首页
外语
计算机
考研
公务员
职业资格
财经
工程
司法
医学
专升本
自考
实用职业技能
登录
外语
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
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
admin
2017-06-30
102
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 then 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.
The author’s attitude to the old lady in paragraph one is______.
选项
A、condescending
B、intolerant
C、objective
D、supportive
答案
A
解析
本题是态度题。第一段论述老妇人过马路这件事,从“Everybody wouldbe getting in everybody else’s way and nobody would get anywhere.Individual libertywould have become social anarchy.”表示出他并不赞成其行为,但其语气是谦逊的,故选A。B项intolerant“无法忍受的”;C项objective“客观的”;D项supportive“支持的”。
转载请注明原文地址:https://kaotiyun.com/show/2cFO777K
0
考博英语
相关试题推荐
InMicrosoft’slatestattempttoreachouttobloggers,thecompanyrecentlygaveawayexpensivelaptopsloaded【C1】______itsnew
InMicrosoft’slatestattempttoreachouttobloggers,thecompanyrecentlygaveawayexpensivelaptopsloaded【C1】______itsnew
Thereisacloserrelationshipbetweenmoralsandarchitectureandinteriordecoration【C1】______wesuspect.Huxleyhaspointedo
Ascorchingsun,anendlessseaofsandandawaterless,forbiddinglylonelyland—thatistheimagemostpeoplehaveofdeserts.
Perhapsallcriminalsshouldberequiredtocarrycardswhichread:Fragile;HandlewithCare.Itwillneverso,thesedaystogo
Thecurrentpoliticaldebateoverfamilyvalues,personalresponsibility,andwelfaretakesforgrantedtheentrenchedAmerican
Exportofhandicraftproductsisthemainstayofthecounty’seconomy.
Over-cultivationandalongperiodoferosionhasreducedthe_____ofmuchofthecountry’sfarmland.
WhowontheWorldCup1994footballgame?WhathappenedattheUnitedNations?Howdidthecriticslikethenewplay?【C1】______a
随机试题
下列物质既是饱和一元醇,又属脂肪醇的是()。
产生房水的器官是
在医院调剂室,药士从事的工作主要是
假设开发法是一种科学实用的估价方法,其基本理论依据与()相同。
2005年1月1日试行首次公开发行股票询价制度。按照中国证监会的规定,首次公开发行股票的公司应通过向其保荐人询价的方式确定股票发行价格。()
与个人理财业务相关的行政法规有()。
既能丰富培训对象的工作经历,也能较好地识别培训对象的长处和短处的培训方式是()。
(2016·山东)有意义的学习既受学习资料性质的影响,也与学习者自身原有的认知结构有关。()
狐獴习惯性地徘徊在山上的小河边,在小河附近经常能发现狐獠喜好食用的野生苔藓。因为小河散发出某种微弱的特殊气味,生物学家得出结论:狐獴通过嗅觉来定位小河,从而发现野生苔藓。下面哪一项,如果正确,最能反驳科学家的结论?
OlympicGamesareheldeveryfouryearsatadifferentsite,inwhichathletes【21】differentnationscompeteagainsteachotheri
最新回复
(
0
)