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But first, what is civilized? All men have certain physical needs, needs for warmth, food, sex and shelter; these needs man shares with the animals. Savages spend most, if not all, of their time in the endeavour to satisfy them. A civilization, then, cannot be a condition of affairs in which human beings merely satisfy ever more easily and elaborately their fundamental physical needs and do nothing else; it must be a condition in which they satisfy their needs so easily and feel themselves so secure from danger that they have the time and energy to attend to other things and, in particular, to the development and demands of the mind and the spirit. Those who seek to live the life of the mind and the spirit do some things not because the doing of them will be to their advantage in a biological sense, not, that is to say, because it will help them to survive, or because it will advance them in a material or social sense by making them richer or more powerful or more famous, but simply for the pleasure or interest that they take in doing them or because they think it is right to do them. (200 words)

Vocabulary

Savages—primitive or uncivilized people. Endeavour—try; strive. Elaborately—on a large or extensive scale. Fundamental physical needs—basic needs of the body, such as warmth, food, shelter, and sexual satisfaction. The life of the mind and the spirit—the life of the mind means intellectual activity, such as reading study, and discussion. The life of the spirit means spiritual activity, such as paying to God or doing good to people. In a biological sense—in the sense of physical survival or growth.