2. 职称英语
  3. It is a curious phenomenon of nature that only two species practice the art

It is a curious phenomenon of nature that only two species practice the art

游客2023-07-23  71
问题     It is a curious phenomenon of nature that only two species practice the art of war -- men and ants, both of which, significantly, maintain complex social organizations. This does not mean that only men and ants engage in the murder of their own kind. Many animals of the same species kill each other, but only men and ants have practiced the science of organized destruction, employing their massed numbers in violent combat and relying on strategy and tactics to meet developing situations or to take advantage of the weaknesses in the strategy and tactics of the other side.
    While all entomologists (昆虫学家) are all agreed that war is instinctive with ants, it is encouraging to note that not all anthropologists (人类学家) and biologists are agreed that war is instinctive with men. Those who lean on experience, of course, find everything in man’s history to indicate that war is locked up within his nature. But a broader and more generous, certainly more philosophical, view is held by those scientists who claim that evidence of a war instinct in men is incomplete and misleading, and that man does have within him the power of abolishing (废除) war. Julian Huxley, the English biologist, draws a sharp distinction between human nature and expression of human nature. Thus war is not a reflection but an expression of man’s nature.
    Moreover, the expression may change, as the factors which lead to war may change. "In men, as in ants, war in any serious sense is bound up with the existence of accumulations of property to fight about... As for human nature, it contains no specific war instinct, as does the nature of harvester ants. There is in man’s makeup a general aggressive tendency, but this, like all other human urges, is not a specific and unvarying instinct; it can be molded (塑造) into the most varied forms."
    But even if this gives us a reassuring answer to the question -- is war inevitable because of man’s nature? -- it still leaves unanswered the question concerning the causes leading up to war. The expression of man’s nature will continue to be warlike if the same conditions are continued that have prompted warlike expressions in him in the past. And since man’s survival on earth is now absolutely dependent on his ability to avoid a new war, he is faced with the so-far insoluble problem of eliminating those causes. [br] According to the passage, Julian Huxley’s theory suggests that______.
选项 A、war is inevitable because man has a war instinct in him
B、man’s aggressive tendency is generally expressed in the way of war
C、war is only one way to express man’s aggressive tendency
D、the root cause of war is always the fight for more wealth
答案 C
解析 该题测试对赫胥黎(Huxley)观点的理解。答题依据在文章第二段中间部分。其观点的主要意思是战争不是人类本能的反映，而是人类本能的表现形式。随着导致战争因素的变化，人的本能的表现形式也会有所不同。故[C]是正确答案。
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