Now all law, all social order, all custom, is a patch-up and a concession8 to this separating passion of self-insistence. It is an evasion9 of conflict and social death. Human society is as yet only a truce10 and not an alliance.
When you understand that, you will begin to understand a thousand perplexing things in legislation and social life. You will understand the necessity of all those restrictions11 that are called "conventionality," and the inevitableness of the general hostility12 to singularity. To be exceptional is to assert a difference, to disregard the banked-up forces of jealousy and break the essential conditions of the social contract. It invites either resentment13 or aggression. So we all wear much the same clothing, affect modesty14, use the same phrases, respect one another's "rights," and pretend a greater disinterestedness15 than we feel....
You have to face this reality as you must face all reality. This is the reality of laws and government; this is the reality of customs and institutions; a convention between jealousies16. This is reality, just as the cat's way with the nestlings was reality, and the squealing17 rat one smashed in a paroxysm of cruelty and disgust in the barn.
But it isn't the only reality. Equally real is the passionate18 revolt of my heart against cruelty, and the deep fluctuating impulse not to pretend, to set aside fear and jealousy, to come nakedly out of the compromises and secretive methods of every-day living into the light, into a wide impersonal19 love, into a new way of living for mankind....
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1
jealousy
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n.妒忌,嫉妒,猜忌 | |
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2
insistence
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n.坚持;强调;坚决主张 | |
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3
instinctive
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adj.(出于)本能的;直觉的;(出于)天性的 | |
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4
aggression
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n.进攻,侵略,侵犯,侵害 | |
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5
savage
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adj.野蛮的;凶恶的,残暴的;n.未开化的人 | |
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6
defensiveness
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防御性 | |
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7
recessive
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adj.退行的,逆行的,后退的,隐性的 | |
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8
concession
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n.让步,妥协;特许(权) | |
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9
evasion
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n.逃避,偷漏(税) | |
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10
truce
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n.休战,(争执,烦恼等的)缓和;v.以停战结束 | |
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11
restrictions
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约束( restriction的名词复数 ); 管制; 制约因素; 带限制性的条件(或规则) | |
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12
hostility
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n.敌对,敌意;抵制[pl.]交战,战争 | |
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13
resentment
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n.怨愤,忿恨 | |
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14
modesty
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n.谦逊,虚心,端庄,稳重,羞怯,朴素 | |
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15
disinterestedness
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16
jealousies
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n.妒忌( jealousy的名词复数 );妒羡 | |
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17
squealing
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v.长声尖叫,用长而尖锐的声音说( squeal的现在分词 ) | |
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18
passionate
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adj.热情的,热烈的,激昂的,易动情的,易怒的,性情暴躁的 | |
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19
impersonal
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adj.无个人感情的,与个人无关的,非人称的 | |
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