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
When does history begin? It is tempting to reply ’hi the beginning", but like many obvious answers, this soon turns out to be un
When does history begin? It is tempting to reply ’hi the beginning", but like many obvious answers, this soon turns out to be un
admin
2014-05-14
48
问题
When does history begin? It is tempting to reply ’hi the beginning", but like many obvious answers, this soon turns out to be unhelpful. As a great Swiss historian once pointed out in another connection, history is the one subject where you cannot begin at the beginning, ff we want to, we can trace the chain of human descent back to the appearance of vertebrates, or even to the photosynthetic cells which lie at the start of life itself. We can go back further still, to almost unimaginable upheavals which formed this planet and even to the origins of the universe. Yet this is not "history".
Commonsense helps here: history is the story of mankind, of what it has done, suffered or enjoyed. We all know that dogs and cats do not have histories, while human beings do. Even when historians write about a natural process beyond human control, such as the ups and downs of climate, or the spread of disease, they do so only because it helps us to understand why men and women have lived (and died) in some ways rather than others.
This suggests that all we have to do is to identify the moment at which the first human beings step out from the shadows of the remote past. It is not quite as simple as that, though. We have to know what we are looking for first and most attempts to define humanity on the basis of observable characteristics prove in the end arbitrary and cramping, as long arguments about "apemen" and "missing links" have shown. Physiological tests help us to classify data but do not identify what is or is not human. That is a matter of a definition about which disagreement is possible. Some people have suggested that human uniqueness lies in language, yet other primates possess vocal equipment similar to our own; when noises are made with it which are signals, at what point do they become speech? Another famous definition is that man is a tool-maker, but observation has east doubt on our uniqueness in this respect, too, long after Dr. Johnson scoffed at Boswell for quoting it to him.
What is surely and identifiably unique about the human species is not its possession of certain faculties or physical characteristics, but what it has done with them--its achievement, or history, in fact. Humanity’s unique achievement is its remarkably intense level of activity and creativity, its cumulative capacity to create change. All animals have ways of living, some complex enough to be called cultures. Human culture alone is progressive: it has been increasingly built by conscious choice and selection within it as well as by accident and natural pressure, by the accumulation of a capital of experience and knowledge which man has exploited. Human history began when the inheritance of genetics and behavior which had until then provided the only way of dominating the environment was first broken through by conscious choice. Of course, human beings have always only been able to make their history within limits. These limits are now very wide indeed, but they were once so narrow that it is impossible to identify the first step which took human evolution away from the determination of nature. We have for a long time only a blurred story, obscure both because the evidence is poor and because we cannot be sure exactly what we are looking for.
The passage is mainly about
选项
A、what history is.
B、the difference between human beings and animals.
C、what point should be the beginning of the human history.
D、how the human beings make their history.
答案
A
解析
主旨题。文章自始至终都在探讨人类历史的问题,谈到它的起源,它的组成和人类创造历史的过程等,故A为正确答案。
转载请注明原文地址:https://kaotiyun.com/show/TBTK777K
0
专业英语四级
相关试题推荐
Thenormalhumandailycycleofactivityissome7-8hours’sleepalternationwithsome16-17hours’wakefulnessandthatthesl
Lawyersarelessthan1%ofAmericanadults,(1)_____theyarewell-representedingovernment.Boththepresidentandthevice-p
Thenewtouristhotelwillhave______formorethanonethousandpeople.
Fatcannotchangeintomuscle______changesintofat.
Therebeingnocauseforalarm,you______insuchapanicyesterday.
DuringMcDonald’searlyyearsFrenchfriesweremadefromscratcheveryday.RussetBurbankpotatoeswere(1)______,cutintosho
DuringMcDonald’searlyyearsFrenchfriesweremadefromscratcheveryday.RussetBurbankpotatoeswere(1)______,cutintosho
Whydon’tyou______smokingforawhileuntilyourcoughgetsbetter?
Thedeanofourdepartmentissupposed______forFlorencethedaybeforeyesterday.
Soonerorlater,youwillhaveto__________whatyoudidtoherthedaybeforeyesterday.
随机试题
一项研究发现:吸食毒品(例如摇头丸)的女孩比没有这种行为的女孩患忧郁症的可能性高出2至3倍;酗酒的男孩比不喝酒的男孩患忧郁症的可能性高出5倍。另外,忧郁会使没有不良行为的孩子减少犯错误的冲动,却会让有过上述不良行为的孩子更加行为出格。如果上述判定为真,则以
某企业将一张面额10000元的3个月后到期的商业票据向银行申请贴现,当时年贴现率为12%,该企业可取得现金______元。
对建筑物适用的基本要求包括()。[2010年考试真题]
确定初始计划的总工期,并确定关键线路及工作正的总时差。事件4发生后,预计工程实际工期为多少?项目监理机构认为建设单位要求缩短合同工期不妥是否正确?说明理由。
《行政单位国有资产管理暂行办法》不适用于()。
一般而言,决策使用成本不被记入账簿系统是因为它的特征是未来成本。()
民间玩具种类繁多,泥玩具便是其中一类,在彩绘泥玩具中,著名的挂虎、坐虎,喜用大红、翠绿、桃红、浅黄等色,它们出自我国的哪个地方?()
涛涛爱淘气,经常在课堂上说话、做小动作,有时还不完成作业。一天,他又在课上说话、做鬼脸,被班主任老师发现了。老师非常生气,对涛涛说:“你的课不要上了,回家把家长找来,什么时候你爸爸来了,你再来上课。”涛涛不敢回家,只好在教室外面站着。这时,正好校长路过,问
Aspeoplecontinuetogrowandage,ourbodysystemcontinuestochange.Atacertainpointinyourlife—yourbodysystemswil
Readandstudyseriouslyandbeconcernedaboutworldaffairs.2.Keepquietandpayattentiontocleanness.3.Donottalkorl
最新回复
(
0
)