专八阅读训练：The Importance of Independent Thinking

The Importance of Independent Thinking

No one can be a great thinker who does not realize that asa thinker it is her first duty to follow her intellect to whateverconclusions it may lead. Truth gains more even by the errors ofone who with due study and preparation, thinks for himself,than by the true opinions of those who only hold them becausethey do not suffer themselves to think. No that it is solely, ofchiefly, to form great thinkers that freedom of thinking isrequired. One the contrary, it is as much or even moreindispensable to enable average human beings to attain the mental stature which they are capableof. There have been and many again be great individual thinkers in a general atmosphere of mentalslavery. But there never has been, nor ever will be, in that atmosphere an intellectually activepeople. Where any of heterodox speculation was for a time suspended, where there is a tacitconvention that principles are not to be disputed: where the discussion of the greatest questionswhich can occupy humanity is considered to be closed, we cannot hope to find that generally highscale of mental activity which has made some periods of history so remarkable. Never whencontroversy avoided the subjects which are large and important enough to kindle enthusiasm wasthe mind of a people stirred up fro9m its foundation and the impulse given which raised evenpersons of the most ordinary intellect to something of the dignity of thinking beings.

She who knows only her own side of the case knows little of that. Her reasons may be food, andno one may have been able to refute them. But if she s equally unable to refute the reasons of theopposite side; if she does not so much as know what they are, she has no ground for preferringeither opinion. The rational position for her would be suspension of judgment, and unless shecontents herself with that, she is either led by authority, or adopts, like the generality of the worldthe side to which she feels the most inclination. Nor is it enough that she should heat thearguments of adversaries from her own teachers, presented as they state them, and accompaniedby what they offer as refutations, That is not the way to do justice to the arguments, or bringthem into real contact with her own mind. She must be able to hear them form persons whoactually believe them; who defend them in earnest, and do their very utmost for them. She mustknow them in their most plausible and persuasive form; she must feel the whole force of thedifficulty which the true view of the subject has to encounter and dispose of; else she will neverreally possess herself of the portion of truth which meets and removes that difficulty. Ninety-nine ina hundred of what are called educated persons are in this condition; even of those who can arguefluently for their opinions. Their conclusion may be true, but it might be false for anything theyknow; they have never thrown themselves into the mental position of those who think differentlyform them and considered what such persons may have to say; and consequently they do not, inany proper sense of the word, know the doctrines which they themselves profess.

1. The best title for this passage is
[A] The Age of Reason   [B] The need for Independent Thinking
[C] The Value of Reason [D] Stirring People’s Minds

2. According to the author, it is always advisable to
[A] have opinions which cannot be refuted.
[B] adopt the point of view to which one feels the most inclination.
[C] be acquainted with the arguments favoring the point of view with which one disagrees,
[D] suspend heterodox speculation in favor of doctrinaire approaches.

3. According to the author, in a great period such as the Renaissance we may expect to find
[A] acceptance of truth     [B] controversy over principles
[C] inordinate enthusiasm [D] a dread of heterodox speculation

4. According to the author, the person who holds orthodox beliefs without examination may bedescribed in all of the following ways EXCEPT as
[A] enslaved by tradition            [B] less than fully rational
[C] determinded on controversy [D] having a closed mind

5. It can be inferred from the passage that the author would be most likely to agree with which ofthe following statements
[A] A truly great thinker makes no mistakes.
[B] Periods of intellectual achievement are periods of unorthodox reflection,
[C] The refutation of accepted ideas can best be provided by one’s own teachers.
[D] excessive controversy prevents clear thinking