The national flag of Denmark is the oldest in the world. Its called “Dannebrog”， which means “Danish Cloth”. The look now is a white Scandinavian（斯堪的納維亞的）cross on a red background. It looks pretty against the clear blue sky. It was first designed in 1625. Currently1， a lot of other European countries use similar looks for their flags.

Danes love their country and their national flags. In Denmark， the flag can be seen everywhere： streets， cakes， backpacks，on top of roofs， etc. The queen of Denmarks royal yacht2 has the same name “Dannebrog”. It was named after the flag. On special holidays， buses in Copenhagen fly little flags. When you see many little flags， maybe its royal members birthdays or weddings. And every family in Denmark also celebrates birthdays with flags too！ You can buy napkins3， paper plates， cups， and small flags. When its New Years Eve， people also decorate4 with the flag.

Maybe there is no other country that loves their flags as much as Denmark does. For local people， the bigger the flag flying over their houses， the better. For Danes， the flag is a statement of joy. No one ever says anything negative5 about the flag.

Danes carry their national flags with them even when they are abroad. The focus of their love， is not only the flag， but their country， and the pride of being Danish.

丹麥國旗是世界各國國旗中最古老的。“Dannebrog”意為“丹麥人的布”。國旗為紅色背景，白色斯堪的納維亞十字設計。在清澈藍天的襯托下，它顯得格外漂亮。丹麥國旗最早設計于1625年。目前，歐洲很多其他國家的國旗與丹麥國旗相似。

丹麥人熱愛自己的國家，也熱愛他們的國旗。在丹麥，國旗隨處可見：街道、蛋糕、背包、屋頂……丹麥女王的皇家游艇也叫“Dannebrog”，正是以國旗命名的。有特別慶典時，哥本哈根的巴士上會懸掛小國旗。看到這些小國旗，你會知道要么是皇室成員的生日，要么是皇室婚禮。不僅如此，丹麥的每個家庭也會用國旗來慶祝生日。你可以買國旗紙巾、國旗紙盤、國旗杯子和小國旗。新年前夜，人們還會用國旗當作裝飾品。

也許沒有其他國家像丹麥那樣，更熱愛國旗。對當?shù)厝藖碚f，屋頂上飛舞的國旗越大越好。在丹麥人心中，國旗代表歡樂，從不會有人說國旗的壞話。

即使出國，丹麥人也常常攜帶國旗。他們熱愛的不僅是古老的國旗，更是他們的祖國和作為丹麥人的驕傲與自豪。

Tip

as much as：文中as much as表示兩個事物之間程度的比較，翻譯時可以處理成“和……一樣（的程度）”“如同……一樣（的程度）”，而不是大多數(shù)同學認為的表示數(shù)量“和……一樣多”。如：We want to succeed and do well just as much as you want us to. 我們想獲得成功，盡量表現(xiàn)得像你想要的那樣好。

當然，as much as也可以表示數(shù)量，意為“……之多”“多達”。如：We walked as much as 10 kilometers that day. 那天我們走了10公里之多。在這個句子中，10 kilometers雖然是復數(shù)形式，但在意義上表示一個整體概念，所以用as much as。