首页
登录
职称英语
Why in an age of advanced technology, should so many people still cling to a
Why in an age of advanced technology, should so many people still cling to a
游客
2023-08-12
71
管理
问题
Why in an age of advanced technology, should so many people still cling to an ancient belief? In part it must be because astrology—claims to tell us something about ourselves, and all of us are interested in ourselves. I think it is because astrology is presented as if it were a science by its modern practitioner, and many people are misled by this.
In fact, astrology was never a science. It was not a hypothesis or theory developed to describe natural phenomena, and until fairly recent times, there was not attempt to test or verify its predictions. Astrology began approximately three thousand years ago in Babylonia; it was applied to monarchs and kingdoms, but not to individuals. It spread in the 6th century BC as far as India, where it flourishes today. The Egyptians, meanwhile, developed their own kind of astrology. But the astrology now practiced in Europe and America is that developed by the Greeks, who synthesized the ideas of the Babylonians and Egyptians and enriched them with concepts from their own fertile imaginations. The Greeks believed that the earth was composed of four elements, and the heavens of a perfect crystalline material. The planets themselves were variously thought to be gods, residences of gods, or at least manifestations of gods. The gods were immortal, but otherwise had the same attributes of anger, happiness, jealousy, rage and pleasure as we do. Now if what the gods’ thought was capricious(变化无常的), at least the planets were predictable in their movements. Because our own lot in life is so unpredictable, it must be purely at the mercy of gods. But if the gods are the planets, or somehow associated with them, then we have only to learn the rules of the motions of the planets to understand the whims of the gods and how they shape our own lives. So the belief developed that each of our lives is preordained by the precise configuration of the planets in the sky at the time of our birth.
Astrology could not, of course, have seemed as incredible to the ancients as it does to us. The role of the sun influencing our daily and yearly lives is obvious; it was a natural extension to attribute other powers to the other planets as well. It wasn’t until the time of Newton that we understood that the laws of Nature apply to the celestial worlds as well as to the terrestrial one. During antiquity, however, all great scholars believed in astrology. [br] What is the author’s purpose in writing the passage?
选项
A、To cast doubt on the origin of astrology.
B、To compare astrology with real sciences.
C、To point out the popularity of astrology.
D、To justify the incredibility of astrology.
答案
D
解析
首段首句和第2段首句都表明作者认为占星术并非science,末段首句更明确表明占星术incredible,由此可见,本文的写作目的是为了解释为什么占星术不可信。
转载请注明原文地址:https://tihaiku.com/zcyy/2918390.html
相关试题推荐
出国留学能够丰富知识、开阔视野,同时也可以培养人的独立性。Studyingabroadcannotonlyenrichpeople’sknowle
随着人民生活水平和消费水平的提高,中国的垃圾问题日益严峻。Withtheimprovementofpeople’slivingstandardsa
[originaltext][20]Itiswellthatyoungmenshouldbeginatthebeginninga
[originaltext]W:Oneofthewaysmobiletechnologyisadaptingisbygettingcl
[originaltext]W:Oneofthewaysmobiletechnologyisadaptingisbygettingcl
[originaltext]W:Oneofthewaysmobiletechnologyisadaptingisbygettingcl
[originaltext]W:Hey,Sam![5]YoushouldtakealookatthisarticleaboutCana
[originaltext]W:Hey,Sam![5]YoushouldtakealookatthisarticleaboutCana
[originaltext]W:Hey,Sam![5]YoushouldtakealookatthisarticleaboutCana
Innovation,theeffectiverecipeofprogress,hasalwayscostpeopletheirj
随机试题
Ican’tstay________long.A、toB、atC、forC本题考查介词。for后面加表示时间的词。Ican’tstayforl
You’dthinkPaulineHordwouldhaveservedhertimebynow.Afterall,shere
牡丹是洛阳的市花,洛阳每年4月都举办牡丹花会。“花中之王”牡丹在中国已有2400余年的人工栽培历史。唐宋年间,洛阳家家有牡丹。许多大诗人,如李白、杜甫
Ittookthreemonthsforthetwocompaniestoreachan(agree)______.agreement动词
[originaltext]M:Congratulations!Ijustheardaboutyouracceptanceintolaws
Thechangeinthatvillagewasmiraculou
设立合伙企业应当具备的条件之一是有( )以上合伙人。A.1个 B.2个 C
按股票持有者分类,股票可分为( )。A、流通股 B、社会公众股 C
关于渎职犯罪,下列哪些选项是正确的?()(2016年)A.县财政局副局长秦某工
出口食用动物饲料生产企业的登记备案本着自愿原则。( )
最新回复
(
0
)