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
2024-04-04
46
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/3540959.html
相关试题推荐
Whyinanageofadvancedtechnology,shouldsomanypeoplestillclingtoa
Whyinanageofadvancedtechnology,shouldsomanypeoplestillclingtoa
AskmostpeoplehowtheydefinetheAmericanDreamandchancesarethey’lls
Peoplehavewonderedforalongtimehowtheirpersonalitiesandbehaviorsa
Peoplehavewonderedforalongtimehowtheirpersonalitiesandbehaviorsa
Peoplehavewonderedforalongtimehowtheirpersonalitiesandbehaviorsa
Ihaveworkedwithsomanypeopleovertheyearsthathavemademewonderho
Ihaveworkedwithsomanypeopleovertheyearsthathavemademewonderho
Ihaveworkedwithsomanypeopleovertheyearsthathavemademewonderho
Ihaveworkedwithsomanypeopleovertheyearsthathavemademewonderho
随机试题
PeopleintheUnitedStatesinthenineteenthcenturywerehauntedbythepr
Redisthe______colorofaweddinggowninChinaalthoughsomebridesliketo
Canadianelectionsareheldatleastevery______years.A、4B、5C、6D、7B加拿大大选每5年
试讲题目:故事《大熊猫的拥抱节》 清晨,大熊早早就出了门。今天是森林城一年一度
呼吸链中属于脂溶性成分的是A.CoQ B.FMN C.NAD D.Cyt
沥青混合料拌和时应先将各种矿料加热拌和后再加沥青。
下列权利中,不属于物权的是()。A.抵押权 B.房屋产权 C.
共用题干 患者男性,45岁,暴饮暴食后出现上腹阵发性疼痛,并伴有腹胀,恶心呕吐
SWOT分析方法中,“S”和“W”分别代表()。 A.劣势;机会B.优势;
汉宣帝地节四年下诏曰:“自今子首匿父母、妻匿夫、孙匿大父母,皆勿坐。其父母匿子、
最新回复
(
0
)