几乎从文明出现开始，尤其是，第一胎儿子就有优先权——几无例外地，已经形成了准则。

For nearly as long as civilization has existed, patriarchy-enforced through the rights of the firstborn son-has been the organizing principle, with few exceptions.

youdao

那么你所接受的的文明很可能就是一种“绷紧”的文明——有力的社会准则，不能容忍许多脱离准则的行为。

Then your culture is probably "tight" -it has strong social norms and doesn't tolerate much deviance from those norms.

youdao

史密斯先生反复提到要维持的社会准则也不是很文明化。

Nor were the standards that Mr Smith so volubly sought to maintain very civilised.

youdao