GRE阅读 | 破解GRE阅读理解系列（六）

Many philosophers disagree over the definition of morality, but most disputants fall into one of two categories: egocentrics, who define morality as the pursuit of self-fulfillment, and sociocentrics, who define morality as an individual’s obligations to society. Where does the truth lie? Fortunately, the stem of the word “morality” provides some clues. The word “mores” originally referred to the customs of preliterate cultures. Mores, which embodied each culture’s ideal principles for governing every citizen, were developed in the belief that the foundation of a community lies in the cultivation of individual powers to be placed in service to the community. These mores were concerned with such skills as food-gathering and warfare as well as an individual’s relationships with others. Thus, I submit (intransitive senses: to defer to or consent to abide by the opinion or authority of another), “morality” must be concerned with what is honored by the community at large. However, self-fulfillment is important to morality because unfulfilled citizens, no matter how virtuous, cannot perform the duties morality assigns them.

The primary purpose of this passage is to (主旨题)

(A) summarize an argument

(B) resolve a dispute

(C) trace a word’s origin （只是用origin作为evidence to support the answer to the question。）

(D) prove a hypothesis（理解hypothesis是什么。）

(E) initiate a debate

According to the passage, mores in preliterate cultures concerned such skills as warfare and food-gathering because these skills were（细节信息题）

(A) characteristic of an individual’s self-fulfillment （无稽之谈，彻底冲突于原文。）

(B) examples of a culture’s traditions （未提及。）

(C) manifestations of an individual’s ideals （无稽之谈，彻底冲突于原文。）

(D) demonstrations of an individual’s contributions to the community

(E) examples of a community’s governing principles （文中给出的是个人的行为的例子，而不是社群/会管理原则的例子，文中并没有社群/会管理原则的例子。）

It can be inferred from the passage that the author would be most likely to agree with which of the following statements regarding sociocentrics and egocentrics? （推断题，切忌过度推断。）

(A) The position of the sociocentrics is stronger than that of the egocentrics. （正确答案出现太早了。）

(B) The positions of the egocentrics and sociocentrics are of equal merit. （肯定不是。）

(C) There is no merit in the position of the egocentrics. （肯定不是。看文章的最后一句。）

(D) Neither position contributes very much to an understanding of the definition of morality. （肯定不是。）

(E) The dispute between the egocentrics and sociocentrics is based on trivial issues. （肯定不是。）

With which of the following statements regarding the relationship between the individual and morality would the author be most likely to agree?（推断题，切忌过度推断。）

(A) Failure in social obligations is the price of success in individual endeavors. （理解price很重要，理解price就理解了这个选项的逻辑：想要success in individual endeavors，就必须fail social obligations。冲突于文章的最后一句。）

(B) The unfulfilled citizen cannot fulfill his moral obligations to the community. （文章的最后一句。）

(C) Morality is unconcerned with conflicts among citizens. （冲突于These mores were concerned with such skills as xxxxxxxxxxxx an individual’s relationships with others。）

(D) The unfulfilled citizen is without virtue. （冲突于文章最后一句里的no matter how virtuous。no matter how virtuous的前提是WITH virtue）

(E) Wealth harms a citizen’s moral standing in the community. (也很容易被排除，wealth也是individual fulfillment的一方面。)