首页
登录
职称英语
A stout old lady was walking with her basket down the middle of a street in
A stout old lady was walking with her basket down the middle of a street in
游客
2025-04-15
21
管理
问题
A stout old lady was walking with her basket 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 with the basket, 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 office, 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 waxing my moustache(which heaven forbid), or wearing an overcoat and sandals, or going to bed late or getting up early, I shall follow my fancy and ask no man’s permission. I shall not inquire of you whether I may eat mustard with my mutton. And you will not ask me whether you may follow this religion or that, whether you may prefer Ella Wheeler Wilcox to Wordsworth, or champagne to shandy.
In all these and a thousand other details 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 on 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 their liberties.
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. It is in the small matters of conduct, in the observance of the rule of the road, that we pass judgment upon ourselves, and declare that we are civilized or uncivilized. The great moments of heroism and sacrifice are rare. It is the little habits of commonplace intercourse that make up the great sum of life and sweeten or make bitter the journey. [br] The author might have stated his "rule of the road" as______.
选项
A、do not walk in the middle of the road
B、follow the orders of policemen
C、do not behave inconsiderately in public
D、do what you like in private
答案
C
解析
主旨归纳题。题干中的“might have+过去分词”,意为“可能”。根据题干中的关键词rule ofthe road与原文第二段首句重现,定位答案。作者用“rule of the road”作为一种暗喻来说明社会风气,也就是对别人表现出体谅,故答案为C。注意原文第二段第二句means后的内容是解答本题的关键。
转载请注明原文地址:https://tihaiku.com/zcyy/4038271.html
相关试题推荐
Duringthepastgeneration,theAmericanmiddle-classfamilythatoncecould
Mountainbikingdemandshill—walkingstrengthaswellastrack-ridingskills.
Summerholidaysspentonthehotghettostreetsare______thetimemiddle-classs
Hewas______inthestreetsoftheMexicancapitalbymorethanamillionpeople,
Satellitecommunicationaresoup-to-datethatevenwhen______inthemiddleof
InmanyMiddleEasterncultures,deadlineistakenasa(n)______andsuchbusines
Astoutoldladywaswalkingwithherbasketdownthemiddleofastreetin
Astoutoldladywaswalkingwithherbasketdownthemiddleofastreetin
Astoutoldladywaswalkingwithherbasketdownthemiddleofastreetin
Hehadhislegbrokeninthebasketballmatch.______,hehastobeawayfromsch
随机试题
AmericanThanksgivingsAccordingtotradition,thefirstAm
CertainphrasesonecommonlyhearsamongAmericanscapturetheirdevotionto
Certainlynocreatureintheseaisodderthanthecommonseacucumber.
血压通常用毫米汞柱表示,也可用千帕表示,二者之间的换算关系是A.5.5mmHg=
A.少腹部 B.脐以下部位 C.上腹胃脘部近心窝处 D.胃脘以下、耻骨毛际
X线透视可见两侧膈下线条状或新月状透光影,多见于A.胃溃疡B.胃癌C.胃肠道穿孔
炉贝药材的原植物是A:川贝母B:暗紫贝母C:甘肃贝母D:梭砂贝母E:新疆
皮亚杰认为认知阶段出现的先后次序是不变的。 ()
一牧区青年,20岁,饮食以肉类为主,平日反复牙龈出血、鼻出血、皮下出血。从营养学
胸膜腔穿刺术的注意点中,下列哪项是错误的A.-般选腋后线第7或第8肋间隙穿刺抽液
最新回复
(
0
)