18 The well-being of a society is enhanced when many of its people question authority

The well-being of a society is enhanced when many of its people question authority.

Write a response in which you discuss the extent to which you agree or disagree with the statement and explain your reasoning for the position you take. In developing and supporting your position, you should consider ways in which the statement might or might not hold true and explain how these considerations shape your position.

文勇五问：

（1）到底什么是“authority（权威）”？是最有威望、最有支配作用的力量吗？是被社会所公认的价值、功绩或品德吗？你能罗列一些各个领域的权威人物吗？例如：物理学界有爱因斯坦，哲学界有亚里士多德、苏格拉底，艺术领域有达·芬奇、毕加索等。

（2）权威就一定是正确的吗？你能否想出一两个具体的例子来说明，在某些特定的情况下，权威也可能是不正确的？例如：爱因斯坦挑战牛顿的经典力学，提出了相对论；伽利略挑战亚里士多德，用“比萨斜塔实验”证明自由下落物体的运动规律。

（3）权威是怎么形成的？权威是在人类社会实践中形成的吗？权威是不是一种大众公认的力量？权威是否在任何层面乃至任何领域都一定是权威？你能够想出一两个反例来吗？例如，马克思在科学、政治、思想领域都提出了权威的理论，但是他在经济方面提出的“剩余价值”理论却被一些经济学家指出是错误的。

（4）挑战权威对社会的好处是什么？例如：可以促使人类不断反思，根据事物发展的变化去思考问题，发现有错及时纠正。挑战权威可能诱发的问题有哪些？为什么有人认为挑战权威可能会降低社会运行效率？这是因为他们认为权威被挑战，社会会失去主导和规则，一切事物不再循规蹈矩，从而降低社会运行效率。

（5）你认为，需要在何种程度上满足何种条件，才会让我们觉得挑战权威是一件有利于社会的事情？挑战者如果不具备相当程度的知识水平和判断能力，那么，他们对权威的挑战会对社会的发展进步有利吗？

翻译练习：

为了一个国家的成功发展，对其当局提出合理的挑战的确是需要的，要么去揭露之前被忽视的问题，要么去推进改革的进程（尽量使用“...be required either to...or to...”结构）。但是，恶意的、不理性的质疑可能会扰乱社会秩序，甚至将国家引向瓦解。

参考答案：

For the successful development of a nation, reasonable challenges to its authorities are definitely required either to disclose previously overlooked problems or to push forward the reform process. However, malicious and irrational questioning would disrupt social order and even lead the country toward disintegration.

翻译练习：

男女平等主要意味着女性地位的上升，这对古代的人来说是不切实际的，他们从出生那一刻起就被教导男尊女卑的思想，并且从未怀疑过这种观念的不合理性。

参考答案：

Sexual equality, mainly meaning the rise of women’s status, seemed unrealistic to ancient people who were taught about the superiority of men to women the moment they were born and who had never doubted the irrationality of that concept.

翻译练习：

过去，中国的大多数孩子都被教导要遵从主流思想，永远不要做第一个表达反对意见的人。如今，在我们所处的这个社会中，所有人都被鼓励去建立自己个体的独特性，并通过这样做从人群中脱颖而出。这在我看来是一个重要的进步。

参考答案：

In the past, most children in China were taught to conform to the mainstream thoughts and never be the first one to express an opposition. Today, we are in a society in which all the people are encouraged to establish their individualistic uniqueness and to stand out among the crowd by so doing. This, to my mind, is a significant leap forward.

翻译练习：

站在和大部分人相反的立场经常会招致大量批评。正是这种害怕他人不赞同的心理，使我们很难脱离群体。但是，很多突破都是通过背离群体而取得的。比如，如果约翰·纳什没有足够的勇气去质疑权威，我们现在可能还在继续推崇亚当·斯密的理论。

参考答案：

Taking an opposite stand against the majority always elicits torrents of criticism. It is this fear of other people’s disapproval that makes it so difficult for us to break away from the crowd. However, numerous breakthroughs have been achieved by deviating from the crowd. For example, if John Nash were not audacious enough to question the authority, we might still stick with Adam Smith’s theory now.

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