单选题
In general, our society is becoming one of giant enterprises directed by a bureaucratic (官僚主义的) management in which man becomes a small, well-oiled cog in the machinery. The oiling is done with higher wages, well-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 does not wholeheartedly participate in his work and 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 or interest in life. They live and 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 tight mixture of submissiveness and independence. From that 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 one"s fellow competitor creates constant anxiety and stress, the very causes of unhappiness and illness.
Am I suggesting that we should return to the pre-industrial 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 from 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 love and of reason—are the aims of all social arrangements. Production and consumption should serve only as means to this end, and should be prevented from ruling man.
单选题
By "a well-oiled cog in the machinery" the author intends to render the idea that man is ______.
【正确答案】
C
【答案解析】[解析] 首段第一句中giant enterprises与small,well-oiled cog形成强对比,显示出人的微小。接着作者又对oiling进行了解释,即通过高工资、通风良好的工厂、不断播放的音乐等手段使人顺利工作,然后用yet引导的句子指出这些“润滑油”无法改变的事实:man has become powerless。由此可见,人已经变成微不足道的小小齿轮,无能为力,故答案为C。
单选题
The real cause of the anxiety of the workers and employees is that ______.
【正确答案】
D
【答案解析】[解析] 第三段第六句When they apply for their first job,they are tested for intelligence as well as for the right mixture of submissive and independence,可以推断出,为了使顺从性和独立性更好地融合,他们会放弃一些独立性。故答案为D。
单选题
From the passage we can infer that real happiness of life belongs to those ______.
【正确答案】
D
【答案解析】[解析] 文章第三段最后一句话:“This constant need to prove that one is as good as or better than one"s fellow-competitor creates constant anxiety and stress, the very causes of unhappiness sand illness.”说明造成不快乐的原因就是竞争,反过来说,只有远离竞争,才会体验生活的真正幸福。故答案为D。
单选题
To solve the present social problems the author suggests that we should ______.