2018大学英语四级真题【2018年6月大学英语四级听力美文:How,to,Avoid,Foolish,Opinions】

【导语】2018年6月四级考试就要到来了，为了让同学们更好准备四级考试，大范文网英语四六级频道别整理了《2018年6月大学英语四级听力美文:How to Avoid Foolish Opinions》，希望可以为大家带来帮助, 预祝大家高分通过考试。

　　英语四级听力美文:How to Avoid Foolish Opinions

　　To avoid the various foolish opinions to which mankind is prone, no superhuman genius isrequired.

　　A few simple rules will keep you, not from all error, but from silly error.

　　If the matter is one that can be settled by observation, make the observation yourself.

　　Aristotle could have avoided the mistake of thinking that women have fewer teeth than men, by the simple device of asking Mrs. Aristotle to keep her mouth open while he counted.

　　He did not do so because he thought he knew.

　　Thinking that you know when in fact you don’t is a fatal mistake, to which we are all prone.

　　Many matters, however, are less easily brought to the test of experience.

　　If, like most of mankind, you have convictions on many such matters, there are ways in whichyou can make yourself aware of your own bias.

　　If an opinion contrary to your own makes you angry, that is a sign that you are subconsciouslyaware of having no good reason for thinking as you do.

　　If someone maintains that two and two are five, you feel pity rather than anger.

　　The most savage controversies are those about matters as to which there is no good evidenceeither way.

　　Persecution is used in theology, not in arithmetic, because in arithmetic there is knowledge, but in theology there is only opinion.

　　So whenever you find yourself getting angry about a difference of opinion, be on your guard; you will probably find, on examination, that your belief is going beyond what the evidencewarrants.

　　A good way of riding yourself of certain kinds of dogmatism is to become aware of opinionsheld in social circles different from your own.

　　Seek out people with whom you disagree, and read a newspaper belonging to a party that isnot yours.

　　If the people and the newspaper seem mad and wicked, remind yourself that you seem so tothem.

　　In this opinion both parties may be right, but they cannot both be wrong.

　　This reflection should generate caution.