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  3. For centuries the most valuable of African resources for Europeans were the slaves, but these could be obtained at coastal ports

For centuries the most valuable of African resources for Europeans were the slaves, but these could be obtained at coastal ports

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问题     For centuries the most valuable of African resources for Europeans were the slaves, but these could be obtained at coastal ports, without any need for going deep inland. Slavery had been an established institution in Africa. Prisoners of war had been enslaved, as were also debtors and individuals guilty of serious crimes. But these slaves usually were treated as part of the family. They had clearly defined rights, and their slave status was not necessarily inherited. Therefore it is commonly argued that Africa’s traditional slavery was mild compared to the trans-Atlantic slave trade organized by the Europeans. This argument, however, can be carried too far. In the most recent study of this subject, some scholars warned against the illusion that " cruel and dehumanizing enslavement was a monopoly of the West. Slavery in its extreme forms, including the taking of life, was common to both Africa and the West. The fact that African slavery had different origins and consequences should not lead us to deny what it was — the exploitation and control of humanbeings. "Neither can it be denied that the wholesale shipment of Africans to the slave plantations of the Americas was made possible by the participation of African chiefs who rounded up their fellow Africans and sold them as a handsome profit to European ship captains waiting along the coasts.
    Granting all this, the fact remains that the trans-Atlantic slave trade conducted by the Europeans was entirely different in quantity and quality from the traditional type of slavery that had existed within Africa. From the beginning the European variety was primarily an economic institution rather than social, as it had been in Africa. Western slave traders and slave owners were acted on by purely economic considerations, and were quite ready to work their slaves to death if it was more profitable to do so than to treat them more mercifully. This inhumanity was reinforced by racism when the Europeans became involved in the African slave trade on a large scale. Perhaps as a subconscious rationalization they gradually came to look down on Negroes as inherently inferior, and therefore destined to serve their white masters. Rationalization also may have been involved in the Europeans’ use of religion to justify the traffic in human beings. It was argued, for instance, that enslavement assured the conversion of the African evil-believing religions to the true faith as well as to civilization.
Which of the following was true of the local African slavery?
选项 A、Slaves might have their own families.
B、The son of a slave might not be a slave.
C、Slavery was confined to the coastal regions.
D、There was no killing in African slavery.
答案B
解析 该题为细节题。文中并未提到选项A表述的内容；根据第一段第五句“They had dearly defined rights，and their slave status was not necessarily inherited．”我们知道，非洲当地的奴隶拥有明确的权利，而且他们的奴隶身份不一定是世袭的，因此，我们可以判断出，奴隶的下一代不一定还是奴隶，B项正确；第一段第一句“For centuries the most valuable of African resources for Europeans were the salves．but these could be obtained at coastal ports，without any need for going deep inland．”告诉我们，运往欧洲的奴隶来自于海港地区，并没有指出非洲本地的奴隶制度只限于海港地区，故C项的表述是错误的；根据第一段倒数第三句“Slavery in its extreme forms，including the taking of life，was common to both Africa and the West．”我们知道，屠杀奴隶的事件在非洲和西方国家都有发生，故D项的表述是错误的。
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