单选题
Discussion of the assimilation of Puerto Ricans in the United States has focused on two factors: social standing and the loss of national culture. In general, excessive stress is placed on one fact or the other, depending on whether fine commentator is North American or Puerto Rica. Many American Social scientists, such as Oscar Handlin, Joseph Fitzpatrick, and Oscar Lewis, consider Puerto Ricans as the most recent in a long line of ethnic entrants to occupy the lowest rung on the social ladder. Such a "socio-demographic" approach tends to regard assimilation as a benign process, taking for granted increased economic advantage and inevitable cultural integration, in a supposedly egalitarian context. However, this approach fails to take into account the colonial nature of the Puerto Rican case, with this group, unlike their European predecessors, coming from a nation politically subordinated to the United States. Even the "radical" critiques of this mainstream research model, such as the critique developed in Divided Society, attach the issue of ethnic assimilation too mechanically to factors of economic and social mobility, and are thus unable to illuminate the cultural subordination of Puerto Ricans as a colonial minority. In contrast, the "Colonialist" approach of island-based writers such as Eduardo Seda-Bonilla, Manuel Maldonado-Denis, and Lius Nieves-Falcon tends to view assimilation as the forced loss of national culture in an unequal contest with imposed foreign values. There is, of course, a strong tradition of culture accommodation among other Puerto Rican thinkers. The writings of Eugenio Fernandez Mendez clearly exemplify this tradition, and many supporters of Puerto Rico"s commonwealth status share the same universalizing orientation. But the Puerto Rican intellectuals who have written most about the assimilation process in the United States all advance cultural nationalist views, advocating the preservation of minority cultural distinctions and rejecting what they see as the subjugation of colonial nationalities. This cultural and political emphasis is appropriate, but the colonialist thinkers misdirect it, overlooking the class relations at work in both Puerto Rican and North American history. They pose the clash of national cultures as absolute polarity, with each culture understood as static and undifferentiated. Yet both the Puerto Rican and North American traditions have been subject to constant challenge from cultural forces within their own societies; forces that may move toward each other in ways that cannot be written off as mere "assimilation". Consider, for example, the indigenous and Afro-Caribbean traditions in Puerto Rican culture and how they influence and are influenced by other Caribbean cultures and Black cultures in the United States. The elements of Coercion and inequality, so central to cultural contact according to the colonialist framework, play no role in this kind of convergence of racially and ethnically different elements of the same class.
【答案解析】解析:第二段第二句话提到“There is…a strong tradition of culture accommodation among other PuertoRican thinkers”,此段的第三句是对第二句的解释说明。由第三句中的“The writings of…exemplifythis tradition,and many supporters of Puerto Rican’s commonwealth status share the same universalizingorientation”可知选项D为正确答案。
单选题
A writer such as Eugenio Fernandez Mendez would most likely agree that______..
【正确答案】
A
【答案解析】解析:第二段第二句话提到“…a strong tradition of culture accommodation”,第三句中“Thewritings of Eugenio Femandez Mendez exemplify this tradition”说明Eugenio Fernandez Mendez在他的文章中对文化融合这一传统提供了例证。这表明Eugenio Fernandez Mendez支持文化融合的观点。四个选项中,只有选项A符合文意。
单选题
The Puerto Rican writers who have written most about assimilation do NOT______.
【正确答案】
A
【答案解析】解析:根据文章第二段的最后一句话“the Puerto Rican intellectual…advance cultural nationalist views,advocating the preservation of minority of minority cultural distinctions and rejecting what they see as thesubjugation of colonial nationalities”可以判断出这部分作家提出了文化民族主义的观点,提倡保护民族文化特色,反对殖民征服行为。因此,可以推测出他们并不认为同化会产生有利的影响。故选A。选项B、C、D均不符合题意。
单选题
The "colonialist" approach is so called because its practitioners______.
【正确答案】
D
【答案解析】解析:从最后一段的第一句中“the colonist thinkers misdirect it,overlooking the class relations at workin both Puerto Rican and North American history”可知选项C不符合文意。而选项A、B为支持文化融合人的观点,应排除。故只有D为正确答案。