考研英语

Bernard Bailyn has recently reinterpreted the early history of the United States by applying new social research findings on the experiences of European migrants. In his reinterpretation,migration becomes the organizing principle for rewriting the history of preindustrial North America. His approach rests on four separate propositions.

The first of these asserts that residents of early modern England moved regularly about their countryside migrating to the New World was simply a natural spillover. Although at first the colonies held little positive attraction for the English &mdash they would rather have stayed home &mdash by the eighteenth century people increasingly migrated to America because they regarded it as the land of opportunity. Secondly,Bailyn holds that,contrary to the notion that used to flourish in America history textbooks,there was never a typical New World community. For example,the economic and demographic character of early New England towns varied considerably.

Bailyn's third proposition suggest two general patterns prevailing among the many thousands of migrants:one group came as indentured servants,another came to acquire land. Surprisingly,Bailyn suggests that those who recruited indentured servants were the driving forces of transatlantic migration. These colonial entrepreneurs helped determine the social character of people who came to preindustrial North America. At first,thousands of unskilled laborers were recruited by the 1730's,however,American employers demanded skilled artisans.

Finally,Bailyn argues that the colonies were a half-civilized hinterland of the European culture system. He is undoubtedly correct to insist that the colonies were part of an Anglo-American empire. But to divide the empire into English core and colonial periphery,as Bailyn does,devalues the achievements of colonial culture. It is true,as Bailyn claims,that high culture in the colonies never matched that in England. But what of seventeenth-century New England,where the settlers created effective laws,built a distinguished university,and published books? Bailyn might respond that New England was exceptional. However,the ideas and institutions developed by New England Puritans had powerful effects on North American culture.

Although Bailyn goes on to apply his approach to some thousands of indentured servants who migrated just prior to the revolution,he fails to link their experience with the political development of the United States. Evidence presented in his work suggests how we might make such a connection. These indentured servants were treated as slaves for the period during which they had sold their time to American employers. It is not surprising that as soon as they served their time they passed up good wages in the cities and headed west to ensure their personal independence by acquiring land. Thus, it is in the west that a peculiarly American political culture began,among colonists who were suspicious of authority and intensely anti-aristocratic.

2、The author of the text states that Bailyn failed to

[A] give sufficient emphasis to the cultural and political interdependence of the colonies and England.

[B] describe carefully how migrants of different ethnic backgrounds preserved their culture in the United States.

[C] take advantage of social research on the experiences of colonists who migrated to colonial North America specifically to acquire land.

[D] relate the experience of the migrants to the political values that eventually shaped the character of the United States.

「答案解析」这是一道细节理解题。

题干中的“failed”一词暗示本题的答案信息应该在尾段，因为尾段中含有“fails”一词。根据阅读和理解首段尾句，我们可以推导出本题的正确选项是D.考生在解题时一定要善于理解原文中所传达的中心含义。