What our society suffers from most today is the absence of consensus about what it and life in it ought to be; such consensus cannot be gained from society’s present stage, or from fantasies about what it ought to be. For that the present is too close and too diversified, and the future too uncertain, to make believable claims about it. A consensus in the present hence can be achieved only through a shared understanding of the past, as Homer’s epics informed those who lived centuries later What it meant to be Greek, and by what images and ideals they were to live their lives and organize their societies.
Most societies derive consensus from a long history, a language all their own, a common religion, common ancestry. The myths by which they live are based on all of these. But the United States is a country of immigrants, coming from a great variety of nations. Lately, it has been emphasized that an asocial, narcissistic personality has become characteristic of Americans, and that it is this type of personality that makes for the lack of well-being, because it prevents us from achieving consensus that would counteract a tendency to withdraw into private worlds. In this study of narcissism, Christopher Lash says that modern man, "tortured by self-consciousness, turns to new therapies not to free himself of his personal worries hut to find meaning and purpose in life, to find something to live for". There is widespread distress because national morale has declined, and we have lost an earlier sense of national vision and purpose.
Contrary to rigid religions or political beliefs, as are found in totalitarian societies, our culture is one of the great individual differences, at least in principle and in theory; but this leads to disunity, even chaos. Americans believe in the value of diversity, but just because ours is a society based on individual diversity, it needs consensus about some dominating ideas more than societies based on uniform origin of their citizens. Hence, if we are to have consensus, it must be based on a myth--a vision about a common experience, a conquest that made us Americans, as the myth about the conquest of Troy formed the Greeks. Only a common myth can offer relief from the fear that life is without meaning or purpose. Myths permit us to examine our place in the world by comparing it to a shared idea. Myths are shared fantasies that form the tie that binds the individual to other members of his group. Such myths help to ward off feelings of isolations, guilt, anxiety, and purposelessness--in short, they combat isolation and the breakdown of social standards and values.
Americans may find themselves in a society characterized by

A:extreme stress. B:worry and suffering. C:shared beliefs. D:void and isolation.

When I was in high school, I had almost no individual identity left. I was a Hillcrest Husky and all other high schools were enemies. I was a wrestler and all the other sports were gor wimps. I was on the debate team and everyone else was dumb.
At my high school, everyone had a group; no one was an individual. Wait. I take that back. There were a few individuals, but they were completely outcast from our social order. Never in my life can I remember stronger feelings of hate tian in high school. But we never called it hate. We called it loyalty.
As adults, most of us are better at being an individual than we were in high school, but the influences of group identity continue to promote competition and prejudice in our world. If you are like me, you want to avoid teaching rivalry, conflict and prejudice to your children.
One possible strategy for stopping the negative influences of group identity would be: recognize and replay. Look for the prejudice in your life and replace it with charity. Treat every person as an individual and ignore the social classifications created by a group-dependent world.
A good friend and I once discussed our differing religions beliefs. He identified with a certain group and I with another. Because of our dependence on group identity, our conversations revolved around the beliefs of the groups. Our individual beliefs, which were quite similar, took a back seat while we discussed topics we knew little about. We defended our groups even when we did not understand or know the official group position on many issues. The resulting rivalry has damaged our friendship ever since.
My behavior in this situation is exactly what scripture and wisdom teach us to avoid. How stupid I was to judge my friend by a group standard! How stupid I was to defend my own group even in areas I knew nothing about! I hope I can teach my children to behave differently.
Here, I have used religious beliefs to point only one area in which the influence of group identity can create problems. There are many others to consider also. Some of these are marriage, race, culture, language, geographic origin, education, and behavior. We should treat all people as individuals regardless of these conditions.
Finally, loyalty and group identity are not always bad. At times, they can help a lonely person to feel loved or a broken soul to feel success. Group identity can also help us to live a higher standard. But positive peer pressure should never replace individual, one-to-one acts of service and love.
Why did the author damage the friendship with his good friend

A:Because their group beliefs were dissimilar. B:Because their group beliefs were similar. C:Because their individual beliefs were dissimilar. D:Bemuse their individual beliefs were similar.

