更多"We would all like to think that hum"的相关试题:
[单项选择]We would all like to think that humankind is getting smarter and wiser and that our past blunders won"t be repeated. Bookshelves are filled with such reassuring pronouncements. Encouraging forecasts rest in part on the belief that we can learn the right lessons from the past and cast discredited ideas onto the ash heap of history, where they belong. Those who think that humanity is making steady if fitful progress might point to the gradual spread of more representative forms of government, the largely successful campaign to eradicate slavery, the dramatic improvements in public health over the past two centuries, the broad consensus that market systems outperform centrally planned economies, or the growing recognition that action must be taken to address humanity"s impact on the environment. An optimist might also point to the gradual decline in global violence since the Cold War. In each case, one can plausibly argue that human welfare improved as new knowledge challenged and eventually overthrew popular dogmas, including cherished but wrongheaded ideas, from aristocracy to mercantilism that had been around for centuries. Yet this sadly turns out to be no universal law; There is no inexorable evolutionary march that replaces our bad, old ideas with smart, new ones. If anything, the story of the last few decades of international relations can just as easily be read as the maddening persistence of dubious thinking. Misguided notions are frustratingly resilient, hard to stamp out, no matter how much trouble they have caused in the past and no matter how many scholarly studies have undermined their basic claims. Consider, for example, the infamous " domino theory, " kicking around in one form or another since President Dwight D. Eisenhower"s 1954 "falling dominoes" speech. During the Vietnam War, plenty of serious people argued that a U. S. withdrawal from Vietnam would undermine America"s credibility around the world and trigger a wave of pro-Soviet realignments. No significant dominoes fell after US troops withdrew in 1975, however, and it was the Berlin Wall that eventually toppled instead. Various scholars examined the domino theory in detail and found little historical or contemporary evidence to support it. Although the domino theory seemed to have been dealt a fatal blow in the wake of the Vietnam War, it has re-emerged, phoenix-like, in the current debate over Afghanistan. We are once again being told that if the United States withdraws from Afghanistan before achieving a clear victory, its credibility will be called into question, al Qaeda and Iran will be emboldened, Pakistan could be imperiled, and NATO"s unity and resolve might be fatally compromised. Back in 2008, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice called Afghanistan an " important test of the credibility of NATO, " and President Barack Obama made the same claim in late 2009 when he announced his decision to send 30, 000 more troops there. Obama also justified his decision by claiming that a Taliban victory in Afghanistan would spread instability to Pakistan. Despite a dearth of evidence to support these alarmist predictions, it"s almost impossible to quash the fear that a single change in their strategy will unleash a cascade of falling dominoes. There are other cases in which the lessons of the past—sadly unlearned—should have been even more obvious because they came in the form of truly devastating catastrophes. Germany"s defeat in World War I, for example, should seemingly have seared into Germans" collective consciousness the lesson that trying to establish hegemony in Europe was almost certain to lead to disaster. Yet a mere 20 years later, Adolf Hitler led Germany into another world war to achieve that goal, only to suffer an even more devastating defeat. Why is it so hard for states to learn from history and, especially, from their own mistakes And when they do learn, why are some of those lessons so easily forgotten Moreover, why do discredited ideas come back into fashion when there is no good reason to resurrect them Clearly, learning the right lessons—and remembering them over time—is a lot harder than it seems. But whyThe author would agree to the following statement EXCEPT______.
A. it is true that books can serve as testimony to many wrong ideas
B. people learn lessons from the past and abandon their mistaken notions for good
C. it is believed that people become wiser so that mistakes are not repeated
D. the optimistic forecast about humanity is grounded partly on its steady progress
[单项选择]When we think about happiness, we usually think of something extraordinary, a peak of great delight--and those peaks seem to get rarer the older we get.
For a child, happiness has a magical quality. I remember making hide outs in newly cut hay, playing cops and robbers in the woods, getting a speaking part in the school play. Of course, kids also experience lows, but their delight at such peaks of pleasure as winning a race or getting a new bike is unreserved.
For teenagers, or people under twenty, the concept of happiness changes. Suddenly it’s conditional on such things as excitement, love, and popularity. I can still feel the agony of not being invited to a party that almost everyone else was going to. But I also recall the great happiness of being invited at another event to dance with a very handsome young man.
In adulthood the things that bring great joy--birth, love, marriage--also bring responsibility and the risk of loss. Love may not last, sex isn’t alway
A. feel the magic quality of pleasure
B. experience delight at an old age
C. think of something extraordinary
D. enjoy what one has at the moment
[单项选择]When we think of leadership, we often think of strength and power. But what are these really, and how do they operate
Leadership today is not about forcing others to do things. If this is even possible, it is short term, and tends to backfire. If you order someone to do something against their will, they may do it because they feel they must, but the anger they feel will do more harm in the long term. They will also experience fear.
Fear causes the thinking brain to shut down, making the person unable to function at his or her best. If they associate you with this emotion of fear, they will become less functional around you, and you will have succeeded in not only shooting yourself in the foot, but possibly making a very good employee or partner unable to perform effectively. Fear has no place in leadership.
The way we influence people in a lasting way is by our own character, and our understanding and use of emotion. We can order someone to do something, which may be pa
A. he is forced to do things
B. be cannot work at his best
C. he feels his brain shut down
D. he thinks his work is too heavy
[单项选择]We have to think very carefully before we take any action, because it’s a very ______ situation we are in.
A. ideal
B. favourable
C. good
D. severe
