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第20篇
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, 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 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 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 individual’s 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 author’s attitude towards industrialism might best be summarized as one of ______.
A.approval B.dissatisfaction
C.suspicion D.susceptibility
