2024年4月7日发(作者：)

史地自然型阅读理解——真题再现

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2015·北京】

Freedom and Responsibility

Freedom’s challenge in the Digital Age is a serious topic. We are facing today a

strange new world and we are all wondering what we are going to do with it. Some

2,500 years ago Greece discovered freedom. Before that there was no freedom. There

were great civilizations, splendid empires, but no freedom anywhere. Egypt and Baby

lon were both tyrannies, one very powerful man ruling over helpless masses.

In Greece, in Athens (雅典), a little city in a little country, there were no helpless

masses. And Athenians willingly obeyed the written laws which they themselves pass

ed, and the unwritten, which must be obeyed if free men live together. They must sho

w each other kindness and pity and the many qualities without which life would be ve

ry painful unless one chose to live alone in the desert. The Athenians never thought

that a man was free if he could do what he wanted. A man was free if he was self-cont

rolled. To make yourself obey what you approved was freedom. They were saved fro

m looking at their lives as their own private affair. Each one felt responsible for the w

elfare of Athens, not because it was forced on him from the outside, but because the ci

ty was his pride and his safety. The essential belief of the first free government in the

world was liberty for all men who could control themselves and would take responsibi

lity for the state.

But discovering freedom is not like discovering computers. It cannot be discov

ered once for all. If people do not prize it, and work for it, it will go. Constant watch i

s its price. Athens changed. It was a change that took place without being noticed thou

gh it was of the extreme importance, a spiritual change which affected the whole state.

It had been the Athenian’ s pride and joy to give to their city. That they could get

material benefits from her never entered their minds. There had to be a complete chan

ge of attitude before they could look at the city as an employer who paid her citizens f

or doing her work. Now instead of men giving to the state, the state was to give to the

m. What the people wanted was a government which would provide a comfortable life

for them; and with this as the primary object, ideas of freedom and self-reliance and r

esponsibility were neglected to the point of disappearing. Athens was more and more l

ooked on as a cooperative business possessed of great wealth in which all citizens had

a right to share.

Athens reached the point when the freedom she really wanted was freedom fro

m responsibility. There could be only one result. If men insisted on being free from th

e burden of self-dependence and responsibility for the common good, they would ceas

e to be free. Responsibility is the price every man must pay for freedom. It is to be ha

d on no other terms. Athens, the Athens of Ancient Greece, refused responsibility; she

reached the end of freedom and was never to have it again.

But, “the excellent becomes the permanent”, Aristotle said. Athens lost free

dom forever, but freedom was not lost forever for the world. A great American, James

Madison, referred to: “The capacity of mankind for self-government.” No doubt he

had not an idea that he was speaking Greek. Athens was not in the farthest backgroun

d of his mind, but once man has a great and good idea, it is never completely lost. The

Digital Age cannot destroy it. Somehow in this or that man’s thought such an idea liv

es though unconsidered by the world of action. One can never be sure that it is not on

the point of breaking out into action only sure that it will do so sometime.

65. What does the underlined word “tyrannies” in Paragraph 2 refer to?

A. Countries where their people need help.

B. Powerful states with higher civilization.

C. Splendid empires where people enjoy freedom.

D. Governments ruled with absolute power.

66. People believing in freedom are those who________ .

A. regard their life as their own business

B. seek gains as their primary object

C. behave within the laws and value systems

D. treat others with kindness and pity

67. What change in attitude took place in Athens?

A. The Athenians refused to take their responsibility.