单选题 Though one may question the degree to which the Civil War represents a milestone in women's pursuit of social, economic, and political equality, Leonard's recent study has excelled that of her predecessor Ginzberg in debunking persistent myths about women's primary relation to the war as weeping widows, self-sacrificing wives, patriotic fiancees, and loyal daughters. Leonard asks if the wartime work of northern women influenced popular perceptions of women's abilities, and if home front production were seen as contributing to the readiness of soldiers. Finding in the affirmative, she argues that home front activities generated respect for women's organizational talents and opened up new work opportunities for women, while participation reinforced their self-reliance and self-esteem. In contrast to her predecessors, who saw the war as transforming the ideology of benevolence, Leonard finds that women's war work drew heavily upon the antebellum ideology of women's nature and sphere. It was once believed that wartime benevolence heightened changes emerging in the 1850s by replacing the antebellum ideology of gender difference and female moral superiority with a new ideology of gender similarity and a more masculine ethos of discipline and efficiency. Leonard asserts instead that white, middle-class, Yankee, charitable women appropriated the antebellum moral definition of womanhood and, in particular, woman's unique moral responsibility for maintaining community and her natural selflessness and caretaking abilities, to expand the boundaries of woman's proper place. With determination and courage, women brought forth positive changes in popular characterizations of middle-class womanhood that opened new doors for women in the professions and in public life. A weak point of Leonard's theory is her assessment of the themes of postwar histories of women's wartime service. Leonard views these works as extolling women's self-sacrifice and ability to cooperate men while downplaying women's demands for status and pay and ignoring the scope of women's administrative genius. But other theorists, most notably Ginzberg, have argued that these same works may also be viewed as praising the efficiency of the new centralized and national charitable organizations, women's wage-earning capacity, and their subordination of feminine feeling and enthusiasm to business-like and war-like routinization and order. Two sets of values — older notions of benevolence and new demands of public service — were at war in the North, a war that can be plotted through tensions about paying wages, centralizing corporate functions of benevolence, relating benevolence to government, and using funds for administrative — as opposed to strictly charitable — purposes. It may well be that wartime masculinization of the ideology of benevolence pushed women further from both the symbolic and the real centers of power for social change and hastened instead a class-based alliance for social welfare. But we can agree with Leonard that the war forced men to yield ground, sharing and sometimes even surrendering territory, power, and status in the public realm.
单选题 Which of the following is the most appropriate title for the passage?
【正确答案】 C
【答案解析】解析:标题概括题。阅读全文可知,文章主要讲述内战中的女权主义。这是一个比较老的话题,但是本文却讨论了对本话题的新的争论:妇女在内战中所起的作用。故答案选C。
单选题 According to the passage, Leonard asserts that women's activities during the Civil War had all of the following positive effects EXCEPT:
【正确答案】 B
【答案解析】解析:细节题。根据第一段中的“Leonard asks if the wartime work of northern women influenced popularperceptions of women’s abilities,and if home front production were seen as contributing to the readiness ofsoldiers…she argues that home front activities generated respect for women’s organizational talents and opened up newwork opportunities for women”可知,A、C、D三项正确;B项内容在文中没有提及。所以,答案选B。
单选题 It can be inferred from the passage that Leonard would agree with which of the following statements regarding the status of women during the Civil War? I . Antebellum values were expanded, not replaced, in order to develop new definitions of womanhood. II. Historians have paid insufficient attention to demands for higher status women made during the war. III. On the whole, the war was detrimental to the perception of women.
【正确答案】 A
【答案解析】解析:推断题。题目是对女性在内战中地位的考查。一是为了形成对女权主义的新的定义,女性的战前价值有所扩大,但是没有被取代。根据文章内容可知,此项正确。二是历史学家没有对内战中女性对高社会低位的需求给予足够的重视。三是总体上,战争对女性的看法是不利的。这两项均不可从文中推出,故答案选A。
单选题 It can be inferred that Leonard would most likely consider which of the following hypothetical cases of Civil War women the LEAST supportive of her thesis?
【正确答案】 D
【答案解析】解析:推断题。A项意为“爱国的寡妇拒绝再嫁,即使她的丈夫在战争中牺牲”;B项意为“妇女从缝纫女工到开军队制服工厂”;C项意为“妇女身穿南方士兵服装以便穿越敌人防线做间谍”,这三项均可从文中推出;D项意为“妇女建立基金以为战争中被截肢者做修补手术”,文中未提及类似信息,故排除。所以,答案是D。
单选题 Which of the following best describes the organization of the passage?
【正确答案】 D
【答案解析】解析:文章结构题。文章开头先是提出一个历史研究话题——女权主义在内战中的作用,然后详细介绍研究过程,然后对研究的价值作出简单判断。所以,D项符合文章结构。
单选题 With which of the following criticisms of Leonard's theory would the author of the passage be most likely to agree?
【正确答案】 A
【答案解析】解析:推理判断题。通过文章第二段“In contrast to her predecessors,who saw the war as transforming theideology of benevolence,Leonard finds that women’s war work drew heavily upon the antebellum ideology ofwomen’s nature and sphere.”可知,其前辈把战争视为改变善行的意识形态,和他们相比,伦纳德发现,女性的战争工作大大利用了女人的天性和领域的战前意识形态。据此可知,答案是A。