【答案解析】1. Self-improvement, be it of body or of mind, is the key, we are told, to individual happiness and collective well-being; striving to find what is good for us will lead us to the good life and the good society.
2. As a result, superstition tradition and custom no longer stood as the primary authorities that could explain, legitimate and preserve the status quo.
3. The emerging spirit of inquiry and discovery released humanity from pre-modern unenlightenment; out of the darkness came the electric light bulb and the ultraviolet beam, shedding light on man"s formerly slavish, subordinated state of being.
4. Elemental forces are mastered and managed: killer diseases no longer kill, long distances cease to be prohibitive, mass media and communications transform our knowledge of societies outside our own.
5. If we are to feel confident about the cower of science to build a brighter future, then we must create structures for the development of moral consensus, through debate and dialogue, across communities and societies at all levels.