What our society suffers from most today is the absence of consensus about what it and life in it ought to be; such consensus cannot be gained from society’s present stage, or from fantasies about what it ought to be. For that the present is too close and too diversified, and the future too uncertain, to make believable claims about it. A consensus in the present hence can be achieved only through a shared understanding of the past, as Homer’s epics informed those who lived centuries later what it meant to be Greek, and by what images and ideals they were to live their lives and organize their societies.
Most societies derive consensus from a long history, a language all their own, a common religion, common ancestry. The myths by which they live are based on all of these. But the United States is a country of immigrants, coming from a great variety of nations. Lately, it has been emphasized that an asocial, narcissistic personality has become characteristic of Americans, and that it is this type of personality that makes for the lack of well-being, because it prevents us from achieving consensus that would counteract a tendency to withdraw into private worlds. In this study of narcissism, Christopher Lash says that modern man, "tortured by self-consciousness, turns to new therapies not to free himself of his personal worries but to find meaning and purpose in life, to find something to live for". There is widespread distress because national morale has declined, and we have lost an earlier sense of national vision and purpose.
Contrary to rigid religions or political beliefs, as are found in totalitarian societies, our culture is one of the great individual differences, at least in principle and in theory; but this leads to disunity, even chaos. Americans believe in the value of diversity, but just because ours is a society based on individual diversity, it needs consensus about some dominating ideas more than societies based on uniform origin of their citizens. Hence, if we are to have consensus, it must be based on a myth--a vision about a common experience, a conquest that made us Americans, as the myth about the conquest of Troy formed the Greeks. Only a common myth can offer relief from the fear that life is without meaning or purpose. Myths permit us to examine our place in the world by comparing it to a shared idea. Myths are shared fantasies that form the tie. that binds the individual to other members of his group. Such myths help to ward off feelings of isolations, guilt, anxiety, and purposelessness--in short, they combat isolation and the breakdown of social standards and values.
Americans may find themselves in a society characterized by

A:extreme stress. B:worry and suffering. C:shared beliefs. D:void and isolation.

When I was in high school, I had almost no individual identity left. I was a Hillcrest Husky and all other high schools were enemies. I was a wrestler and all the other sports were gor wimps. I was on the debate team and everyone else was dumb.
At my high school, everyone had a group; no one was an individual. Wait. I take that back. There were a few individuals, but they were completely outcast from our social order. Never in my life can I remember stronger feelings of hate tian in high school. But we never called it hate. We called it loyalty.
As adults, most of us are better at being an individual than we were in high school, but the influences of group identity continue to promote competition and prejudice in our world. If you are like me, you want to avoid teaching rivalry, conflict and prejudice to your children.
One possible strategy for stopping the negative influences of group identity would be: recognize and replay. Look for the prejudice in your life and replace it with charity. Treat every person as an individual and ignore the social classifications created by a group-dependent world.
A good friend and I once discussed our differing religions beliefs. He identified with a certain group and I with another. Because of our dependence on group identity, our conversations revolved around the beliefs of the groups. Our individual beliefs, which were quite similar, took a back seat while we discussed topics we knew little about. We defended our groups even when we did not understand or know the official group position on many issues. The resulting rivalry has damaged our friendship ever since.
My behavior in this situation is exactly what scripture and wisdom teach us to avoid. How stupid I was to judge my friend by a group standard! How stupid I was to defend my own group even in areas I knew nothing about! I hope I can teach my children to behave differently.
Here, I have used religious beliefs to point only one area in which the influence of group identity can create problems. There are many others to consider also. Some of these are marriage, race, culture, language, geographic origin, education, and behavior. We should treat all people as individuals regardless of these conditions.
Finally, loyalty and group identity are not always bad. At times, they can help a lonely person to feel loved or a broken soul to feel success. Group identity can also help us to live a higher standard. But positive peer pressure should never replace individual, one-to-one acts of service and love.

Why did the author damage the friendship with his good friend（）

A:Because their group beliefs were dissimilar. B:Because their group beliefs were similar. C:Because their individual beliefs were dissimilar. D:Bemuse their individual beliefs were similar.

What our society suffers from most today is the absence of consensus about what it and life in it ought to be; such consensus cannot be gained from society’s present stage, or from fantasies about what it ought to be. For that the present is too close and too diversified, and the future too uncertain, to make believable claims about it. A consensus in the present hence can be achieved only through a shared understanding of the past, as Homer’s epics informed those who lived centuries later What it meant to be Greek, and by what images and ideals they were to live their lives and organize their societies.
Most societies derive consensus from a long history, a language all their own, a common religion, common ancestry. The myths by which they live are based on all of these. But the United States is a country of immigrants, coming from a great variety of nations. Lately, it has been emphasized that an asocial, narcissistic personality has become characteristic of Americans, and that it is this type of personality that makes for the lack of well-being, because it prevents us from achieving consensus that would counteract a tendency to withdraw into private worlds. In this study of narcissism, Christopher Lash says that modern man, "tortured by self-consciousness, turns to new therapies not to free himself of his personal worries hut to find meaning and purpose in life, to find something to live for". There is widespread distress because national morale has declined, and we have lost an earlier sense of national vision and purpose.
Contrary to rigid religions or political beliefs, as are found in totalitarian societies, our culture is one of the great individual differences, at least in principle and in theory; but this leads to disunity, even chaos. Americans believe in the value of diversity, but just because ours is a society based on individual diversity, it needs consensus about some dominating ideas more than societies based on uniform origin of their citizens. Hence, if we are to have consensus, it must be based on a myth--a vision about a common experience, a conquest that made us Americans, as the myth about the conquest of Troy formed the Greeks. Only a common myth can offer relief from the fear that life is without meaning or purpose. Myths permit us to examine our place in the world by comparing it to a shared idea. Myths are shared fantasies that form the tie that binds the individual to other members of his group. Such myths help to ward off feelings of isolations, guilt, anxiety, and purposelessness--in short, they combat isolation and the breakdown of social standards and values

