, with a population of about 700,000 people. The city was founded in 1926 as a fishing village in the early Middle Ages, and became the capital of the Kingdom of the Netherlands in the early 19th century. 16 centuries ago, the Netherlands was in a state of feudalism for a long time, and in the early 16th century it was under the rule of Spain, but there was no history of unification before that. 1566 saw the bourgeois revolution, and in 1568, it broke out into a war of resistance against the Spanish rule that lasted for 80 years, and in 1581, it declared its independence from Spain. In the early 17th century, the country began to become a maritime colonial power, and was invaded by the French in 1795. After the defeat of Napoleon, the Kingdom of the Netherlands was established in 1815. It remained neutral in the First World War. At the beginning of the Second World War, it declared neutrality, but was suddenly invaded by the German army. 1949, it joined the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. 1958, it joined the European ****some.
The Netherlands is a famous tourist country. It is called the kingdom of windmills and the country of flowers, and its weaving beauty strung by windmills, clogs and tulips brings people countless dreams and imagination. Anytime is a good time to visit Amsterdam. Summer is, of course, the ideal time for most people, when people come out of their houses to party or play, and when open-air concerts take place in the parks, filling the city with life. In winter, although the weather is bitterly cold, there are relatively fewer tourists, so accommodation will be much easier to find, and tourist prices will be correspondingly low everywhere, for those who live in southern China, it is not a great opportunity to see the ice. When you come to Holland, just take a trip to Amsterdam, and you will be able to see "all kinds of Holland" from classic to modern. Attractions: Zensburg, West Church, Royal Palace, Amsterdam History Museum, Sex Museum, Van Gogh Museum.
1) Capital of the Netherlands. The capital of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, Amsterdam (Amsterdam) is located on the southwestern shore of Lake Ijssel, with a population of 73.5 million (2003). The Amstel River flows through the city, thus making the city a crossroads of inland water transportation in Europe.
Amsterdam is a curious city. The city*** has more than 160 waterways of all sizes, connected by more than 1,000 bridges. Roaming the city, the bridges are intertwined, rivers and canals. Bird's-eye view from the air, the waves like satin, like a spider's web. The city's terrain is 1-5 meters below sea level, and is known as the "Venice of the North". Due to the scarcity of land and the large number of people, there are nearly 20,000 "boathouses" moored on the river. In the past, almost all of the city's buildings were built on wooden piles coated with black tar to prevent sinking. The foundations of the Royal Palace used 13,659 wooden piles.
"Dan", in Dutch, means dam. It was the Dutch who built the dam that enabled a fishing village 700 years ago to gradually develop into the cosmopolitan city it is today. by the end of the 16th century, Amsterdam had become an important port and trading metropolis, and for a time in the 17th century, it became the world's center of finance, trade, and culture. in 1806, Holland moved its capital city to Amsterdam, but the royal family, the Parliament, the Prime Minister's Office, the central ministries, and the diplomatic corps remained in The Hague.
Amsterdam is the largest industrial city and economic center of the Netherlands, with more than 7,700 industrial enterprises, industrial diamond production accounted for 80% of the world's total. In addition, Amsterdam has the oldest stock exchange in the world.
Amsterdam is the second largest port in the Netherlands. The port is fully modernized. Transportation in and out of the port is very well developed.
Flowers are an important export commodity of the Netherlands. Located in the southwestern suburbs of Amsterdam, Asmer Flower Market is the world's largest flower market, flowers are sold to more than 100 countries.
Amsterdam people live on the water, water into the city, people and water together, the scene from the sky. The unique landscape makes Amsterdam's tourism industry is very developed,
Amsterdam is a European city of culture and art. There are 40 museums in the city. The National Museum has a collection of more than one million works of art, including masterpieces by Rembrandt, Hals, and Vermeer, which have become famous around the world. The city's Museum of Modern Art and the Van Gogh Museum are famous for their collections of 17th-century Dutch art, where Van Gogh's The Raven's Field of Wheat and The Peasant Eating Potatoes, completed two days before his death, are on display.
In 1994, Amsterdam and Beijing became sister cities. Amsterdam is the capital of the Netherlands, the original appearance of the golden age has been preserved, almost a living museum. The beautiful canals intertwine with the scenery of the "water city", and the numerous museums include the works of all the famous painters in the Netherlands. The National Concert Hall, a temple of classical music, is not to be missed.
Amsterdam is old and very flavorful. All the little three- and four-story buildings are decorated in blue, green, and red, and are as cute as if they were fake. The doors of these toy buildings are so small that only one person can walk through them. In ancient times there was a strange law that the larger the door, the higher the tax, so the people had no choice but to make the doors as small as possible, but make the windows so large that furniture and other things were lifted in and out of the windows. On the top of all the small buildings, there are several iron hooks sticking out to fix the ropes used for lifting things.
