We are all inclined to believe that our generation is more civilized than the generati
on that preceded ours. From time to time, there is even some substantial evidence that we hold in higher regard such civilized attributes as compassion, pity, remorse (懊悔), intelligence and a respect for the customs of people different from ourselves.
Why war then？
Some pessimistic historians think the whole society of man runs in cycles and that one of the phases is war. The optimists, on the other hand, think war is not like an eclipse (日食) or a flood or a spell of bad weather. They believe that it is more like a disease for which a cure could be found if the causes were known.
Because war is the ultimate drama of life and death stories and pictures of it are more interesting than those about peace. This is so true that all of us, and perhaps those of us in television more than most, are often caught up in the action of war to the exclusion of the ideas of it.
If it is true, as we would like to think it is, that our age is more civilized than ages past, we must all agree that it’s very strange that in the twentieth century, our century, we have killed more than 70 million of our fellowmen on purpose, at war. It is very strange that since 1900 more men have killed more other men than in any other seventy years in history.
Probably the reason we are able to do both, that is, believe on the one hand that we are more civilized and on the other hand wage war to kill ― is that killing is not so personal an affair as it once was. The enemy is invisible. One man doesn’t look another in the eye and run him through with a sword. The enemy dead or alive is largely unseen. He is killed by remote control: a loud noise, a distant puff of smoke and then silence.
The pictures of the victim’s wife and children, which he carries in his breast pocket, are destroyed with him. He is not heard to cry out. The question of compassion or pity or remorse does not enter into it. The enemy is not a man; he is a statistic. It is true, too, that more people are being killed at war now than previously because we’re better at doing it than we used to be. One man with one modern weapon can kill thousands.
6.In modern wars more people get killed because _____.
A、people are more cruel
B、people don’t care others’ lives
C、people have more advanced weapons
D、people are more civilized
7.In what way are we more civilized than the ancients？
A、We can kill more people.
B、We respect those people different from us.
C、We have more interesting stories of war.
D、We don’t think of killing as a personal affair anymore.
8.In modern war the enemy is treated as _____.
A、an animal
B、a victim
C、a man
D、a statistic without life
9.How is the enemy killed in modern war？
A、By an opponent running him through with a sword.
B、By a man who knows him well.
C、By remote control.
D、By a puff of smoke.
10.What is the attitude of the author toward war？
A、Negative.
B、Supportive.
C、Neutral.
D、Indifferent.
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