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
2024-04-03
28
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/3539007.html
相关试题推荐
[originaltext]IntheUnitedStates,manypeopleoncelivedinlarge,two-and-th
[originaltext]Manypeoplewhodrinkalcoholalsoliketosmokecigarettes.Drin
[originaltext]Manypeoplewhodrinkalcoholalsoliketosmokecigarettes.Drin
ShouldMedicalSchoolsTurntoThree-yearPrograms?[A]ForTravisHill,
ShouldMedicalSchoolsTurntoThree-yearPrograms?[A]ForTravisHill,
ShouldMedicalSchoolsTurntoThree-yearPrograms?[A]ForTravisHill,
ShouldMedicalSchoolsTurntoThree-yearPrograms?[A]ForTravisHill,
TheImpactofanOver-relianceonTechnologyonEducationForthispart,youare
PeoplewhospendalotoftimesurfingtheInternetaremorelikelytoshow
PeoplewhospendalotoftimesurfingtheInternetaremorelikelytoshow
随机试题
[originaltext]M:Hello,Mrs.Kelly.I’dliketopickupmytest,please.W:Sur
____________(贸易好转)isapparentinnearlyallaspects.Aturnforthebetterin
7个月女婴,腹泻3天,大便水样,10余次/天.半天无尿。体检:呼吸深,前囟、眼眶
在计量证券信用风险中,对客户信用评级的计量方法包括()。 Ⅰ.专家判断法
Buerger病的手术治疗是A.交感神经切除术 B.静脉瓣膜修复术 C.F
证券组合业绩评估通常采取的指数包括()。A:詹森指数 B:特雷诺指数 C:夏
很多银行为VIP客户提供比一般客户更加优惠、便捷的服务,这违反了“公平对待”原则
甲公司贷款诈骗案 甲有限公司(以下简称甲公司)经营管理不善,连年亏损。201
下列不属于架空通风屋面优点的是( )。A.构造简单 B.造价低廉 C.后期
金属切削机床是加工机器零件的设备,其工作原理是利用刀具与工件的相对运动加工出符合
最新回复
(
0
)