Dense waterways again divide these lovely streets piece by piece, and flocks of seagulls fly between the waterways and the buildings, bullying the ducks that feed in the water, as if it were Venice of the north.
Main Attractions
National Concert Hall (Concertgebouw, Concertgebouwplein 2-6): The National Concert Hall is the home of the Amsterdam National Concertgebouw Orchestra, which performs from September through June. Tickets can be purchased at the Tourist Service in Leidsplatz, the Amsterdam Tourist Service or the orchestra's office.
Muziek Theater (Amstel 3): The Muziek Theater is home to the Dutch National Opera and the National Ballet. It is a modern amphitheater and is adjacent to the Amsterdam City Hall.
Holland Casino, Max Euweplein: Passport required, no cheating. Opening hours are from 13:30-3:00 daily and admission is 5 Dutch dollars.
LIDO (Max Euwiplein): LIDO is modeled after the Lido dinner show in Paris.
The Royal Palace (Koninklijk Paoeis, Dam): built in 1655 as the Amsterdam City Hall, it is now the royal guest house.
West Church (Westerkerk/toren, Prinsengracht 281): Entrance to the church is free. Hourly guided tours of the tower are required. The tower is 85 meters high and you have to walk up. The tower offers a panoramic view of Amsterdam and is worth seeing.
Heineken Brouwerij, Stadtouderkade 78: The Heineken Brouwerij was a beer factory until 1988. The guided tour takes about one and a half hours. After the tour, you can drink unlimited beer, which makes it a popular excursion.
Koster Diamond Factory: The Koster Diamond Factory is the most famous diamond factory in the world, where the diamonds in Queen Victoria's crown were cut and polished, which alone is enough to make any woman excited.
Rijksmuseum Vincent van Glgh P. Potterstraat 7: The Van Gogh Museum is in the neighborhood of the Koster Diamond Factory. The museum is expensive but good value for money, and houses many of Van Gogh's masterpieces, such as Sunflowers, Poppies, Self-Portraits with and without Ears, and four paintings from the last year of his life; not all of them, however, are in the Rijksmuseum. The incomparable "Starry Night" is not here. There are many other paintings on display in the museum, all representative of the historic "Dutch School". These paintings, like Van Gogh's early works, are dark and gloomy, as if they have lost all color. Remembering that the Dutch skies were always cloudy, it is no wonder that these paintings are so dark. It has been hypothesized that Van Gogh painted his later works after taking a hallucinogenic drug, and it makes sense now. It's amazing that Van Gogh could paint such bright colors under the dark clouds of Holland.
In addition, some of the famous attractions in Amsterdam are: Amstelkring Museum (O.Z. Vooburgwal 40), Nederlands Scheepvaart Museum (Kattenburgerplein), Anne Frank's House (Nmme Franklin), and the Dutch Museum of the Sea (Kattenburgerplein). House (Nmme Frankguis Prinsengracht 263), the Amsterdam Historisch Museum (Kalverstraat 92), the Stedelijk Museum of Modren Art (P. Potterstraat 13), and the Dutch Maritime Museum (Nederlands Scheepvaart Museum, Kattenburgerplein). Potterstraat 13), and so on.
② Industrial city in the state of New York, USA. Located on the Mohawk River, near the Erie Canal. The population of 21,000 people. Most of the earliest residents from the Netherlands, so named after the Dutch city of Amsterdam. 1825 Erie Canal after the opening of the rapid development. 1831 founded the town. 1855 founded the city. The city was founded in 1855. The industry is mainly light industry. There are large-scale carpet and blanket factories, but also produces gloves, shirts, buttons, cartons and other products. There is a historic building, the Guy Parker Homestead (1766), which now serves as a showcase for preserving Indian and colonial artifacts.
The Amsterdam Amsterdam
Very rare all black diamond Amsterdam, 33.74 carats, 145 facets, cut from a 55.85 carat rough stone. This All Black Diamond Amsterdam was found in South Africa. In 2001, the Amsterdam was auctioned at Christie's London for $2,000 USD, making it the highest priced black diamond in the world. Its owner, D. Drukker, put it on public display at the European Diamond Council to commemorate the 700th anniversary of Amsterdam.
Amsterdam, the capital of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, is located on the southwestern shore of Lake Ijssel and has a population of 73.5 million (2003). The Amstel River flows through the city, making it a meeting point for inland water transportation in Europe.
