2024年12月大学习英语四级听力美文:The Two Drives in Man

Man is,at one and the same time,a solitary being and a social being.As a solitary being,heattempts to protect his own existence and that of those who are closest to him,to satisfy hispersonal desires,and to develop his innate abilities.As a social being,he seeks to gain therecognition and affection of his fellow human beings,to share in their pleasures,to comfortthem in their sorrows,and to improve their conditions of life.only the existence of thesevaried,frequently conflicting,strivings accounts for the special character of a man,and theirspecific coombination determines the extent to which an individual can achieve an innerbalance and can contribute to the well-being of society.

It is quite possible that the ralative strength of these two drives is,in the main,fixed byinheritance.But the personality that finally emerges is largely formed by the environment inwhich a man happens to find himself during his development,by the structure of the society inwhich he grows up,by the tradition of that society,and by its evaluation of particular types ofbehavior.The abstract concept "society" means to the individual human being the sum total ofhis direct and indirect ralations to his contemporaries and to all the people of earliergenerations.The individual is able to think,feel,strive,and work by himself;but he depends somuch upon society — in his physical,intellectual,and emotional existence---that it isimpossible to think of him,or to understand him,outside the framework of society.It is "society" which provides man with food,clothing,a home,the tools of work,languag,the forms orthought,and most of the content of thought;his life is made possible through the labor andaccomplishments of the many millions past and present who are all hidden behind the smallword "society".