单选题
英语六级
2008-10-24
Passage Two
Questions 22 to 26 are based on the following passage.
What our society suffers from most today is the absence of consensus about what the society and life in it ought to be. Such consensus cannot be gained from society's present stage, or from fantasies about what it ought to be. For that the present is too close and too diversified and the future too uncertain, to make believable claims about it. A consensus in the present hence can be achieved only through a shared understanding of the past, as Homer's epics informed those who lived centuries later what it meant to be Greek, and by what images and myth they were to live their lives and organize their societies.
Most societies derive consensus from a long history, a language all their own, a common religion, or common ancestry. The myths by which they live are based on all of these. But the United States is a country of immigrants, coming from a great variety of nations. Lately, it has been emphasized that an asocial narcissistic ( 自我陶醉的) personality has become characteristic of Americans, and that it is this type of personality that makes for the lack of well-being, because it prevents, us from achieving consensus that would counteract a tendency to withdraw into private worlds. In this study of narcissism, Christopher Lasch says that modem man, "tortured by self consciousness, turns to new therapies not to free himself of his personal worries but to find meaning and purpose in life, to find something to live for. " There is widespread distress because national morale has declined, and we have lost an earlier sense of national vision and purpose.
Contrary to rigid religions or political beliefs, as are found in totalitarian societies, our culture is one of the great individual differences, at least in principle and in theory. But this leads to disunity, even chaos. Americans believe in the value of diversity, but just because ours is a society based on individual diversity, it needs consensus about some dominating ideas more than societies based on uniform origin of their citizens. Hence, if we are to have consensus, it must be based on a myth a vision about a common experience, a conquest that made us Americans, as the myth about the conquest of Troy formed the Greeks. Only a common myth can Offer relief from the fear that life is without meaning or purpose. Myths permit us to examine our place in the world by comparing it to a shared idea. Myths are shared fantasies that form the tie that binds the individual to other members of his group. Such myths help to ward off feelings of isolation, guilt, anxiety,and purposelessness in short, they combat isolation and the breakdown of social standards and values.
In the author's view, the greatest trouble with the US society lies in the_______
A.lack of serious disagreement over the organizations of social life
B.non-existence of unanimity on th
参考答案
B
答案解析
【设题处】观点处设题
【解析】选[B]。文章首句就表明了作者的观点:如今社会最大的问题是,我们对社会以及生活应该是什么样子缺乏一致意见,[B]正是对此的同义转述。[A]中的lack of serious disagreement(没有严重的分歧)与原文中absence of consensus相反;[C]中的social reforms(社会改革)将原文的内容范围缩小了;[D]在原文中未提及。
【解析】选[B]。文章首句就表明了作者的观点:如今社会最大的问题是,我们对社会以及生活应该是什么样子缺乏一致意见,[B]正是对此的同义转述。[A]中的lack of serious disagreement(没有严重的分歧)与原文中absence of consensus相反;[C]中的social reforms(社会改革)将原文的内容范围缩小了;[D]在原文中未提及。
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A.the present is varying too fast to be caught up easily
B.the future may be so indefinite as to be unpredictable
C.the past can help to shape a consensus in the present
D.the past determines social moralities for later generations
A.the want of shared myths they possess in life
B.the multiracial constituents of the US society
C.the absence of a common religion and ancestry
D.the obstruction of achieving a general agreement
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B.radical reformer
C.earnest nationalist
D.advanced psychologist