Ne w Concept English -Fluency in English
Lesson 10 Thoughts in the Wilderness
In our new society there is a growing dislike of original, creative
men. The manipulated do not understand them; the manipulators fear them.
The tidy committee men regard them with horror, knowing that no
pigeonholes can be found for them. We could do with a few original,
creative men in our political life-if only to create some enthusiasm,
release some energy--but where are they? We are asked to choose between
various shades of the negative. The engine is falling to pieces while
the joint owners of the car argue whether the footbrake or the handbrake
should be applied. Notice how the cold, colourless men, without ideas
and with no other passion but a craving for success, get on in this
society, capturing one plum after another and taking the juice and taste
out of them. Sometimes you might think the machines we worship make all
the chief appointments, promoting the human beings who seem closest to
them. Between midnight and dawn, when sleep will not come and all the
old wounds begin to ache,I often have a nightmare vision of a future
world in which there are billions of people, all numbered and
registered, with not a gleam of genius anywhere, not an original mind, a
rich personality, on the whole packed globe. The twin ideals of our
time, organization and quantity, will have won for ever. |