2006年考试之GMAT阅读练习(7)

文章作者 100test 发表时间 2007:03:10 10:21:43
来源 100Test.Com百考试题网

Passage 1

　　The settlement of the Unites States has occupied traditional historians since 1893 when Frederick Jackson Turner developed his Frontier Theses， a thesis that explained American development in terms of westward expansion. From the perspective of womens history， Turners exclusively masculine assumptions constitute a major drawback； his defenders and critics alike have reconstructed mens， not womens， lives on the frontier. However， precisely because of this masculine on orientation， revising the Frontier Thesis by focusing on womens experience introduces new themes into womens history-women as lawmaker and entrepreneur-and， consequently， new interpretations of womens relationship to capital， labor， and statute.

　　Turner claimed that the frontier produced the individualism that is the hallmark of American culture， and that this individualism in turn promoted democratic institutions and economic equality. He argued for the frontier as an agent of social change. Most novelists and historians writing in the early to midtwentiech century who considered women in the West， when they considered women at all， fell under Turners spell. In their works these authors tended to glorify womens contributions to frontier life. Western women， in Turnerian tradition， were a fiercely independent， capable， and durable lot， free from the constraints binding their eastern sisters. In their works these authors tended to glorify womens contributions to frontier life. Western women， in Turnerian tradition， were a fiercely independent， capable， and durable lot， free from the constraints binding their eastern sisters. This interpretation implied that the West provided a congenial environment where women could aspire to their own goals， free from constrictive stereotypes and sexist attitudes. In Turnerian terminology， the frontier had furnished “a gate of escape from the bondage of the past.”

　　By the middle of the twentieth century， the Frontier Thesis fell into disfavor among historians. Later， Reactionist writers took the view that frontier women were lonely， displaced persons in a hostile milieu that intensified the worst aspects of gender relations. The renaissance of the feminist movement during the 1970s led to the Stasist School， which sidestepped the good bad dichotomy and argued that frontier women lived lives similar to the lives of women in the East. In one nowstandard text， Faragher demonstrated the persistence of the “cult of true womanhood” and the illusionary quality of change on the westward journey. Recently the Stasist position has been revised but not entirely discounted by new research.

　　1. The primary purpose of the passage is to

　　（A） provide a framework within which the history of women in nineteenth-century America can be organized

　　（B） discuss divergent interpretations of womens experience on the western frontier

　　（C） introduce a new hypothesis about womens experience on the western frontier

　　（D） advocate an empirical approach to womens experience on the western frontier

　　（E） resolve ambiguities in several theories about womens experience on the western frontier

　　2. Which of the following can be inferred about the novelists and historians mentioned in lines 19-20？

　　（A） They misunderstood the powerful influence of constrictive stereotypes on women in the East

　　（B） They assumed that the frontier had offered more opportunities to women than had the East

　　（C） They included accurate information about womens experience on the frontier

　　（D） They underestimated the endurance and fortitude of frontier women

　　（E） They agreed with some of Turners assumptions about frontier women， but disagreed with other assumptions that he made.

　　3.Which of the following， if true， would provide additional evidence for the Stasists argument as it is described in the passage？

　　（A） Frontier women relied on smaller support groups of relatives and friends in the West than they had in the East

　　（B） The urban frontier in the West offered more occupational opportunity than the agricultural frontier offered

　　（C） Women participated more fully in the economic decisions of the family group in the West than they had in the East

　　（D） Western women received financial compensation for labor that was comparable to what women received in the East

　　（E） Western women did not have an effect on divorce laws， but lawmakers in the West were more responsive to womens concerns than lawmakers in the East were

　　4. According to the passage， Turner makes which of the following connections in his Frontier Thesis？

　　I. A connection between American individualism and economic equality

　　II. A connection between geographical expansion and social change

　　III. A connection between social change and financial prosperity

　　（A） I only

　　（B） II only

　　（C） III only

　　（D） I and II only

　　（E） I， II and III