2. 外语
  3. What our society suffers from most today is the absence of consensus about what it and life in it ought to be; such consensus ca

What our society suffers from most today is the absence of consensus about what it and life in it ought to be; such consensus ca

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问题     What our society suffers from most today is the absence of consensus about what it and life in it ought to be; such consensus cannot be gained from society’s present stage, or from fantasies about what it ought to be. For that the present is too close and too diversified, and the future too uncertain, to make believable claims about it. A consensus in the present hence can be achieved only through a shared understanding of the past, as Homer’s epics informed those who lived centuries later what it meant to be Greek, and by what images and ideals they were to live their lives and organize their societies.
    Most societies derive consensus from a long history, a language all their own, a common religion, common ancestry. The myths by which they live are based on all of these. But the United States is a country of immigrants, coming from a great variety of nations. Lately, it has been emphasized that an asocial, narcissistic personality has become characteristic of Americans, and that it is this type of personality that makes for the lack of well-being, because it prevents us from achieving consensus that would counteract a tendency to withdraw into private worlds. In this study of narcissism, Christopher Lash says that modern man, "tortured by self-consciousness, turns to new therapies not to free himself of his personal worries but to find meaning and purpose in life, to find something to live for". There is widespread distress because national morale has declined, and we have lost an earlier sense of national vision and purpose.
    Contrary to rigid religions or political beliefs, as are found in totalitarian societies, our culture is one of the great individual differences, at least in principle and in theory; but this leads to disunity, even chaos. Americans believe in the value of diversity, but just because ours is a society based on individual diversity, it needs consensus about some dominating ideas more than societies based on uniform origin of their citizens. Hence, if we are to have consensus, it must be based on a myth—a vision about a common experience, a conquest that made us Americans, as the myth about the conquest of Troy formed the Greeks. Only a common myth can offer relief from the fear that life is without meaning or purpose. Myths permit us to examine our place in the world by comparing it to a shared idea. Myths are shared fantasies that form the tie that binds the individual to other members of his group. Such myths help to ward off feelings of isolations, guilt, anxiety, and purposelessness—in short, they combat isolation and the breakdown of social standards and values.
It can be inferred from Paragraph 2 that Christopher Lash is most probably______.
选项 A、a reform advocate
B、a senior psychologist
C、a reputed poet
D、a social historian
答案D
解析 题干问：“从第二段我们可以推论出克里斯托弗拉西可能是……”。本题可以从两个角度来考虑：第，作者谈论只有了解过去的历史才能为我们将来的思维作出种果断和明确的判断；第二，整篇文章所讲的是个社会方面的问题。因此D“个社会历史学家”是最符合文章的选项。而选项A“个改革的鼓吹者”，选项B“个资深的心理学家”和选项C“个很有名望的诗人”都不符合题意。
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