Give it a population of 300,000, about the same as Coventry, 70 per cent of them in the cities of Reykjavik and Akureyri. Ensure they are all related and give the majority the ability to trace their ancestry back to the times of settlement, more than a thousand years earlier. Endow these people with industry and ambition. Give them their own language – all but unchanged for a millennium – a literary tradition, three national newspapers, two television channels, free universal healthcare and education and close to zero unemployment. Give this country a consistently high ranking in the world standard-of-living charts and you have the Iceland of the recent past. Not a bad place, all in all.
冰岛有30万人口，与考文垂人口数大致相同，其中70%居住在雷克雅末克和阿库雷里这两座城市。他们都有亲缘关系，大多数人的祖先都能追溯到逾一千年前的定居时代。这个岛赋予了这些人产业和雄心。他们有自己的语言，千年来差不多没怎么变化，他们有着文学传统，三份全国性报纸，两个电视频道，免费全民保健和教育，失业率接近零。冰岛这个国家在世界生活水平图表上一直名列前茅。现在你了解了冰岛在不久前的情况。总的来说，是个还不赖的地方。