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  3. I have been studying the nature of the "lower animals" and contrasting it with that of man. I find the result humiliating(使丢脸)to

I have been studying the nature of the "lower animals" and contrasting it with that of man. I find the result humiliating(使丢脸)to

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问题     I have been studying the nature of the "lower animals" and contrasting it with that of man. I find the result humiliating(使丢脸)to me. For it obliges me to give up my support for the Darwinian theory of the Ascent of Man from the Lower Animals; since it now seems plain to me that that theory ought to be replaced by a new and truer one, the Descent of Man from the Higher Animals.
    In proceeding towards this unpleasant conclusion I have not guessed or speculated, but have used what is commonly called the scientific method. That is to say, I have subjected every hypothesis to the test of actual experiment, and have adopted it or rejected it according to the result.
    Many men who have accumulated more money than they can ever use have shown a violent hunger for more, and have not hesitated to cheat the ignorant and the helpless of their poor savings in order to satisfy that appetite. I furnished a hundred different kinds of wild animals the opportunity to accumulate vast stores of food, but none of them would do it. The bees and certain birds made accumulations, but stopped when they had gathered a winter’s supply, and could not be persuaded to add to it either honestly or by deception. These experiments convinced me that there is the difference between man and the higher animals: he is greedy, they are not.
    Man is the only animal that robs his helpless fellow of his country -- takes possession of it and drives him out of it or destroys him. Man has done this in all the ages. There is not an acre of ground on the globe that is held by its rightful owner, or that has not been taken away from owner after owner, by force and bloodshed.
    Man is the Reasoning Animal. Such is the claim. I think it is open to debate. Indeed, my experiments have proven to me that he is the Unreasoning Animal. His record is the fantastic record of a maniac(狂热者). I consider that the strongest count against his intelligence is the fact that with that record back of him he still sets himself up as the head animal of the lot: whereas by his own standards he is the bottom one.
The tone of the passage is ______.
选项 A、sentimental
B、serious and regretful
C、depressed
D、light yet mockingly serious
答案D
解析 全文作者是在用人和动物作对比来说明人道德的败坏，尤其是第二段，作者强调他所发现的事实是通过科学方法验证的，可知本文的语气是幽默但严肃的，所以选D)。sentimental“感伤的”；regretful“遗憾的”；depressed“抑郁的”。
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大学英语四级

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