单选题 . ①Among many historians a belief persists that Cotton Mather's biographies of some of the settlers of the Massachusetts Bay Colony (published 1702) are exercises in hagiography, endowing their subjects with saintly piety at the expense of historical accuracy. ②Yet modern studies have profited both from the breadth of information that Mather provides—in, for example, his discussions of colonial medicine—and from his critical observations of such leading figures as Governor John Winthrop. ③Mather's wry humor as demonstrated by his detailed descriptions of events such as Winthrop's efforts to prevent wood-stealing is overlooked by those charging Mather with presenting his subjects as extremely pious. ④The charge also obscures Mather's concern with the settlers' material, not just spiritual, prosperity. ⑤Further, this pejorative view underrates the biographies value as chronicles: Mather amassed all sorts of published and unpublished documents as sources, and his selection of key events shows a marked sensitivity to the nature of the colony's development.

50. The primary purpose of the passage is to ______

A、 argue against a theory universally accepted by historical researchers
B、 call attention to an unusual approach to documenting a historical era
C、 summarize research on a specific historical figure
D、 counter a particular view about the work of a biographer
E、 point out subtle differences among controversial historical reports

【正确答案】 D

【答案解析】 D：a biographer对应Mather，a particular view对应历史学家的观点，认为传记是神圣的。本文重点是③④⑤三句中作者对于历史学家观点的反驳。
A：第①句的观点只是many历史学家所持有的，而非universally accepted(universal=all＞most≥many)。
B：an unusual approach在文中没有对应。
C：a specific historical figure指John Winthrop，是文中的细节。
E：subtle differences在文中没有对应。