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
It used to be said that English people take their pleasure sadly. No doubt this would still be true if they had any pleasure to
It used to be said that English people take their pleasure sadly. No doubt this would still be true if they had any pleasure to
admin
2012-12-01
64
问题
It used to be said that English people take their pleasure sadly. No doubt this would still be true if they had any pleasure to take, but the price of alcohol and tobacco in my country has provided sufficient external causes for melancholy. I have sometimes thought that the habit of taking pleasure sadly has crossed the Atlantic, and I have wondered what it is that makes so many English-speaking people somber in their outlook in spite of good health and a good income.
In the course of my travels in America I have been impressed by a kind of fundamental malaise which seems to me extremely common and which poses difficult problems for the social reformer. Most social reformers have held the opinion that, if poverty were abolished and there were no more economic insecurity, the millennium would have arrived. But when I look at the face of people in opulent cars, whether in your country or in mine, I do not see that look of radiant happiness which the aforesaid social reformers had led me to expect. In nine cases out of ten, I see instead a look of boredom and discontent and an almost frantic longing for something that might tickle the jaded palate.
It is not only the very rich who suffer in this way. Professional men very frequently feel hopelessly thwarted. There is something that they long to do or some public object that they long to work for. But if they were to indulge their wishes in these respects, they fear that they would lose their livelihood. Their wives are equally unsatisfied, for their neighbor, Mrs. So-and-So, has gone ahead more quickly, has a better car, a larger apartment and grander friends.
When I try to understand what it is that prevents so many American from being as happy as one might expect, it seems to me that there are two causes, of which one goes much deeper than the other. The one that goes least deep is the necessity for subservience in some large organization. If you are an energetic man with strong views as to the right way of doing the job with which you are concerned, you find yourself invariable under the orders of some big man at the top who is elderly, weary and cynical. Whenever you have a bright idea, the boss puts a stopper on it. The more energetic you are and the more vision you have, the more you will suffer from the impossibility of doing any of the things that you feel ought to be done. When you go home and moan to your wife, she tells you that you are a silly fellow and that if you became the proper sort of yes-man, your income would soon be doubled. If you try divorce and remarriage it is very unlikely that there will be any change in this respect. And so you are condemned to gastric ulcers and premature old age.
It was not always so. When Dr. Johnson compiled his dictionary, he compiled it as he thought fit. When he felt like saying that oats is food for men in Scotland and horses in England, he said so. When he defined a fishing-rod as a stick with a fish at one end and a fool at the other, there was nobody to point out to him that a remark of this sort would damage the sale of his great work among fishermen. But if, in the present day, you are (let us say) a contributor to an encyclopedia, there is an editorial policy which is solemn, wise, and prudent, which allows no room for jokes, no place for personal preferences and no tolerance for idiosyncrasies. Everything has to be flattened out except where the prejudices of the editor are concerned. To these you must conform, however, little you may share them. And so you have to be content with dollars instead of creative satisfaction. And the dollars, alas, leave you sad.
This brings me to major cause of unhappiness, which is that most people in America act not on impulse but on some principle, and that principles upon which people act are usually based upon a false psychology and a false ethic. There is a general theory as to what makes for happiness and this theory is false. Life is concerned as a competitive struggle in which felicity consists in getting ahead of your neighbor. The joys which are not competitive are forgotten.
What reason is implied by the author for the hopelessness of professional men?
选项
A、They actually care more about their own life.
B、Their wives are not satisfied with them.
C、Their neighbors have better life.
D、They want to serve the public, but they are not able to.
答案
A
解析
推理判断题。第三段中作者说professional men本来是想为公众服务的,但是他们又担心因此丢饭碗,从这种情况推断,他们其实还是比较在意自己的生活,故答案为[A]。[B]、[C]、[D]三项在第三段中都明确地提到了,不是implied,故皆可排除。
转载请注明原文地址:https://kaotiyun.com/show/WDaO777K
0
专业英语八级
相关试题推荐
Peopleusuallycommunicatebyspokenandwrittenlanguage,yettheycanalsocommunicatewithoutwordsandthiskindofcommunic
Formanyofus,petshavecometooccupycriticalrolesinourlives.Thelonelinessandisolationinsomelifestylescanbes
Formanyofus,petshavecometooccupycriticalrolesinourlives.Thelonelinessandisolationinsomelifestylescanbes
A、ArabicterroristswillnotattacktheUSAanymore.B、itisessentialtomaintainanactivetradingenvironment.C、thereisno
TheStockMarketWhenanewcompanyisorganizedandsharesaresold,itisnothardtodeterminethevalueofeachshare:all
Accordingtoreportsinmajornewsoutlets,astudypublishedlastweekincludedastartlingdiscovery:thenation’sJewishpopu
ThenumberoftheRepresentativesfromeachAmericanstatedependsonthe______.
A、anti-discriminationmovementB、environmentalmovementC、non-violencemovementD、humanrightsmovementB
Tolive,learn,andworksuccessfullyinanincreasing【M1】______complexandinformation-richsociety,studentsmustbeable
Tolive,learn,andworksuccessfullyinanincreasing【M1】______complexandinformation-richsociety,studentsmustbeable
随机试题
参与介导免疫黏附促进免疫复合物清除的补体成分是
X线深部治疗机在治疗过程中出现mA表指针不稳可能原因是
女性40岁,停经33天,急性右下腹疼痛一天,阵发性加剧6小时,伴恶心呕吐。妇科检查:宫颈轻举痛,宫体正常大小,子宫右侧可触及一6cm×8cm×4cm大肿块,压痛明显。最可能的诊断是
女,26岁,G1P1,产后一日,自己在腹部触及子宫,星球形,质硬,询问护士是否正常,护士在讲解关于子宫复旧过程时正确的是
A.首次抽液量<700ml,以后每次抽液量<1000mlB.加大抗结核药物剂量C.每次抽液量以抽尽为止D.抗结核治疗的同时合并用泼尼松E.抗结核治疗的同时加用抗菌药结核性大量胸腔积液患者,毒血症症状重时应()
以下()符合城市用地选择的基本要求。
ICIA在1998年通过的对各国证券分析师协会具有指导性的文件或意见是( )。
某外国籍公民甲先生在中国境内无住所,2011年7月受境外公司委派至境内乙公司任职,此后一直在中国境内居住。2015年取得的收入情况如下:(1)每月取得中国境内乙公司支付的工资18000元,另每月从乙公司以实报实销形式取得住房补贴3500元、以现金形式取得
______peoplewerekilledduringtheaircrash.
MoreandmoreChinesescienceandtechnologypapershavebeenincludedinSCI.Lookatthefollowingchartcarefullyandwritey
最新回复
(
0
)