Amsterdam is a curious city. The city*** has more than 160 waterways of all sizes, connected by more than 1,000 bridges. Roaming the city, the bridges are intertwined, rivers and canals. Bird's-eye view from the air, the waves like satin, like a spider's web. The city's terrain is 1-5 meters below sea level, and is known as the "Venice of the North". Due to the scarcity of land and the large number of people, there are nearly 20,000 "boathouses" moored on the river. In the past, almost all of the city's buildings were built on wooden piles coated with black tar to prevent sinking. The foundations of the Royal Palace used 13,659 wooden piles.
"Dan", in Dutch, means dam. It was the Dutch who built the dam that enabled a fishing village 700 years ago to gradually develop into the cosmopolitan city it is today. by the end of the 16th century, Amsterdam had become an important port and trading metropolis, and for a time in the 17th century, it became the world's center of finance, trade, and culture. in 1806, Holland moved its capital city to Amsterdam, but the royal family, the Parliament, the Prime Minister's Office, the central ministries, and the diplomatic corps remained in The Hague.
Amsterdam is the largest industrial city and economic center of the Netherlands, with more than 7,700 industrial enterprises, industrial diamond production accounted for 80% of the world's total. In addition, Amsterdam has the oldest stock exchange in the world.
Amsterdam is the second largest port in the Netherlands. The port is fully modernized. Transportation in and out of the port is very well developed.
Flowers are an important export commodity of the Netherlands. Located in the southwest suburbs of Amsterdam, Asmer Flower Market is the world's largest flower market, flowers are sold to more than 100 countries.
Amsterdam people live on the water, water into the city, people and water together, the scene from the sky. The unique landscape makes Amsterdam's tourism industry is very developed,
Amsterdam is a European city of culture and art. There are 40 museums in the city. The National Museum has a collection of more than one million works of art, including masterpieces by Rembrandt, Hals, and Vermeer, which have become famous around the world. The city's Museum of Modern Art and the Van Gogh Museum are famous for their collections of 17th-century Dutch art, where Van Gogh's The Raven's Field of Wheat and The Peasant Eating Potatoes, completed two days before his death, are on display.
In 1994, Amsterdam and Beijing became sister cities.
Book Amsterdam
Translator: Wang Yiguo
Author: Ian McEwan
Introduction ------
This is a superb black comedy. Vernon, the newspaper editor-in-chief, and Clive, the composer, are old friends whose careers are going from strength to strength. Sensitive to the illness and humiliation suffered by their ex-lover, Molly, before her death, they make a pact: when one of them can no longer live with dignity, the other is obliged to end her life. However, as their careers fall apart, the old friends fall out with each other and their pact turns into a mutual murder. In the end, driven by the darkest desires of human nature, the two men coincidentally end each other's lives by euthanasia in Amsterdam. This book won the 1998 Booker Prize for its outstanding skill and insight into the moral and public life of contemporary Britain.
Preface
Ian McEwan is a British novelist and playwright, born in Aldershot, England, in 1948, who graduated from the University of Sussex, Brighton, and later received an MA from the University of East Anglia. Once involved in the counterculture movement of the 1960s, he later became bored with this anti-rationalist cultural trend and settled in London in 1974. He is a tough, quick-thinking man with a tireless spirit of inquiry. His works are mostly short stories, most of which are bizarre and absurd, and are known as "black comedies". Many works reflect the power of sex to dominate people and the distortion of human nature under the effect of sexual desire. His works include the short story collections First Love, Last Rites (1975) and In Between the Sheets (1978), the novel The Cement Garden (1978), and the play The Imitation Game: Three Plays for Drama (The Imitation Game: Three Plays for Drama). Imitation Game: Three Plays for Television (1981), The Comfort of Strangers (1981). One of these, Love Before Courtesy, won the 1976 Maugham Prize for Literature. Amsterdam, a new novel published in 1998, won the 30th Booker Prize for Fiction that year, marking a new peak in his writing.
A Critically Acclaimed Novel
Upon its release, Amsterdam was met with rave reviews. The Toronto Star wrote, "This year's Booker Prize winner is a charming little black comedy about English vanity. ...... As in all good novels with comedic traits, ominous consequences ensue swiftly and dramatically - the meticulous conception that is the essence of comedy becomes a specialty of McEwan's. Its conclusion is as clean as the finale of a brilliant stage farce."
Canada's Globe and Mail carried an article that said, "It's a crude, well-behaved satire of the current British way of life and morality. ...... Into the woodwork. ...... evocative. A crude black comedy depicting the moral decline of modern Britain."
