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
St. Paul didn’t like it. Moses warned his people against it. Hesiod declared it "mischievous" and "hard to get rid of it," but O
St. Paul didn’t like it. Moses warned his people against it. Hesiod declared it "mischievous" and "hard to get rid of it," but O
admin
2012-12-01
23
问题
St. Paul didn’t like it. Moses warned his people against it. Hesiod declared it "mischievous" and "hard to get rid of it," but Oscar Wilde said, "Gossip is charming." "History is merely gossip," he wrote in one of his famous plays. But scandal is gossip made tedious by morality.
In times past, under Jewish law, gossipmongers might be fined or flogged. The Puritans put them in stocks or ducking stools, but no punishment seemed to have the desired effect of preventing gossip, which has continued uninterrupted across the back fences of the centuries.
Today, however, the much-maligned human foible is being looked at in a different light. Psychologists, sociologists, philosophers, even evolutionary biologists are concluding that gossip may not be so bad after all.
Gossip is "an intrinsic valuable activity," philosophy professor Aaron Ben-Zee states in a book he has edited, entitled Good Gossip. For one thing, gossip helps us acquire information that we need to know that doesn’t come through ordinary channels, such as: "What was the real reason so-and-so was fired from the office?" Gossip also is a form of social bonding, Dr. Ben-Zee says. It is "a kind of sharing" that also "satisfies the tribal need—namely, the need to belong to and be accepted by a unique group." What’s more, the professor notes, "Gossip is enjoyable."
Another gossip groupie, Dr. Ronald De Sousa, a professor of philosophy at the University of Toronto, describes gossip basically as a form of indiscretion and a "saintly virtue", by which he means that the knowledge spread by gossip will usually end up being slightly beneficial. "It seems likely that a world in which all information were universally available would be preferable to a world where immense power resides in the control of secrets," he writes.
Still, everybody knows that gossip can have its ill effects, especially on the poor wretch being gossiped about. And people should refrain from certain kinds of gossip that might be harmful, even though the ducking stool is long out of fashion.
By the way, there is also an interesting strain of gossip called medical gossip, which in its best form, according to researchers Jerry M. Sols and Franklin Goodwin, can motivate people with symptoms of serious illness, but who are unaware of it, to seek medical help.
So go ahead and gossip. But remember, if (as often is the case among gossipers) you should suddenly become one of the gossipers instead, it is best to employ the foolproof defense recommended by Plato, who may have learned the lesson from Socrates, who as you know was the victim of gossip spread that he was corrupting the youth of Athens: When men speak ill of thee, so live that nobody will believe them. Or, as Will Rogers said, "Live so that you wouldn’t be ashamed to sell the family parrot to the town gossip."
The ideas of St. Paul, Moses and Hesiod are immediately followed by that of Wilde, implying that______.
选项
A、most people hate gossips and gossipmongers
B、gossips, like many other things, are contradictory by themselves
C、gossip has had a long history, being traced back to ancient times
D、gossip is inevitable and very probably necessary even in the worst of times
答案
D
解析
推断题。之所以在提到圣保罗和摩西之后,又引用王尔德的话,主要说明所谓的“闲话”的必然性,甚至是必要性。
转载请注明原文地址:https://kaotiyun.com/show/hUaO777K
0
专业英语八级
相关试题推荐
HowtoPlanYourFutureCareerForafewmonthsbeforegraduation,universitystudentsarebusywithjobhunting.Severalpoin
Manythingsmakepeoplethinkartistsareweird—theoddhours,thenonconformity,theclovecigarettes.Buttheweirdestmayb
AgeStructuresinMexicoandSwedenAgestructurereferstothepercentageofthepopulationindifferentage【1】______Mexico’
Ifitwereonlynecessarytodecidewhethertoteachelementarysciencetoeveryoneonamessbasisortofindthegiftedfewan
ThetradeandinvestmentrelationshipbetweentheEuropeanUnionandtheUnitedStatesisthemostimportantintheworld.Despi
ThefirstpresidentinU.S.historywhoresignedbecauseofascandalis______.
Teachersandotherspecialistsinearlychildhoodeducationrecognizethatchildrendevelopatdifferentrates.Givenanythingt
SOMETHINGABOUTNAPLESjustseemsmadeforcomedy.Thenamealoneconjuresuppizza,andlovable,incorrigibleinnocentswarblin
Kidnappingsaroundtheworldhavetypicallyhadoneoftwomajorgoals:publicityforalocalpoliticalcauseorasaformof"f
A、WutheringHeightsB、JaneEyreC、OliverTwistD、ParadiseLostDB、C、D分别为CharlotteBronte的《简爱》,CharlesDickens的《雾都孤儿》,JohnMilton
随机试题
下列关于脚手架施工,正确的安全要求有()。
分离亚细胞最有效的方法是
白塞病消化道基本病变是
以下属于评价筛查试验本身的真实性的一组指标是
未开封的胰岛素注射液适宜的保存温度是
下列各项中。属于资产负债表中流动资产项目的有()。
在人寿保险中,被保险人的索赔时效为()。
()的教育思想,要求教育不仅要关注入的当前发展,还要关注人的长远发展,更要关注人的全面发展。
战国后期,我国出现的具有世界影响的专门论述教育的著作是《大学》。()
关于刑讯逼供罪的认定,下列哪些选项是错误的()
最新回复
(
0
)