2. 职称英语
  3. A strange thing about humans is their capacity for blind rage. Rage is presu

A strange thing about humans is their capacity for blind rage. Rage is presu

游客2025-04-09  21
问题     A strange thing about humans is their capacity for blind rage. Rage is presumably an emotion resulting from survival instinct, but the surprising thing about it is that we do not deploy it against other animals. If we encounter a dangerous wild animal—a poisonous snake or a wildcat-we do not fly into a temper. If we are unarmed, we show fear and attempt to back away; if we are suitably armed, we attack, but in a rational manner not in a rage. We reserve rage for our own species. It is hard to see any survival value in attacking one’ s own, but if we take account of the long competition which must have existed between our own subspecies and others like Neanderthal mar—indeed others still more remote from us than Neanderthal man—man rage becomes more comprehensible.
    In our everyday language and behavior there are many reminders of those early struggles. We are always using tile words "us and them". "Our" side is perpetually trying to do down the "other" side. In games we artificially create other subspecies we can attack. The opposition of "us" and "them" is the touchstone of the two-party system of "democratic" politics. Although there are no very serious consequences to many of this modern psychological representation of the "us and them" emotion, it is as well to remember that the original aim was not to beat the other subspecies in a game but to exterminate it.
    The readiness with which human beings allow themselves to be regimented has permitted large armies to be formed, which, taken together with the "us and them" blind rage, has led to destructive clashes within our subspecies itself. The First World War is an example in which Europe divided itself into two imaginary subspecies. And there is a similar extermination battle now in Northern Ireland. The idea that there is a religious basis for this clash is illusory, for not even the pope has been able to control it. The clash is much more primitive than the Christian religion, much older in its emotional origin. The conflict in Ireland is unlikely to stop until a greater primitive fear is imposed from outside the community, or until tile combatants become exhausted. [br] The passage suggests that_____.
选项 A、historically, we have created an "us" versus "them" society
B、humans have had a natural disinclination toward formal grouping
C、the First World War is an example of how man has always avoided domination
D、the emotional origin of the war in Ireland is lost in time
答案 A
解析 本题的依据句是文中的“but if we take account of the long competition…existed between our ownsubspecies and others like Neanderthal man…”“In our everyday language and behavior there are manyreminders of those early struggles”“…the original aim…to exterminate it”。据此可知，人类从穴居甚至更早的时候就存在着竞争，这种竞争是以我们消灭他们为目标的。因此A项“一直以来人类社会都将我们(us)与他们(them)分得很清楚”为正确答案。
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