The concept of “environment”is certainly difficult and may even be misunderstood; but we have no handy substitute. It seems simple enough to distinguish between the organism and the surrounding environment and to separate forces acting on an organism into those that are internal and biological and those that are external and environmental. But in actual practice this system breaks down in many ways, because the organism and the environment are constantly interacting so that the environment is modified by the organism and vice versa(反之亦然).
In the case of man, the difficulties with the environmental concept are even more complicated because we have to deal with man as an animal and with man as a bearer(持有者) of culture. If we look at man as an animal and try to analyze the environmental forces that are acting on the organism, we find that we have to deal with things like climate, soil, plants, and such-like factors common to all biological situations; but we also find, always, very important environmental influences that we can only class as “cultural”, which modify the physical and biological factors. But man, as we know him, is always a bearer of culture; and if we study human culture, we find that it, in turn, is modified by the environmental factors of climate and geography. We thus easily get into great difficulties from the necessity of viewing culture, at one moment, as a part of the man and, at another moment, as a part of the environment.
Which of the following words can best describe the popular understanding
of“environment”as the author sees it?____
[A] Elaborate
[B] Prejudiced
[C] Faultless
[D] Oversimplified
- According to the author the
concept of“environment”is difficult to explain because ____.
[A] it doesn't distinguish between the organism and the
environment
[B] it involves both internal and external
forces
[C] the organism and the environment influence each
other
[D] the relationship between the organism and the
environment is unclear
- In analyzing the
environmental forces acting on man the author suggests that ____.
[A] biological factors are less important to the
organism than cultural factors to man
[B] man and other animals are modified equally by the
environmental forces
[C] man is modified by the cultural environment as
well as by the natural environment
[D] physical and biological factors exert more
influence on other organisms than on man
- As for culture, the author
points out that ____.
[A] it develops side by side with environmental
factors
[B] it is also affected by environmental
factors
[C] it is generally accepted to be part of the
environment
[D] it is a product of man's biological
instincts
- In this passage, the author
is primarily concerned with ____.
[A] the interpretation of the
term“environment”
[B] the discussion on organisms and biological
environment
[C] the comparison between internal and external
factors influencing man
[D] the evaluation of man's influence on
culture
