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  3. The Status of Women in Ancient Society In large part as a consequence of the feminist movement, historians have focused a gre

The Status of Women in Ancient Society In large part as a consequence of the feminist movement, historians have focused a gre

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问题                        The Status of Women in Ancient Society
   In large part as a consequence of the feminist movement, historians have focused a great deal of attention in recent years on determining more accurately the status of women in various periods. Although much has been accomplished for the modern period, pre-modern cultures have proved more difficult., sources are restricted in number, fragmentary, difficult to interpret, and often contradictory. Thus it is not particularly surprising that some earlier scholarship concerning such cultures has so far gone unchallenged.  An example is Johann Bachofen’s 1861 treatise on Amazons, women-ruled societies of questionable existence contemporary with ancient Greece.
   Starting from the premise that mythology and legend preserve at least a nucleus of historical fact, Bachofen argued that women were dominant in many ancient societies. His work was based on a comprehensive survey of references in the ancient sources to Amazonian and other societies with matrilineal customs--societies in which descent and property rights are traced through the female line. Some support for his theory can be found in evidence such as that drawn from Herodotus, the Greek "historian" of the fifth century B.C., who speaks of an Amazonian society, the Sauromatae, where the women hunted and fought in wars. A woman in this society was not allowed to marry until she had killed a person in battle.
   Nonetheless, this assumption that the first recorders of ancient myths have preserved facts is problematic. If one begins by examining why ancients refer to Amazons, it becomes clear that ancient Greek descriptions of such societies were meant not so much to represent observed historical fact--real Amazonian societies--but rather to offer "moral lessons" on the supposed outcome of women’s rule in their own society. The Amazons were often characterized, for example, as the equivalents of giants and centaurs, enemies to be slain by Greek heroes. Their customs were presented not as those of a respectable society, but as the very antitheses of ordinary Greek practices.
   Thus, I would argue, the purpose of accounts of the Amazons for their make Greek recorders was didactic, to teach both male and female Greeks that all-female groups, formed by withdrawal from traditional society, are destructive and dangerous. Myths about the Amazons were used as arguments for the male-dominated status quo, in which groups composed exclusively of either sex were not permitted to segregate themselves permanently from society. Bachofen was thus misled in his reliance on myths for information about the status of women. The sources that will probably tell contemporary historians most about women in the ancient world are such social documents as gravestone, wills, and marriage contracts. Studies of such documents have already begun to show how mistaken we are when we try to derive our picture of the ancient world exclusively from literary sources, especially myths.
The author suggests that the main reason for the persisting influence of Bachofen’s work is that______.
选项 A、feminists have shown little interest in ancient societies
B、reliable information about the ancient world is difficult to acquire
C、ancient societies show the best evidence of women in position of power
D、historians have been primarily interested in the modern period
答案B
解析 推理判断题。在第一段作者便提到，对于pre-modern cultures的研究很困难，关于这一历史时期的可靠资料相当匮乏。正是由于这个原因，一些早期的研究发现一直没有受到质疑(Thus it is not particularly surprising that some earlier scholarship concerning such cultures has so far gone unchallenged.)，其中就包括Baehofen的研究。据此我们可以推断B项为正确答案。
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