A group of Labour MPs, among them Yvette Cooper, are bringing in the new year with a call to institute a UK “town of culture” award. The proposal is that it should sit alongside the existing city of culture title, which was held by Hull in 2017, and has been awarded to Coventry for 2021. Cooper and her colleagues argue that the success of the crown for Hull, where it brought in £220m of investment and an avalanche of arts, ought not to be confined to cities. Britain’s towns, it is true, are not prevented from applying, but they generally lack the resources to put together a bid to beat their bigger competitors. A town of culture award could, it is argued, become an annual event, attracting funding and creating jobs.

    Some might see the proposal as a booby prize for the fact that Britain is no longer able to apply for the much more prestigious title of European capital of culture, a sought-after award bagged by Glasgow in 1990 and Liverpool in 2008. A cynic might speculate that the UK is on the verge of disappearing into an endless fever of self-celebration in its desperation to reinvent itself for the post-Brexit world: after town of culture, who knows what will follow—village of culture? Suburb of culture? Hamlet of culture?

    It is also wise to recall that such titles are not a cure-all. A badly run “year of culture” washes in and washes out of a place like the tide, bringing prominence for a spell but leaving no lasting benefits to the community. The really successful holders of such titles are those that do a great deal more than fill hotel bedrooms and bring in high-profile arts events and good press for a year. They transform the aspirations of the people who live there; they nudge the self-image of the city into a bolder and more optimistic light.

    It is hard to get right, and requires a remarkable degree of vision, as well as cooperation between city authorities, the private sector, community groups and cultural organisations. But it can be done: Glasgow’s year as European capital of culture can certainly be seen as one of a complex series of factors that have turned the city into the powerhouse of art, music and theatre that it remains today.

    A “town of culture” could be not just about the arts but about honouring a town’s peculiarities—helping sustain its high street, supporting local facilities and above all celebrating its people. Jeremy Wright, the culture secretary, should welcome this positive, hope-filled proposal, and turn it into action.

答案精析：本题为细节题。根据题干中的Paragraph 2和the proposal可定位至原文第二段第一句。题干中的regarded...as...是对文中see...as...的同义替换，该句指出，有些人将提案视为a booby prize（安慰奖），根据后文可知，人们将提案视为a booby prize是因为英国已无法再申请“欧洲文化之都”这样知名度较高的荣誉称号了。本段第二句接着提到，而愤世嫉俗者认为，英国在脱欧后急于重塑自身形象，正逐渐湮没在自我庆祝的无尽狂欢中。结合这两种看法可以推断出，一些人对提案的看法是消极的、负面的：因为无法申请更好的荣誉称号，所以设立一种具有自我欺骗性质的安慰奖来作为替代品，因此B项正确。

错项排除：A项中的sensible compromise在文中并无与此相关的表述，可直接排除。C项中的bonus主要是针对文中出现的award来设置干扰，但文中所说的提案是设立a “town of culture” award，并没有对有无奖金作具体描述，故C项排除。原文说英国无法再申请诸如“欧洲文化之都”这样的荣誉称号了，并不是说提案中的“文化之镇”是无法达到的目标，故D项排除。

长难句分析：Some might see the proposal as a booby prize for the fact that Britain is no longer able to apply for the much more prestigious title of European capital of culture, a sought-after award bagged by Glasgow in 1990 and Liverpool in 2008.

本句为复合句。句子主干为Some might see the proposal as a booby prize，是主谓宾结构。for the fact that之后部分为原因状语从句，从句中主语为Britain，谓语为is no longer able to apply for，介词for后面为宾语。a sought-after award 是前面European capital of culture的同位语，bagged by Glasgow in 1990 and Liverpool in 2008作后置定语修饰a sought-after award。

句意为：有些人可能会认为这个提案不过是一种安慰奖，因为英国已经无法再申请“欧洲文化之都”这种更具知名度的荣誉称号了。“欧洲文化之都”这一颇受欢迎的称号在1990年由格拉斯哥市获得，在2008年由利物浦市获得。