The Classical Greeks provided a tradition which enshrined at least three things which have played decisive roles in the story and in the West's sense of itself.
The first is a spirit of individual self-assertion, the notion that the best, most beautiful, and most worthy lives are those lived in a spirit of individual competition. To live the good life, according to this Greek tradition, one must assert one's own individual excellence to the full, and that is best carried on in an ongoing climate of restless competition: intellectual, artistic, materialistic, athletic, and military rivalry. As a result of this Greek influence, Western traditions have, especially in recent centuries, had a much more pronounced emphasis on individual achievement and the self-realized life in competition than have other cultures.
A second important tradition derived from the Greeks is the concept of democracy as the basis for political order. This idea, combined with the Roman tradition of republican government, has been a major inspiration for the often violent evolution of democracy in modern western states, since it provided a model for political life entirely different from the aristocratic old order ruling Europe.
The third important notion which the West derived from the Greeks was the spatial understanding of nature, the idea that the proper way to understand the natural world was not through history and historical destiny but through visual art and, above all, through mathematics, through geometry. By initiating this tradition, the Greeks laid the groundwork for a way of thinking which was eventually to give the Western world not only its greatest artistic inspiration but also the physical power it needed to match its aggressive expansionist spirit, the power of science. Other civilizations were much more advanced in mathematics than the Greeks and had astronomical traditions very much older, but such people did not apply their understanding of geometry to an understanding of the world; that is, they did not use mathematical models to arrive at an explanation of how nature worked.
1. All of the following are inferred by the passage EXCEPT
(A) The Greeks provided the Western world with the power of applied science.
(B) The Greek concept of democracy differed significantly from the system of rule in Europe that proceeded modern western states.
(C) The Greeks used their superior mathematical knowledge to dominate less advanced civilizations.
(D) Greek influence has led to a spirit of individual competition in western tradition.
(E) Greeks did not attempt to understand nature through the study of history.
2. The tone of the passage can best be described as
(A) confident and optimistic
(B) explicative and interested
(C) discouraged and alarmed
(D) scientific and detached
(E) callous and indifferent
3. According to the passage, the spirit of Greek self-assertion would deem which of the following occupations as the most worthy?
(A) a Buddhist monk
(B) a college professor
(C) a catholic priest
(D) a professional athlete
(E) a mathematician
4. Which one of the following best expresses the main point of the passage?
(A) The Greeks applied their understanding of mathematics to the world around them.
(B) The culture of the Classical Greeks shaped many of the western traditions that followed it.
(C) Individual self-assertion was a Greek notion that led to competition as a way of life.
(D) The Greeks believed in democracy as the basis for political order.
(E) The expansionist spirit of the Greeks led to their eventual replacement by modern western cultures
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发表于 2021-10-29 20:43:22
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