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

In Greece, in Athens, a little city in a little country, there were no helpless masses. And Athenians willingly obeyed the written laws which they themselves passed, and the unwritten, which must be obeyed if free men live together. They must show each other kindness and pity and the many qualities without which life would be very 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-controlled. To make yourself obey what you approved was freedom. They were saved from looking at their lives as their own private affair. Each one felt responsible for the welfare of Athens, not because it was forced on him from the outside, but because the city 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 responsibility for the state.

But discovering freedom is not like discovering computers. It cannot be discovered once for all. If people do not prize it, and work for it, it will go. Constant watch is its price. Athens changed. It was a change that took place without being noticed though 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 change of attitude before they could look at the city as an employer who paid her citizens for doing her work. Now instead of men giving to the state, the state was to give to them. 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 responsibinreat wealth in which all citizens had a right to share.

Athens reached the point when the freedom she really wanted was freedom from responsibility. There could be only one result. If men insisted on being free from the burden of self-dependence and responsibility for the common good, they would cease to be free. Responsibility is the price every man must pay for freedom. It is to be had 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 freedom forever, but freedom was not lost forever for the world. A great American, James Madison, referred to “ The capacity (能力) of mankind for self-government." No doubt he had nor an idea that he was speaking Greek. Athens was not in the farthest background 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 lives 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.

1. What does the underlined word “tyrannies” in Paragraph2 refer to?

A．Countries where their people need help.

B．Governments ruled with absolute power.

C．Splendid empires where people enjoy freedom.

D．Powerful states with higher civilization.

2. People believing in freedom are those who ________.

A．regard their life as their own business

B．seek gains as their primary object

C．treat others with kindness and pity

D．behave within the laws and value systems

3. What change in attitude took place in Athens?

A．The Athenians refused to take their responsibility.

B．The Athenians no longer took pride in the city.

C．The Athenians benefited spiritually from the government.

D．The Athenians looked on the government as a business.

4. Why does the author refer to Aristotle and Madison?

A．The author is hopeful about freedom.

B．The author is cautious about self-government.

C．The author is skeptical of Greek civilization.

D．The author is proud of man’s capacity.

5 . 他一看完那个关于濒危物种的电视节目，就立志加入野生动物保护组织。(No sooner) (汉译英）

7 . Ever since the death of her beloved husband, she has had a kind of ________ look on her face(神色空洞). (根据汉语提示单词拼写）