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  3. Modern complex societies are troubled by a lack of consensus around many issues of right and wrong or proper and improper behavi

Modern complex societies are troubled by a lack of consensus around many issues of right and wrong or proper and improper behavi

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问题     Modern complex societies are troubled by a lack of consensus around many issues of right and wrong or proper and improper behavior; and drinking, since the latter part of the 18th century temperance movement became, by the middle of the 19th century, an anti-alcohol movement that culminated in national Prohibition(enacted by constitutional amendment in 1919 and repealed in 1933). Echo movements in other countries had somewhat similar histories. The lack of consensus regarding who may drink how much of what and where and when and with whom is illustrated by the crazy quilt of local regulations extant in the United States. In some localities there is total prohibition or prohibition only of distilled spirits and strong wines; in some, only those over 18 or over 21 years of age may buy drinks; in some, married women under age may buy but not married under-age men; in some, until recently, Indians could not buy; in some, liquor may be sold only by the bottle, not by the drink; in some, drinks may be served only together with food, in others only without food; in some, drinking in public places is permitted only if the drinkers are curtained or only if they are uncertained or only when they are seated; or men may stand to drink, but women must be seated. Dissonant attitudes toward a custom as common as drinking are believed by many sociologists to account for the inability of the society to establish firm rules inhibiting immoderate behavior, with a resulting high incidence of damaging use, drunkenness, and many other problems related to alcohol. The Chinese and the Italians, as well as the Jews, are cited as examples of groups having well-developed cultural consensus against drinking to drunkenness, with resulting low rates of alcohol problems. In parallel, France is cited as a country with a consensus favoring steady copious drinking, with a resulting high rate of alcoholism.
    The modern conflict over drinking reflects the complex interactions of the individual with small groups and larger society. Small groups, formed by common interests in business or occupation or recreation or neighborhood or politics or ethnicity or religion, use drinking together to facilitate mixing, to engender solidarity, to reduce normal inhibitions against trust in and collaboration with "strangers," to symbolize and ratify accord, and to ensure that gatherings for celebration will succeed as festive occasions. Individuals use alcoholic beverages as an agreeable effector of desired mood alteration, such as moderate relief from anxiety of depression or masking of unease and pain, and to enable participation in the various small groups with which they are required to associate. Given favorable contexts, moderate amounts of alcohol apparently function well in fulfilling these purposes. Given consensual practices. Moderate amounts of drink function integratively within families and in common-interest groups. This is thought to account for the survival of the drinking custom from early times, in spite of the problems it has engendered and the opposition it has provoked. But individuals and sometimes, groups, whether formally or informally organized, also indulge in immoderate, self-injurious, and socially damaging drinking. These dysfunctional behaviors account, in part for the organized societal opposition to any drinking, although the antagonism is sometimes based in more fundamental perspectives of the anti-alcohol sentiment: alcohol has been, from olden times, the facilitator of pleasurable, morally lax, hedonistic behavior; as such, it has evoked the displeasure and condemnation of those favoring moral strictness and an ascetic way of life.
Which of the following best summarizes the main idea of the first paragraph?
选项 A、There is a lack of consensus around many issues in modern societies.
B、Some modern societies lack the ability to inhibit immoderate social behaviors.
C、Drinking has been a focus of disagreement in modern societies.
D、Drinking can by no means be totally prohibited.
答案C
解析 这个短文的段落较难、较长，但关键词语是“drinking”。这个“点”要带动一个“面”。第一段的大意是[C]现代社会对饮酒的不满情绪已经成为争论的焦点。
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