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I have heard hunting described as "the unspeakable in pursuit of the
uneatable". but to be fair to the hunter this enigma which has puzzled
the minds of philosophers for centuries cannot be explained away in
a
flippant phrase. What is it that compels men to risk their lives hunting
dangerous animals in inaccessible places or to expose themselves to the
discomforts of tracking down rare creatures through swamp and jungle ?
One thing you can be sure of: it is not merely the urge to kill, although
it cannot be denied that man has inherited a very strong predatory instinct
from his pre-human ancestors. Fortunately civilization has compelled
him to inhibit most of these predatory tendencies. But they are still there
in all of us, and it would be foolish, perhaps dangerous, to forget it.
The higher an animal ascends in the evolutionary ladder the less
dependent it becomes upon instinct for survival and the more it relies
upon a system of learnt behaviour, among men upon a code of ethics.
This behaviour has to be learned anew by each succeeding generation
but the primordial predatory urges are never entirely eliminated; there is
always a subconscious conflict between the two.
Regardless of how we rationalize this hunting urge there is no doubt
that a true sportsman will go to endless trouble, and perhaps save up for
a lifetime, in order to afford a trip to Africa to shoot a buffalo. If you
were to suggest that he could satisfy this urge equally well and at
considerably less expense by shooting a cow on a neighbour's farm he
would be horrified. For, of course, he does not want to kill a buffalo;
he wants to hunt it. He seeks adventure and excitement -- and the thousand
other emotions which contribute to the magic of a safari in Africa. The
greater his privation and danger the greater will be his satisfaction and
sense of achievement.
There are, of course, other reasons why people hunt. But let us consider
the typical hunter. He seeks adventure. He takes up a challenge compelled
by the same inherent call which drove Sir Edmund Hillary upward more
than twenty-nine thousand feet (8.8 km) to the summit of Everest: the
same urge which spurred Robert Peary to endure discomfort, plodding
through limitless snowy wastes, many degrees below zero, in order to be
the first man to reach the North Pole.
The opponents of hunting will say that these particular examples do
not support my argument because this type of adventurer does not take
life; but the fundamental reason in both cases is the same. It is a response
to a challenge, to prove to the world, but more importantly to oneself,
that one can do something better than one's neighbour. The adventurer
wants to convince himself of his superiority in whatever field he chooses
to express himself, whether as sportsman, musician, artist or explorer.
In one respect these vocations are all alike. They form an arena in which
man can test his own strength. Without this testing, this constant striving
to do better than other people, our civilization would collapse.
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1. |
"this enigma" refers to |
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(A) |
hunters. |
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(B) |
dangerous animals. |
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(C) |
why men hunt. |
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(D) |
the flippant phrase. |
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2. |
"a flippant phrase" is |
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(A) |
one lacking in seriousness. |
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(B) |
a humorous one. |
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(C) |
a nonsensical one. |
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(D) |
a fallacious one. |
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3. |
In the first paragraph it is suggested that man's urge to kill is |
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(A) |
the main reason why he hunts. |
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(B) |
not the main reason why he hunts. |
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(C) |
heightened by civilization. |
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(D) |
a forgotten instinct. |
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4. |
In which of the following ways are the higher animals different from the lower
animals ? |
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(A) |
The former depend more on learnt behaviour. |
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(B) |
Instincts are more developed among the former. |
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(C) |
The former behave exactly as their ancestors. |
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(D) |
The former find it more difficult to survive. |
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5. |
The "subconscious conflict between the two"
refers to the conflict between |
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(A) |
man and other animals. |
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(B) |
civilized man and his pre-human ancestors. |
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(C) |
man's predatory urges and his code of ethics. |
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(D) |
man's instinct for survival and his instinct for
killing. |
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6. |
A true sportsman would look forward to a
safari in Africa because it offers him |
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(A) |
adventure and excitement. |
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(B) |
privation and danger. |
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(C) |
a buffalo to kill. |
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(D) |
the chance to satisfy his instinct to kill. |
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7. |
What had Sir Edmund Hillary and Robert Peary
in common with the typical hunter ? |
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(A) |
They had nothing in common with the typical hunter. |
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(B) |
They had the same unreasonable ambitions. |
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(C) |
They also wanted to be the first to do something. |
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(D) |
They also sought adventure in answer to a challenge. |
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8. |
Which is the main reason suggested by the
writer why man hunts ? |
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(A) |
He wants to satisfy his predatory urges. |
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(B) |
He seeks fun and excitement. |
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(C) |
He seeks adventure. |
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(D) |
He is, perhaps unconsciously, attempting to prove he can
do something better than other men. |
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9. |
The writer seems to believe that man's
constant striving to do better than other men is |
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(A) |
very important for the progress of our civilization. |
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(B) |
threatening the collapse of our civilization. |
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(C) |
wasted energy. |
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(D) |
unnecessary. |
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10. |
Which of these statements is correct ? |
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(A) |
The writer is against hunting, though he gives good
psychological reasons why people hunt. |
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(B) |
the writer supports hunting, and gives good reasons for
it. |
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(C) |
the writer gives the psychological basis for the urge to
hunt, but is neither for nor against it himself. |
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(D) |
By comparing human hunters to predatory animals, the
writer's attempt to explain the hunting urge is absurb. |
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