I aim to reveal in terms of a general theory of interpretation the typical situation in which a stranger finds himself in his at

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问题     I aim to reveal in terms of a general theory of interpretation the typical situation in which a stranger finds himself in his attempt to interpret the cultural pattern of a social group which he approaches and to orient himself within it. For our present purposes the term "stranger" shall mean an adult individual of our times and civilization who tries to be permanently accepted or at least tolerated by the group which he approaches. The outstanding example for the social situation under scrutiny is that of the immigrant, and the following analyses are, as a matter of convenience, worked out with this instance. But by no means is their validity restricted to this special case. The applicant for membership in a closed club, the prospective bridegroom who wants to be admitted to the girl’s family, the farmer’s son who enters college, the city-dweller who settles in a rural environment, the "selectee" who joins the Army, the family of the worker who moves into a boom town— all are strangers according to the definition just given, although in these cases the typical "crisis" that the immigrant undergoes may assume milder forms or even be entirely absent.
    As a convenient starting point we shall investigate how the cultural pattern of group life presents itself to the common sense of a man who lives his everyday life within the group among his fellow-men. Following the customary terminology, we use the term "cultural pattern of group life" for designating all the peculiar valuations, institutions, and systems of orientation and guidance(such as the folkways, mores, laws, habits, customs, etiquette, fashions)which, in the common opinion of sociologists of our time, characterize—if not constitute—any social group at a given moment in its history. This cultural pattern, like any phenomenon of the social world, has a different aspect for the sociologist and for the man who acts and thinks within it. The sociologist(as sociologist, not as a man among fellow-men which he remains in his private life)is the disinterested scientific onlooker of the social world. He is disinterested in that he intentionally refrains from participating in the network of plans, means-and-ends relations, motives and chances, hopes and fears, which the actor within the social world uses for interpreting his experiences of it; as a scientist he tries to observe, describe, and classify the social world as clearly as possible in well-ordered terms in accordance with the scientific ideals of coherence, consistency, and analytical consequence.
    The actor within the social world, however, experiences it primarily as a field of his actual and possible acts and only secondarily as an object of his thinking. In so far as he is interested in knowledge of his social world, he organizes this knowledge not in terms of a scientific system but in terms of relevance to his actions. This system of knowledge thus acquired—incoherent, inconsistent, and only partially clear, as it is—takes on for the members of the in-group the appearance of a sufficient coherence, clarity, and consistency to give anybody a reasonable chance of understanding and of being understood. Any member born or reared within the group accepts the ready-made standardized scheme of the cultural pattern handed down to him by ancestors, teachers, and authorities as an unquestioned and unquestionable guide in all the situations which normally occur within the social world. The knowledge correlated to the cultural pattern carries its evidence in itself—or, rather, it is taken for granted in the absence of evidence to the contrary. It is a knowledge of trustworthy recipes for interpreting the social world and for handling things and men in order to obtain the best results in every situation with a minimum of effort by avoiding undesirable consequences.
Why are "cultural patterns" readily accepted by society?

选项 A、They are customary and irrevocable.
B、They are carried from one generation to the next for cultural preservation.
C、They are tools of understanding and managing social interactions.
D、They are consistent therefore encouraging social convention.

答案C

解析 根据文中的“This system of knowledge thus acquired…understanding and ofbeing understood.”可知,所获得的这种知识体系给予所有人公平的了解和被了解的机会。再根据文中的“Any member born or reared within the group accepts the ready-madestandardized scheme of the cultural pattern…with a minimum of effort by avoiding undesirable consequences.”可知,在该组织出生或成长的所有成员都接受这种既定的标准文化模式,并作为无可争议的和不容置疑的指导(通常适用于该社交界的所有情形),由先辈、教师和权威传授给他。这是一个值得信赖的、用于诠释社交界和应对人和事的知识方法,为的是通过避免不良的后果,在每一种情况下用最小的努力获得最好的结果。据此可知,“文化模式”是了解、管理社会活动的工具,这是社会愿意接受它的原因。
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