单项选择题
In any society, no matter how (1) , some individuals have authority (2) others, at least within a limited sphere. Obedience is particularly relevant as societies get more (3) , where the spheres (4) authority can be (5) , become much more differentiated. Teachers assign homework, doctors order intravenous feedings, and policemen stop automobiles (6) pupils, nurses, and motorists generally (7) . Their obedience is based on an (8) recognition that the persons who (9) the orders are operating within their (10) domain of authority. If this domain is (11) , obedience is unlikely. Policemen can’t order motorists to (12) lists of irregular French verbs or to (13) two aspirins and go to bed.
Some tendency to obey authority is a vital cement that holds society together; without it, there (14) chaos. But the atrocities of this century—the slaughter of the Armenians, the Nazi death camps—give terrible proof that this disposition to obedience can also become a corrosive poison that destroys our sense of humanity. Some of these atrocities could not have been (15) (16) the obedience of tens or hundreds of thousands and the acquiescence of many more. How could such obedience have come (17) Attempt to answer this question has focused on (18) of the two factors. One (19) the personality structure of the blindly obedient individual; the other emphasizes the (20) situation in which the obedient person finds himself.
A. for
B. due to
C. with
D. without