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
Why in an age of advanced technology, should so many people still cling to an ancient belief? In part it must be because astrolo
Why in an age of advanced technology, should so many people still cling to an ancient belief? In part it must be because astrolo
admin
2019-06-23
94
问题
Why in an age of advanced technology, should so many people still cling to an ancient belief? In part it must be because astrology—claims to tell us something about ourselves, and all of us are interested in ourselves. I think it is because astrology is presented as if it were a science by its modern practitioner, and many people are misled by this.
In fact, astrology was never a science. It was not a hypothesis or theory developed to describe natural phenomena, and until fairly recent times, there was not attempt to test or verify its predictions. Astrology began approximately three thousand years ago in Babylonia; it was applied to monarchs and kingdoms, but not to individuals. It spread in the 6th century BC as far as India, where it flourishes today. The Egyptians, meanwhile, developed their own kind of astrology. But the astrology now practiced in Europe and America is that developed by the Greeks, who synthesized the ideas of the Babylonians and Egyptians and enriched them with concepts from their own fertile imaginations. The Greeks believed that the earth was composed of four elements, and the heavens of a perfect crystalline material. The planets themselves were variously thought to be gods, residences of gods, or at least manifestations of gods. The gods were immortal, but otherwise had the same attributes of anger, happiness, jealousy, rage and pleasure as we do. Now if what the gods’ thought was capricious(变化无常的), at least the planets were predictable in their movements. Because our own lot in life is so unpredictable, it must be purely at the mercy of gods. But if the gods are the planets, or somehow associated with them, then we have only to learn the rules of the motions of the planets to understand the whims of the gods and how they shape our own lives. So the belief developed that each of our lives is preordained by the precise configuration of the planets in the sky at the time of our birth.
Astrology could not, of course, have seemed as incredible to the ancients as it does to us. The role of the sun influencing our daily and yearly lives is obvious; it was a natural extension to attribute other powers to the other planets as well. It wasn’t until the time of Newton that we understood that the laws of Nature apply to the celestial worlds as well as to the terrestrial one. During antiquity, however, all great scholars believed in astrology.
What is the author’s purpose in writing the passage?
选项
A、To cast doubt on the origin of astrology.
B、To compare astrology with real sciences.
C、To point out the popularity of astrology.
D、To justify the incredibility of astrology.
答案
D
解析
首段首句和第2段首句都表明作者认为占星术并非science,末段首句更明确表明占星术incredible,由此可见,本文的写作目的是为了解释为什么占星术不可信。
转载请注明原文地址:https://kaotiyun.com/show/lDX7777K
0
大学英语六级
相关试题推荐
茶马古道(theAncientTeaHomeR0ad)是中国西南地区一条重要的商贸通道,兴起于唐宋时期。兴盛于明清时期。它源起于云南茶叶主产区普洱市,中间经过今天的大理、丽江、西藏,最后通到尼泊尔(Nepal)和印度。“茶马古道”之所以得名是由于频
北京是中国的首都,是全国的政治、经济、文化中心。它是一座历史文化名城,其历史可追溯到3000年前。作为中国四大古都(FourGreatAncientCapitals)之一,北京有着800多年的建都历史,因而北京城内有很多传统而宏伟的宫廷建筑(impe
A、It’sbeingoutdoors.B、Sheneedstodealwithdifferentpeople.C、It’ssometimesdangeroustodriveatnight.D、Shehastowor
Utopiaisaperfectplace.Itisaplacewithoutwar,hunger,poverty,orcrime.Itisaplacewherethepeopleworktogetheran
Utopiaisaperfectplace.Itisaplacewithoutwar,hunger,poverty,orcrime.Itisaplacewherethepeopleworktogetheran
Utopiaisaperfectplace.Itisaplacewithoutwar,hunger,poverty,orcrime.Itisaplacewherethepeopleworktogetheran
A、Thestairstoupperfloorarebroken.B、Theupstairstoiletisfullofbleachsmell.C、Itshouldbeentirelycleanedup.D、It
随机试题
胆道手术后T管引流病人护理,下列哪项不正确()
猩红热患儿进行病原性检查时,标本采集多采用
下列关于肝的描述,正确的是
雌性腊肠犬,6岁,1个月来精神沉郁,时有发热,抗生素治疗后,病情好转,停药后复发。现病情加重,阴部流红褐色分泌物,B超探查见双侧子宫角增粗,内有液性暗区。该病例手术时,必须要结扎
治疗肝气郁结,胸闷,胁肋胀痛,月经不调者,宜选用
何首乌的功效为( )。
屋架下弦截面为120mm×200mm,木料为马尾松,下弦接头处N=90kN,屋架下弦用双剪连接。螺栓连接承载力的计算系数Kv=6.1,若螺栓采用Φ20的螺栓,试问接头处接头所需的最少螺栓数目为( )。
厂区通道宽度的确定依据有()。
下面关于操作系统的叙述中,正确的是
______themanagercan’tcometothemeetingtobeheldnextweek?
最新回复
(
0
)