雅思阅读

📖 Reading Passage

The concept of 'environmental determinism' has long been debated in geographical scholarship. This theory posits that the physical environment, particularly climate and topography, directly shapes human cultural and societal development. Early proponents, such as Ellsworth Huntington, argued that temperate climates fostered industriousness and innovation, while tropical regions were associated with lethargy. However, critics contend that such views oversimplify complex human-environment interactions and have been used to justify colonialism and racial hierarchies. Modern geography rejects determinism in favor of 'possibilism', which suggests that the environment offers a set of possibilities that human cultures can exploit differently based on their technological and social choices. This shift reflects a broader recognition of human agency and the capacity for societies to adapt to and modify their surroundings, even under challenging conditions.