In general, our society is becoming one of giant enterprises directed by a bureaucratic management in which man becomes a small, well-oiled cog in the machinery. The oiling is done with higher wages, Nell-ventilated factories and piped music, and by psychologists and human relations experts; yet all this oiling does not alter the fact that man has become powerless, that he is bored with it. In fact, the blue and the white-collar workers have become economic puppets who dance to the tune of automated machines and bureaucratic management.
The worker and employee are anxious, not only because they might find themselves out of a job; they are anxious also because they are unable to acquire any real satisfaction of interesting life. They live an die without ever having confronted the fundamental realities of human existence as emotionally and intellectually independent and productive human beings.
Those higher up on the social ladder are no less anxious. Their lives are no less empty than those of their subordinates. They are even more insecure in some respects. They are in a highly competitive race. To be promoted or to fall behind is not a matter of salary but even more a matter of self-respect. When they apply for their first job, they are tested for intelligence as well as for the right mixture of submissiveness and independence. From the moment on they are tested again and again by the psychologists, for whom testing is a big business, and by their superiors, who judge their behavior, sociability, capacity to get along, etc. This constant need to prove that one is as good as or better than ones fellow competitor creates constant anxiety and stress, the very causes of unhappiness and illness.
Am I suggesting that we should return to the preidustrial mode of production or to nineteenth-century free enterprise capitalism? Certainly not. Problems are never solved by returning to a stage which one has already outgrown. I suggest transforming our social system form a bureaucratically managed industrialism in which maximal production and consumption are ends in themselves into a humanist industrialism in which man and full development of his potentialities those of all love and of reason are the aims of social arrangements. Production and consumption should serve only as means to this end, and should be prevented from ruling man.
1. By a well-oiled cog in the machinery the author intends to deliver the idea that man is ____.
A. a necessary part of the society though each individuals function is negligible
B. working in complete harmony with the rest of the society
C. an unimportant part in comparison with the rest of the society
D. a humble component of the society, especially when working smoothly
2. The real cause of the anxiety of the workers and employees is that ____.
A. they are likely to lose their hobs
B. they have no genuine satisfaction or interest in life
C. they are faced with the fundamental realities of human existence
D. they are deprived of their individuality and independence
3. From the passage we can conclude that real happiness of life belongs to those _____.
A. who are at the bottom of the society
B. who are higher up in their social status
C. who prove better than their fellow competitors
D. who could dip far away from this competitive world
4. To solve the present social problems the author puts foruard a suggestion that we should ______.
A. resort to the production mode of our ancestors
B. offer higher wages to the workers and employees
C. enable man to fully develop his potentialities
D. take the fundamental realities for granted
5. The authors attitude towards industrialism might best be summarized as one of ______.
A. approval B. dissatisfaction
C. suspicion D. susceptibility
答案:CDDCB
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should的具体用法
a few 和a little的具体区别
狡猾的老鼠
个人信息表格中的一些词汇
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英语单词miss的意思
皮卡丘和胖丁
圣母的小酒杯
高中生五四青年节演讲稿
玫瑰
关系副词引导定于从句
几个常用的英语语法
英语单词jump的意思
英语语法:形容词
英语单词park的意思
用英语怎么来表示这些花的名称
数字的不同读法
两种定语从句的区别
many和much的区别和用法
大部分数词形容词
关于青春的英语演讲稿
引导名词性从句的连接词
金钥匙
名词种类的表示
英语单词leave的意思
英语单词mouse的意思
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