【設問】
(A) 次の英文の要旨を，100～120字の日本語にまとめよ。句読点も字数に含める。
The notion of “imagined family” helps us to understand how group feelings can be extended beyond real family. Because humans evolved in small groups whose members were closely related, evolution favored a psychology designed to help out members of our close families. However, as human societies developed, cooperation between different groups became more important. By extending the language and sentiments of family to non-family, humans were able to create “imagined families” – political and social communities able to undertake large-scale projects such as trade, self-government, and defense.
By itself, though, this concept still can’t explain why we consider all members of such a community to be equal. Imagined family differs from real family not only by the lack of genetic ties, but also by the lack of distinction between near and distant relatives. In general, all members of a brotherhood or motherland have equal status, at least in terms of group membership, whereas real family members have different degrees of relatedness and there is no fixed or firm way of defining family membership or boundaries. We need to search for a more fundamental factor that unites people and creates a strong bond among them.
At a deeper level, human communities are united by a well-known psychological bias which is believed to be universal. Studies of childhood development across cultures indicate that people everywhere tend to attribute certain essential qualities to human social categories such as race, ethnicity, or dress. This mental attitude has been used to generate notions of “in-group” versus “out-group,” and to give coherence to a group where initially there was none, dramatically enhancing the group’s chance of survival. However, this can also lead us to see an “out-group” as a different biological species, increasing the risk of hostility and conflict. Throughout history, and likely through human prehistory, people have routinely organized themselves to fight or dominate others by seeing them as belonging to a different species.
【解答例】
(A) 社会の発達に伴い，人間は自分の家族以外とも協力する必要があった。人間には人種などの社会的分類に基づいて内と外を区別する普遍的な心理があり，「想像上の家族」を作って自分の集団の生存確率を上げてきた一方で，外の集団の人間を排他する傾向もあった。(120字)
(B)
(1) b
(2) c
(3) e
(4) d
(5) a
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