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  3. What our society suffers from most today is the absence of consensus about what it and life in it ought to be, such consensus ca

What our society suffers from most today is the absence of consensus about what it and life in it ought to be, such consensus ca

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问题      What our society suffers from most today is the absence of consensus about what it and life in it ought to be, such consensus cannot be gained from society’s present stage, or from fantasies about what it ought to be. For that the present is too close and too diversified, and the future too uncertain, to make believable claims about it. A consensus in the present hence can be achieved only through a shared understanding of the past, as Homer’s epics informed those who lived centuries later what it meant to be Greek, and by what images and ideals they were to live their lives and organize their societies.
     Most societies derive consensus from a long history, a language all their own, a common religion, common ancestry. The myths by which they live are based on all of these. But the United States is a country of immigrants, coming from a great variety of nations. Lately, it has been emphasized that an asocial, narcissistic personality has become characteristic of Americans, and that it is this type of personality that makes for the lack of well-being, because it prevents us from achieving consensus that would counteract a tendency to withdraw into private worlds. In this study of narcissism, Christopher Lash says that modern man, "tortured by self-consciousness, turns to new therapies not to free himself of his personal worries but to find meaning and purpose in life, to find something to live for". There is widespread distress because national morale has declined, and we have lost an earlier sense of national vision and purpose.
     Contrary to rigid religions or political beliefs, as are found in totalitarian societies, our culture is one of the great individual differences, at least in principle and in theory; but this leads to disunity, even chaos. Americans believe in the value of diversity, but just because our is a society based on individual diversity, it needs consensus about some dominating ideas more than societies based on uniform origin of their citizens. Hence, if we are to have consensus, it must be based on a myth--a vision about a common experience, a conquest that made us Americans, as the myth about the conquest of Troy formed the Greeks. Only a common myth can offer relief from the fear that life is without meaning or purpose. Myths permit us to examine our place in the world by comparing it to a shared idea. Myths are shared fantasies that form the tie that binds the individual to other members of his group. Such myths help to ward off feelings of isolations, guilt, anxiety, and purposelessness--in short, they combat isolation and the breakdown of social standards and values.
Homer’s epics mentioned in Paragraph I exemplify the fact that
选项 A、the present is varying too fast to be caught up easily.
B、the future may be so indefinite as to be unpredictable.
C、the past can help to shape a consensus in the present.
D、the past determines social moralities for later generations.
答案C
解析 结构题。文章第一段指出，对于一致意见，当前太接近并且太多变，而未来又太不确定，所以不可能对它做出可信的断言；因此，目前的一致意见只能通过对过去共有的理解才能获得，正如荷马史诗告知几个世纪之后的人们一致意见对于希腊人来说意味着什么，他们又是依靠什么样的形象和理想生活，并构造社会。这说明，通过对过去共有的理解可以获得一致意见。这与C项的意思相符。A、B明显与文章的意思不符；文中没有提到D。
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