Americans may find themselves in a society characterized by（）

A:extreme stress. B:worry and suffering. C:shared beliefs. D:void and isolation.

? ?Religious beliefs are not always a source of comfort during iii health: they may actually increase your risk of dying.
? ?A study of nearly 600 older hospital patients, 95 percent of whom were Christian, showed negative feelings evoked by religious beliefs sometimes predicted mortality.
? ?Key factors that increased the risk of death were feelings of being "abandoned or punished" by God, "believing the devil caused the illness", or "feeling abandoned by one’s faith community", the study by researchers at Duke University Medical Centre and Bowling Green State University showed.
? ?"The study reminds us that religion... can, at times, be a source of problems in it self, "says lead author Kenneth Pargament.
? ?Several studies have demonstrated a reduced risk of death among those who attend church regularly, but the new research, published in today’s Archives of Internal Medicine, is the first to examine negative aspects of religiousness.
? ?Patients who reported feeling alienated from God or who blamed the devil had a 19 to 28 percent increased risk of dying during the following two years, say the researchers, who found no association between gender, race, diagnosis, brain function, independence, depression, or quality of life with mortality.
? ?Duke University’s Dr Harold Koenig said anger and frustration were normal grief responses when people discovered health problems. Those who were religious and were able to reconnect with God and their spiritual feeling could use those resources for support. But those who continued to experience conflict could be making their health worse.
? ?"Those people are in trouble and doctors need to know about it," he said. "Doctors need to be assessing their patients for these kinds of feelings." Referral to clergy may then be helpful.
? ?He said more than two-thirds of medical schools in the United States had courses that trained students on how to take a patient’s spiritual history, a trend that recognized the growing body of evidence about the mind-body connection.

Which of the following ideas about religious belief is expressed by the speaker?

A:95 percent of older hospital patients were Christian. B:Religious beliefs predict mortality and increase the risk of death. C:Religious beliefs are not always a source of comfort. D:Some people die of religious beliefs.

? ?Religious beliefs are not always a source of comfort during iii health: they may actually increase your risk of dying.
? ?A study of nearly 600 older hospital patients, 95 percent of whom were Christian, showed negative feelings evoked by religious beliefs sometimes predicted mortality.
? ?Key factors that increased the risk of death were feelings of being "abandoned or punished" by God, "believing the devil caused the illness", or "feeling abandoned by one’s faith community", the study by researchers at Duke University Medical Centre and Bowling Green State University showed.
? ?"The study reminds us that religion... can, at times, be a source of problems in it self, "says lead author Kenneth Pargament.
? ?Several studies have demonstrated a reduced risk of death among those who attend church regularly, but the new research, published in today’s Archives of Internal Medicine, is the first to examine negative aspects of religiousness.
? ?Patients who reported feeling alienated from God or who blamed the devil had a 19 to 28 percent increased risk of dying during the following two years, say the researchers, who found no association between gender, race, diagnosis, brain function, independence, depression, or quality of life with mortality.
? ?Duke University’s Dr Harold Koenig said anger and frustration were normal grief responses when people discovered health problems. Those who were religious and were able to reconnect with God and their spiritual feeling could use those resources for support. But those who continued to experience conflict could be making their health worse.
? ?"Those people are in trouble and doctors need to know about it," he said. "Doctors need to be assessing their patients for these kinds of feelings." Referral to clergy may then be helpful.
? ?He said more than two-thirds of medical schools in the United States had courses that trained students on how to take a patient’s spiritual history, a trend that recognized the growing body of evidence about the mind-body connection.

Which of the following people with religious beliefs will most probably recover from health problem?

A:Those who give up their religious beliefs. B:Those who blame the devil bravely. C:Those who could communicate with God. D:Those who go to church regularly.