2. 职称英语
  3. Some recent historians have argued that life in the British colonies in Ameri

Some recent historians have argued that life in the British colonies in Ameri

游客2025-01-01  28
问题    Some recent historians have argued that life in the British colonies in America from approximately 1763 to 1789 was marked by internal conflicts among colonists. Inheritors of some of the viewpoints of early twentieth century Progressive historians such as Beard and Becker, these recent historians have put forward arguments that deserve evaluation.
   The kind of conflict most emphasized by these historians is class conflict. Yet with the Revolutionary War dominating these years, how does one distinguish class conflict within that larger conflict? Certainly not by the side a person supported. Although many of these historians have accepted the earlier assumption the Loyalists represented an upper class, new evidence indicates that Loyalists, like rebels, were drawn from all socioeconomic class. (It is nonetheless probably true that a larger percentage of the well-to-do joined the Loyalists than joined the rebels.) Looking at the rebels side, we find little evidence for the contention that lower-class rebels were in conflict with upper-class rebels. Indeed, the war effort against Britain tended to suppress class conflicts. Where it did not. the disputing rebels of one or another class usually became Loyalists. Loyalist thus operated as a safety valve to remove socioeconomic discontent that existed among the rebels. Disputes occurred, of course, among those who remained on the rebel side, but the extraordinary social mobility of eighteenth-century American society (with the obvious exception of slaves) usually prevented such disputes from hardening along class lines. Social structure was in fact so fluid -- thought recent statistics suggest a narrowing of economic opportunity as the latter  half of the century progressed -- that to talk about social classes at all requires the use of loose economic categories such as rich, poor, and middle class, or eighteenth-century designations like "the better sort." Despite these vague categories one should not claim unequivocally that hostility between recognizable classes cannot be legitimately observed. Outside of New York, however, there were very few instances of openly expressed class antagonism.
   Having said this, however, one must add that there is much evidence to support the further claim of recent historians that sectional conflicts were common between 1763 and 1789. The "Paxton Boys" incident and the Regulator movement are representative examples the widespread, and justified, discontent of western settlers against colonial or state governments dominated by eastern interests. Although undertones of class conflict existed beneath such hostility, the opposition was primarily geographical. Sectional conflict -- which also existed between North and South -- deserves further investigation.
   In summary, historians must be careful about the kind of conflict they emphasize in eighteenth-century America. Yet those who stress the achievement of a general consensus among the colonists cannot fully understand the consensus without understanding the conflicts that had to be overcome or repressed in order to reach it. [br] The author considers the contentions made by the recent historians discussed in the passage to be ______.
选项 A、potentially verifiable
B、partially justified
C、logically contradictory
D、ingenious but flawed
答案 B
解析 该题问：作者认为在本文中讨论的近代史学家得出的论点是怎样的?A项意为“有可能被证实的”；B项意为“部分被证实的”；C项意为“逻辑上是矛盾的”；D项意为“有创造性但存在缺点的”。这些人是文中惟一的观点的代表者，作者对其持复杂态度。应找一个有限定词修饰的选项。在本文的最后一段可以找到线索：In summary，historians must be careful about the kind of conflict they emphasize in eighteenth-century America意为“总之，历史学家必须谨慎地对待他们所强调的在18世纪美国存在的冲突类型”。因此可知B项为正确选项。
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