Whether you think the human story begins in a garden in Mesopotamia known as Eden, or in present-day east Africa, it is clear that human beings did not start life as an urban creature. Man’s habitat at the outset was dominated by the need to find food, and hunting and gathering were rural pursuits. Not until around 11,000 years ago, did he start building anything that might be called a village. It took another 6000 years for cities of more than 100,000 people to develop.
In terms of human history this may seem a welcome development. It would be questionable to say that nothing of consequence has ever come out of the countryside. The wheel was presumably a rural invention. Even city-dwellers need bread as well as circuses. And if Dr. Johnson and Shelley were right to say that poets are the true legislators of mankind, then all those hills and lakes and other rural delights must be given credit for inspiring them.
But the rural contribution to human progress s
A. started either in Eden or east Africa
B. had much to do with food in the beginning
C. were dominated by their pursuits
D. developed into large cities 6,000 years ago
| Bruce was cutting a branch of a tree in his garden. While he was sawing, another man passed in the street. He stopped and said, "Excuse me, but if you continue to saw that branch like that, you will fall down with it." He said this because Bruce was sitting on the branch and cutting it at a place between himself and the trunk of the tree. Bruce said nothing. He thought, "This is some foolish person who has no work to do and goes about telling other people what to do and what not to do." The man continued on his way. Of course, after a few minutes, the branch fell and Bruce fell with it. "My God!" he cried. "That man knows the future!" and he ran after him to ask how long he was going to live. But the man had gone. |
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