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  3. The relationship between personal liberty and social obligation has been an

The relationship between personal liberty and social obligation has been an

游客2023-11-25  20
问题     The relationship between personal liberty and social obligation has been an old topic since ancient times. In the following excerpt, the author lists the traits of both sides. Read the excerpt carefully and write your response in about 300 words, in which you should:
    1. summarize briefly the traits of both sides;
    2. give your comment.
    Marks will be awarded for content relevance, content sufficiency, organization and language quality. Failure to follow the above instructions may result in a loss of marks.
    A stout old lady was walking down the middle of a street in Petrograd to the great confusion of the traffic and with no small peril to herself. It was pointed out to her that the pavement was the place for pedestrians, but she replied: "I’m going to walk where I like. We’ve got liberty now. " It did not occur to the dear old lady that if liberty entitled the pedestrian to walk down the middle of the road, then the end of such liberty would be universal chaos. Everybody would be getting in everybody else’s way and nobody would get anywhere. Individual liberty would have become social anarchy.
    There is a danger of the world getting liberty-drunk in these days like the old lady, and it is just as well to remind ourselves of what the rule of the road means. It means that in order that the liberties of all may be preserved, the liberties of everybody must be curtailed. When the policeman, say, at Piccadilly Circus steps into the middle of the road and puts out his hand, he is the symbol not of tyranny, but of liberty. You may not think so. You may, being in a hurry, and seeing your car pulled up by this insolence of officer, feel that your liberty has been outraged. How dare this fellow interfere with your free use of the public highway? Then, if you are a reasonable person, you will reflect that if he did not interfere with you, he would interfere with no one, and the result would be that Piccadilly Circus would be a maelstrom that you would never cross at all. You have submitted to a curtailment of private liberty in order that you may enjoy a social order which makes your liberty a reality.
    Liberty is not a personal affair only, but a social contract. It is an accommodation of interests. In matters which do not touch anybody else’s liberty, of course, I may be as free as I like. If I choose to go down the road in a dressing-gown, who shall say me nay? You have liberty to laugh at me, but I have liberty to be indifferent to you. And if I have a fancy for dyeing my hair, or wearing an overcoat and sandals, I shall follow my fancy and ask no man’s permission.
    In all these you and I please ourselves and ask no one’s leave. We have a whole kingdom in which we rule alone, can do what we choose, be wise or ridiculous, harsh or easy, conventional or odd. But directly we step out of that kingdom, our personal liberty of action becomes qualified by other people’s liberty. I might like to practice the trombone from midnight till three in the morning. If I went on to the top of Everest to do it, I could please myself, but if I do it in my bedroom my family will object, and if I do it out in the streets, the neighbors will remind me that my liberty to blow the trombone must not interfere with their liberty to sleep in quiet. There are a lot of people in the world, and I have to accommodate my liberty to theirs’.
    We are all liable to forget this, and unfortunately we are much more conscious of the imperfections of others in this respect than of our own. A reasonable consideration for the rights or feelings of others is the foundation of social conduct.
    Write your response on ANSWER SHEET FOUR.
选项
答案             The Relationship Between Personal Liberty and Social Obligation
    The story of the old lady brings the debate on the relationship between personal liberty and the prerequisite of it. Without interference of one sort or another, individual liberty runs the risk of falling into social anarchy. It is social order that makes personal freedom a reality. More importantly, people have to accommodate their liberty to others’ to maintain the balance of social conduct, which is ignored by most of us.
    Thousands of years ago, philosophers dwelt on the essence of liberty, each proposing their unique understanding of it. Millenniums later, this topic still befuddles us who should have been more open-minded and tolerant of others thanks to the evolution of civilization. How should we balance our personal freedom and others’ free will? More than a social issue, liberty extends far into the ethic realm.
    Among those philosophers who shed lights on the nature of liberty, John Locke echoes the strongest voice; "Persons have a right or liberty to follow their own will in all things that the law has not prohibited and not be subject to the inconstant, uncertain, unknown, and arbitrary wills of others. " This means to exercise our freedom, we must show respect for others’ legitimate freedom, which is ensured by comprehensive laws. To neuter others’ rights and throttlehold their justified behavior is, in essence, to ostracize our own freedom.
    Liberty, at the most basic level, is a social contract we follow to maintain the mutual and maximum benefits for us all. Otherwise, the society may fall victim to vexing chaos.
    So instead of being the puppet of our fitful tantrum which may intrude into others’ life, we may as well think twice before we exercise our own liberty. After all, we don’t live in vacuum, nor are we ready to time-travel back to that barbaric jungle world.
解析 本题探讨的是个人自由与社会责任之间的关系，属于品德修养类话题。本题要求简要概括所给材料中的观点，并发表自己的评论。在具体行文方面，考生可以开篇点题，简要概括材料中的观点；第二、三段可以提出自己对这一问题的观点，并给出论据；最后一段总结全文，重述论点或者升华主题。
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