The National Post wrote, "This is a well-crafted novel. Excellent satire is hard to find ...... However, Amsterdam is a minor masterpiece of this literary genre. McEwan has a remarkable mastery of presenting the unpleasant aspects of human nature in a hilarious way."
The Montreal Gazette wrote, "This is a smart, pungent and entirely enjoyable examination of the late twentieth-century vanity that both fuels self-importance and mocks ambition."
Publishers Weekly in the U.S. carried an article that said, "McEwan is a writer of compelling talent ...... He weaves plots with fluid agility and wit tinged with irony. This is an exploration of ethical issues that is both poignant and clever."
Britain's The Times ran an article saying, "McEwan is a brilliant novelist with a rare and delicate grasp of the language that hides the grim exterior. ...... That is an expression of genuine originality."
The Financial Times wrote, "Cynical and cleverly constructed. Set in the era of the late Major government, it is a twisted, clever and sometimes exciting satire on morality and institutions. The Judges' Gazette in the book is coolly similar to The Times, and the silly things the Judges' Gazette does are hilariously conceived. ...... And in Clive Linley, McEwan sketches a poignantly brilliant portrait of the modern artist. ...... McEwan's prose, like Clive Linley's music, has absolute pitch. ...... Amsterdam is a short, perversely out-of-the-ordinary novel, but has the weight of a much longer book, and tells us more about English morality and public life than any of its contemporaries in fiction or nonfiction realistic literature."
Britain's Guardian newspaper ran an article saying, "An extraordinary work of satire. ...... In his quest to root out our darkest desires, McEwan doesn't leave a stone unturned ...... His greatest skill is in the subtleties of characterization that he shows - -Friendships last by power and rivalry; meaningless victories or defeats in the politics of office are gained in an atmosphere of hypocrisy and fastidiousness; and love affairs, friendships, and marriages never reach their true end."
The quotations are enumerated, and it is not necessary for me to say more. The reader will see for himself, from the foregoing comments, what a weighty book this is.
Author bio ------
McEwan's novels are known for their black comedy. What is black comedy? That's how critics have summarized McEwan, and since it's a critical term, it's not something that can be said in a few words. But the quote from the Toronto Star above gives us some clues. It is clear from them that a so-called black comedy is supposed to be comedic, though dramatized with ominous consequences. In the case of Amsterdam, it begins with the funeral of one man and ends with the deaths of two others, and the chain of events leading to their deaths is sobering. Thus, it can be argued that the so-called black comedy focuses mainly on expressive techniques, and that it would be clearer to consider it as a tragedy without being burdened by terminology. Because no matter how to interpret, as far as the content is concerned, what is shown in the novel is the tragedy caused by the darkest desires of human nature.
Before the body of the novel begins, the author quotes two lines from the English poet and critic Auden, which punctuate the theme of the book: both friends died because of their own mistakes.
The novel begins with a funeral, where people go to the funeral home to say goodbye to Molly Lane. The funeral is attended, naturally, by Molly's husband, George Lane, as well as by Molly's lovers at various times during her life: the composer Clive Linley, the editor-in-chief of a newspaper, Vernon Halliday, and the Foreign Secretary, Julian Gammony. In the meantime, Clive discovers that before he moved in with Morley, when she was only sixteen years old, she seemed to have been having an affair with a Beat Generation poet, Hart Pullman.
Hart could have gone either way. Clive and Vernon were good friends, despite their successive love affairs with Morley, and the three remained friends after Morley's marriage. Molly and Clive were once genuinely in love, but she eventually married George. Although both Clive and Vernon despise George, George naturally has his advantages in marrying Molly: he is a wealthy publisher.
Molly is beautiful and talented. She is very clever, as evidenced by her polite rejection of Clive's marriage proposal. She has a refined taste and an extraordinary appreciation of art, and Clive, as a musician, can't help but admire her musical insights. However, due to suffering from brain death, which is the death of the cerebral cortex, Molly had lost consciousness before her death. This, in Clive's mind, was humiliating and should have been painful.
This is just what Clive thinks. There is a paradox here: since Molly had lost consciousness, she did not realize that she had been humiliated and did not feel any pain. One could say that it is the bystander who thinks that the person in question is in pain, while the person in question is not actually in pain, or whether the person in question is actually in pain will always remain a mystery, because if he knows that he is in pain, then he has not lost his consciousness. It's just a shame that Clive didn't think of this layer.
Vernon also thinks that she would rather kill herself than end up like this. Judging by her character, she would have done so. But it's not like she could have thought that she would end up that way before she lost consciousness; and even if she had thought that she would, and even if she had wanted to kill herself before such an end came, she couldn't have been sure of the moment at which she would have lost consciousness, and couldn't have ended her life in the moment before she lost consciousness.
