TEXT E The sense of honour
appears to be dying. Who fights duels to defend his reputation anymore The idea
merely strikes us as odd. How often does someone resign public office as a form
of protest against his government’s policies about this or that Most of us
submerge our consciences in the policies of our company or organisation (and in
our own self-interest) and regard loyalty as more important than
dishonour. We had an honour code when I went to college; that
was in the late 1950s. During exams no one monitored you: instructors came in,
handed out the blue books, handed out the exams, and left. During the four years
I was there, I can recall only one case of cheating. Students simply did not
break the code. In World War Il men died more or less willingly
for the nation and the nation’s honour, and they were honoured for it in return.
Now we have become cynical about such things; the nation lies, fights
unjustifiable wars; the nation robs the poor to give to the rich.
At my college the students used to agree to inform on their friends rather
than suffer a breach in the honour code. A sense of honour is a sense that
there are standards of behaviour one must live up to, even at the cost of one’s
personal happiness, even at the cost of one’s life. Without such a sense one has
to make up one’s rights and wrongs as one goes along--usually, as it happens, to
one’s own advantage. Morality thereby becomes a matter of expedience: nothing
seems worth dying for, and life loses its beauty and some of its
value. Our recent history has deprived us of models. I cherish
the story of John Stubbs, a Puritan divine of Queen Elizabeth’s time who
strongly opposed her projected marriage to the Duke of Alencon. Stubbs knew the
penalty for doing so, which was the loss of a hand; nevertheless, he published a
pamphlet against, the marriage. He was accordingly tried, convicted, and
led out for public execution of the sentence. Stubbs laid his right hand on the
block, the ax fell, and he rose to his feet, lifted the bloody stump high in the
air, and cried out to the crowd, "Long live the queen!" In spite
of the blood and the horror, it is the beauty of such an act that stands out. A
man lives up to his beliefs; he acts with courage and great style and literally
gives himself in the service of something he feels is greater than himself. We
cannot help but honour him, whether we agree with his beliefs or not, The main idea of the passage is that______.
A．more students cheat on exams now than in the past B．each era has a different concept of honour C．there are still many individuals today who have a sense of honour D．our society no longer values a sense of honour