2. 外语
  3. Bermard Bailyn has recently reinterpreted the early history of the United States by applying new social research findings on the

Bermard Bailyn has recently reinterpreted the early history of the United States by applying new social research findings on the

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问题    Bermard 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 colonise held little positive attraction for the English -- they would rather have stayed home -- 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 suggests two general patterns prevailing among the many thousands 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, 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.
The author of the passage is primarily concerned with _______.
选项 A、comparing several current interpretations of early American history
B、suggesting that new social research on migration should lead to revisions in current interpretations of early American history
C、refuting an argument about early American history that has been proposed by social historians
D、discussing a reinterpretation of early American history that is based on new social research on migration
答案D
解析 该题问：这篇丈章的作者主要关注的是什么?A项意为“比较几种解释”，但文中只有Bailyn的解释；B项意为“指出新的关于移民的调查应导致当前一些早期美国历史解释的更正”，文中作者对Bailyn论点也不完全赞成，此项不正确。C项意为“反驳观点”，这不合作者的主要态度。D项意为“讨论一个基于对移民的社会调查而对美国早期历史的新解释”，此项为正确选项。
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