1.The man whose life is centered around producing, selling and consuming commodities transforms himself into a commodity. He becomes increasingly attracted to that which is man-made and mechanical,rather than to that which is natural and organic. Many men today are more interested in sports cars than in women; or they experience women as a car which one can cause to race by pushing the right button. 2. Altogether they expect happiness is a matter of finding the right button,not the result of a productive,rich life,a life which requires making an effort and taking risks. In their search for the button,some go to the psychoanalyst,some go to church and some read “self-help” books. But while it is impossible to find the button for happiness, the majority are satisfied with pushing the buttons of cameras, radios,television sets,and watching science fiction becoming reality.
One of the strangest aspects of their approach to life is the widespread lack of concern about the danger of total destruction by nuclear weapons? A possibility people are consciously aware of. 3. The explanation, I believe, is that they are so frightened of the possibility of their personal failure and humiliation that their anxiety about personal matters prevent them from feeling anxiety about the possibility that everybody and everything may be destroyed. Perhaps total destruction is even more attractive than total insecurity and never-ending personal anxiety.
Am I suggesting that modern man is doomed and that we should return to the pre-industrial mode of production or to nineteenth century “free enterprise” capitalism? Certainly not. 4. Problems are never solved by returning to a stage which one has already outgrown. I suggest transforming our social system from a bureaucratically managed industrialism in which maximal production and consumption are ends in themselves into a humanist industrialism in which man and the full development of his potentialities—those of love and of reason—are the aims of all social arrangements. Production and consumption should serve only as means to this end,and should be prevented from ruling man.
Directions:Read the following passage, and then translate the underlined parts numbered from (1) to(4) , from English into Chinese. Please write your answer on the ANSWER SHEET.
