問題詳情

41-50 閱讀測驗 I. 41-45 題 Human life in common is only made possible when a majority comestogether which is stronger than any separate individual and which remainsunited against all separate individuals. The power of this community isthen set up as ‘right’ in opposition to the power of the individual, which iscondemned as ‘brute force’. This replacement of the power of theindividual by the power of a community constitutes the decisive step ofcivilisation. The essence of it lies in the fact that the members of thecommunity restrict themselves in their possibilities of satisfaction,whereas the individual knew no such restrictions. The first requisite ofcivilisation is that of justice—that is, the assurance that a law once madewill not be broken in favour of an individual. This implies nothing as tothe ethical value of such a law. The further course of cultural developmentseems to tend towards making the law no longer an expression of the willof a small community—a caste or a stratum of the population or a racialgroup—which, in its turn, behaves like a violent individual towards other,and perhaps more numerous, collections of people. The final outcomeshould be a rule of law to which all—except those who are not capable ofentering a community—have contributed by a sacrifice of their instincts,and which leaves no one—again with the same exception—at the mercy ofbrute force.The liberty of the individual is no gift of civilisation. It was greatest beforethere was any civilisation, though then, it is true, it had for the most partno value, since the individual was scarcely in a position to defend it. Thedevelopment of civilisation imposes restrictions on it, and justice demandsthat no one shall escape those restrictions. What makes itself felt in ahuman community as a desire for freedom may be their revolt againstsome existing injustice, and so may prove favourable to a furtherdevelopment of civilisation; it may remain compatible with civilisation.But it may also spring from the remains of their original personality, whichis still untamed by civilisation and may thus become the basis in them ofhostility to civilisation. The urge for freedom, therefore, is directed againstparticular forms and demands of civilisation or against civilisationaltogether. It does not seem as though any influence could induce a man tochange his nature into a termite’s. No doubt he will always defend hisclaim to individual liberty against the will of the group. A good part of thestruggles of mankind centre round the single task of finding an expedientaccommodation—one, that is, that will bring happiness—between thisclaim of the individual and the cultural claims of the group; and one of theproblems that touch the fate of humanity is whether such anaccommodation can be reached by means of some particular form ofcivilisation or whether this conflict is irreconcilable.
41. Which of the following titles would best suit this article?
(A) The Loss of Individual Liberty.
(B) The Import of Justice.
(C) The difficulty of Regulating Social Relationships.
(D) The Harmony between Individuals and a Community.

參考答案

答案：D
難度：適中0.47619
統計：A(4),B(7),C(9),D(20),E(0)

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