Passage 3
The concept of “environment” is certainly difficult and may even be misunderstood; but we have no handy substitute. It seems simple enough to distinguish between the organism and the surrounding environment and to separate forces acting on an organism into those that are internal and biological and those that are external and environmental. But in actual practice this system breaks down in many ways, because the organism and the environment are constantly interacting so that the environment is modified by the organism and vice versa.
In the case of man, the difficulties with the environmental concept are even more complicated because we have to deal with man as an animal and with man as a bearer of culture. If we look at man as an animal and try to analyze the environmental forces that are acting on the organism, we find that we have to deal with things like climate, soil, plants, and such-like factors common to all biological situational but we also find, always, very important environmental influences that we can only class as “cultural”, which modify the physical and biological factors. But man, as we know him, is always a bearer of culture; and, if we study human culture, we find that it, in turn, is modified by the environmental factors of climate and geography. We thus easily get into great difficulties from the necessity of viewing culture, at one moment, as a part of the man and, at another moment, as a part of the environment.
11.Which of the following words can best describe the popular understanding of “environment” as the author sees it?
A.Elaborate B. Prejudiced C. Faultless D. Oversimplified
12.According to the author the concept of “environment” is difficult to explain because ______.
A.it doesn’t distinguish between the organism and the environment
B.it involves both internal and external forces
C.the organism and the environment influence each other
D.the relationship between the organism and the environment is unclear
13.In analyzing the environmental forces acting on man the author suggests that _____.
A.biological factors are less important to the organism than cultural factors to man
B.man and other animals are modified equally by the environ-mental forces
C.man is modified by the cultural environment as well as by the natural environment
D.physical and biological factors exert more influence on other organisms than on man
14.As for culture, the author points out that ______.
A.it develops side by side with environmental factors
B.it is also affected by environmental factors
C.it is generally accepted to be part of the environment
D.it is a product of man’s biological instincts
15.In this passage, the author is primarily concerned with ______.
A.the interpretation of the term “environment”
B.the discussion on organisms and biological environment
C.the comparison between internal and external factors influencing man
D.the evaluation of man’s influence on culture
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