Of course, not everyone will have such a downfall, but it should be recognized that everyone has the potential for such a downfall.
In this sense, caring about death is also caring about life. But another paradox of life is that the more you care about death, the less you can find a way out and the more you suffer. In contrast, letting go of life and death seems to be the way to go - what happens when you die, just let it go.
But Clive can't let go of life and death. Clive is an artist, and artists are characterized by sensitivity. We don't know whether Molly was in pain, but what he perceived as Molly's pain did cause him pain. Unable to bear that humiliation and pain, he decides to end himself when a dignified life is no longer possible. But when that day came, how could he end himself when he had lost his consciousness? I don't know what to do.
He can only turn to his best friend and old friend, Vernon Halliday. It is no coincidence that Vernon also developed a feeling of death at this time. After thinking about it, he decides to agree to help Clive end his life when that moment arrives - on the condition that, if he also reaches that moment, Clive should also help him end his life. They made a gentleman's agreement.
At the time, their careers were in full swing. Clive was a famous composer and Vernon was the editor-in-chief of a newspaper. Both men were arrogant. Clive was commissioned to write a Millennium Symphony, and he lamented the fact that England had no musical genius like Beethoven, and in his heart, he could be said to be the Beethoven of England. Vernon, who dominated the newspaper, didn't give a damn about his peers, and as a member of the press, he sometimes even thought he had the potential to improve the future of the country. Isn't it strange to think about death and the need to properly organize one's own death at such a moment?
Actually, it's not strange at all. They are in a mid-life crisis. When one reaches middle age, one is certainly skilled and experienced in business, but fatally, one's energy is also not good anymore. Clive in the young time, full of friends, great feeling, now but the group to live, which although there is a change of mood, but no energy to cope with can not be said to be a fundamental reason. Although he enjoys the reputation of "master", but the music produced is either a repetition of the works of his youth, or the imitation of others (such as Beethoven), the reason is also very simple, his creative power has been exhausted, no longer have the same inspiration as in his youth. The same is true of Vernon, who has been burnt out by the newspaper.
They're both talented, they're both struggling, but what they lack is a more reasonable attitude to life. At this point in time, they need guidance the most, but there is no one to guide them. They are all physically and mentally exhausted, and have reached the threshold of their vitality. By the time they realize that they are too tired, it is already too late. This is the tragedy of middle age.
They all encountered things that hurt their brains in the midst of their respective creations and work. They are both suffering from a common modern disease - obsessive-compulsive neuroticism, and they can't get rid of themselves. They have to talk to their best friends, hoping to get each other's understanding. The role of friends is something that no one can replace.
But it didn't work out that way. Instead of getting each other's understanding, their outpouring made them hate each other. They realize that although they have been good friends for many years, they don't understand each other.
They are all "elites", but they all have the weaknesses of the elites - vanity, and the conceit that goes with vanity.
Later, by mistake, due to misunderstanding, but also due to the failure of each other's careers, they turned against each other, from the best of old friends into not **** days of the enemy, until the desire to put each other to death.
Human nature is really the most elusive thing. People in the frustration, not to anger at the enemy, but often to anger at friends, or relatives; people can forgive the enemy, but can not forgive friends, relatives. Many tragedies in the world arise from this.
When Clive and Vernon wanted to put each other to death, they were also driven by the darkest desires of human nature, and tragedy was inevitable. So, coincidentally, they both decide to end each other's lives by resorting to euthanasia in Amsterdam. However, at the time of the story, euthanasia had not yet been legalized in Holland, and its implementation was revealed in the newspapers as a medical scandal. Both Clive and Vernon are inspired by the scandal and kill each other by euthanasia. This went against their original "gentleman's agreement" to help each other from the humiliation or pain of death to murder each other. The darkest desires of human nature in them finally led to tragedy. Both of them left the world at the same time. They finally failed to survive their midlife crisis.
It is tragedy, but in a darkly comic way. We can for a moment see Clive, Vernon and George as love rivals. Molly loves Clive, and Vernon too, with all her heart, but never thinks of marrying them; Clive and Vernon despise George, but Molly marries George, though George never wins her heart. At Molly's funeral, George looks embarrassed because he has to put up with eye-rolling from Molly's ex-lovers. Now that his lovers are dead, he can honor Molly's memory with a dignified ceremony, even though he knows exactly what happened to his marriage to Molly. And, while Vernon's body has yet to be laid to rest, he's already planning to date Vernon's widow - a woman who used to be rather slutty. By the end alone, tragedy has become farce, and that makes the whole thing a black comedy.