<p>I am stuck between D and E, Why is D wrong??? Thanks.</p>
<p>One of the current definitions of a symbol
is that it is "something that stands for something
else." We can differentiate between three
Line kinds of symbols: the conventional, the acci-
(5) dental, and the universal symbol.
The conventional symbol is the best known
of the three, since we employ it in everyday
language. If we see the word "table" or hear
the sound "table," the letters t-a-b-l-e stand for
(10) something else. They stand for the thing
"table" that we see, touch, and use. What is
the connection between the word "table" and
the thing "table"? Is there any inherent relationship
between them? Obviously not. The
(15) thing table has nothing to do with the sound
table, and the only reason the word symbolizes
the thing is the convention of calling this
particular thing by a name. We learn this connection
as children by the repeated experience
(20) of hearing the word in reference to the thing
until a lasting association is formed so that we
don't have to think to find the right word.
There are some words, however, in which
the association is not only conventional. When
(25) we say "phooey," for instance, we make with
our lips a movement of dispelling the air
quickly. It is an expression of disgust in which
our mouths participate. By this quick expulsion
of air we imitate and thus express our
(30) intention to expel something, to get it out of
our system. In this case, as in some others, the
symbol has an inherent connection with the
feeling it symbolbes. Rut even if we assume
that originally many or even all words had
(35) their origins in some such inherent connection
between symbol and the symbolized, most
words no longer have this meaning for us
when we learn a language.
Words are not the only illustration for con-
(40) ventional symbols, although they are the most
frequent and best known ones. Pictures also
can be conventional symbols. A flag, for
instance, may stand for a specific country, and
yet there is no intrinsic connection between
(45) the specific colors and the country for which
they stand. They have been accepted as denoting
that particular country, and we translate
the visual impression of the flag into the concept
of that country, again on conventional
(50) grounds.
The opposite to the conventional symbol is
the accidental symbol, although they have one
thing in common: there is no intrinsic relationship
between the symbol and that which it
(55) symbolizes. Let us assume that someone has
had a saddening experience in a certain city;
when he hears the name of that city, he will
easily connect the name with a mood of sadness,
just as he would connect it with a mood
(60) of joy had his experience been a happy one.
Quite obviously, there is nothing in the nature
of the city that is either sad or joyful. It is the
individual experience connected with the city
that makes it a symbol of a mood.
(65) The same reaction could occur in connection
with a house, a street, a certain dress, certain
scenery, or anything once connected with
a specific mood. We might find ourselves
dreaming that we are in a certain city. We ask
(70) ourselves why we happened to think of that
city in our sleep and may discover that we had
fallen asleep in a mood similar to the one symbolized
by the city, The picture in the dream
represents this mood, the city "stands for" the
(75) mood once experienced in it. The connection
between the symbol and the experience symbolized
is entirely accidental.
The universal symbol is one in which there
is an intrinsic relationship between the symbol
(80) and that which it represents. Take, for instance,
the symbol of fire. We are fascinated by certain
qualities of fire in a fireplace. First of all,
by its aliveness. It changes continuously, it
moves all the time, and yet there is constancy
851 in it. It remains the same without being the
same. It gives the impression of power, of
energy, of grace and lightness. It is as if it
were dancing, and had an inexhaustible source
of energy. When we use fire as a symbol, we
(90) describe the inner experience characterized by
the same elements which we notice in the sensory
experience of fire-the mood of energy,
lightness, movement, grace, gaiety, sometimes
one, sometimes another of these elements
95) being predominant in the feeling.
The universal symbol is the only one in
which the relationship between the symbol
and that which is symbolized is not coincidental,
but intrinsic. It is rooted in the experience
(100) of the affinity between an emotion or thought,
on the one hand, and a sensory experience, on
the other. It can be called universal because it
is shared by all men, in contrast not only to the
accidental symbol, which is by its very nature
(105) entirely personal, but also to the conventional
symbol, which is restricted to a group of
people sharing the same convention. The
universal symbol is rooted in the properties
of our body, our senses, and our mind, which
(llO) are common to all men and, therefore, not
restricted to individuals or to specific groups.
Indeed, the language of the universal symbol
is the one common tongue developed by the
human race, a language which it forgot before
(ll5) it succeeded in developing a universal conventional
language.</p>
<hr>
<p>The passage is primarily concerned with
(A) refuting an argument
(B) illustrating an axiom
(C) describing a process
(D) proving a thesis
(E) refining a definition</p>
<p>Thanks in advance and God bless you all!</p>