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  3. The beginning of what was to become the United States was characterized by inconsistencies in the values and behavior of its pop

The beginning of what was to become the United States was characterized by inconsistencies in the values and behavior of its pop

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问题    The beginning of what was to become the United States was characterized by inconsistencies in the values and behavior of its population, inconsistencies that were reflected by its spokesmen, who took conflicting stances in many areas; but on the subject of race, the conflicts were particularly vivid. The idea that the Caucasian(白种人) race and European civilization were superior was well entrenched in the culture of the colonists at the very time that the "egalitarian" (主张平等的) republic was founded. Voluminous historical evidence indicates that, in the mind of the average colonist, the African was a heathen, he was black, and he was different in crucial philosophical ways.  As time progressed, he was also increasingly captive, adding to the conception of deviance. The African, therefore, could be justifiably (and even philanthropically) treated as property according to the reasoning of slave trader and slave-holders.
   Although slaves were treated as Objects, bountiful evidence suggests that they did not view themselves similarly. There are many published autobiographies of salves; Afro-American scholars are beginning to know enough about West African culture to appreciate the existential climate in which the early captives were raised and which therefore could not be totally destroyed by the enslavement experience. This was a climate that defined individuality in collective terms. Individuals were members of a tribe, within which they had prescribed roles determined by the history of their family within the tribe. Individuals were inherently a part of the natural elements on which they depended, and they were actively related to those tribal members who once lived and to those not yet born.
   The colonial plantation system, which was established and into which Africans were thrust did virtually eliminate tribal affiliations. Individuals were separated from kin: interrelationships among kin kept together were often transient because of sales. A new identification with those slaves working and living together in a given place could satisfy what was undoubtedly a natural tendency to be a member of a group. New family units became the most important attachments of individual slaves. Thus, as the system of slavery was gradually institutionalized, West African affiliation tendencies adapted to it.
   This exceedingly complex dual influence is still reflected in black community life, and the double consciousness of black Americans is the major characteristic of Afro-American mentality. DuBois articulated this divided consciousness as follows:
   The history the American Negro is the history of this strife--this longing to attain self-conscious manhood, to merge his double self into a better and truer self. In this merging, he wishes neither of the older selves to be best...
   Several black political movements have looked upon this duality as destructively conflictual and have variously urged its reconciliation. Thus, the integrationists and the black nationalists, to be crudely general, have both been concerned with resolving the conflict, but in opposite directions.
The author’s argument logically depends upon which of the following assumptions?
选项 A、The duality that characterizes the consciousness of modern Black Americans is so deeply rooted that it cannot be eliminated by political action.
B、African captives who were brought to North America had learned a basic orientation toward the world which remained with them.
C、At the time of the beginning of the United States, white Americans were not aware of the contradiction between the notion of equality and the institution of slavery.
D、The influence of the slavery experience on the West Africans was more powerful than the memory of West African attitudes.
答案B
解析 逻辑推理题。问题问的是哪一个选项表述了含蓄的论点。B的答案是正确的。可以确信西非一定有个思想影响存留下来，并传到了美国。如果没有这种设想，西非文化的影响就被架空了。A的内容对作者来说并不需要。作者想证实duality存在的现实性，而不是建议如何将它去除。C是错的。作者仅是说有这种矛盾存在。美国白人在他们的行为及思想中是否意识到这种不协调与本文无关。D也是错的。作者仅提到了dual influence的存在，他并没有说在形成美国黑人的思想意识中某一种影响比另一种更重要。
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