首页
外语
计算机
考研
公务员
职业资格
财经
工程
司法
医学
专升本
自考
实用职业技能
登录
外语
The advantage of associating the birth of democracy with the Mayflower Compact is that it is easy to do so. The public believes
The advantage of associating the birth of democracy with the Mayflower Compact is that it is easy to do so. The public believes
admin
2015-07-27
47
问题
The advantage of associating the birth of democracy with the Mayflower Compact is that it is easy to do so. The public believes a simple explanation that on November 11, 1620, when the compact was approved, a cornerstone of American democracy was laid. Certainly it makes it easier on schoolchildren. Making the start of democracy in 1620 relieves students of the responsibility of knowing what happened in the hundred some years before, from the arrival of the Santa Maria to the landing of the Mayflower.
Surely, the compact demonstrated the Englishman’s striking capacity for self-government. And in affirming the principle of majority rule, the Pilgrims showed how far they had come from the days when the king’s whim was law and nobody dared say otherwise.
But the emphasis on the compact is misplaced. Scholarly research in the last century indicates that the compact had nothing to do with the development of the self-government in America. In truth, the Mayflower Compact was no more a cornerstone of American democracy than the Pilgrim hut was the foundation of American architecture. As Samuel Morison so emphatically put it, American democracy "was not born in the cabin of the Mayflower".
The Pilgrims indeed are miscast as the heroes of American democracy. They spurned democracy and would have been shocked to see themselves help up as its defenders. George Willison, regarded as one of the most careful students of the Pilgrims, states that "the merest glance at the history of Plymouth" shows that they were not democrats.
The mythmakers would have us believe that even if the Pilgrims themselves weren’t democratic, the Mayflower Compact itself was. But in fact the compact was expressly designed to check freedom, not promote it. The Pilgrim governor and historian, William Bradford, from whom we have gotten nearly all of the information there is about the Pilgrims, frankly conceded as much. Bradford wrote that the purpose of the compact was to control traitors aboard the Mayflower who were threatening to go their own way when the ship reached land. Because the Pilgrims had decided to settle in an area outside the jurisdiction of their royal patent, some aboard the Mayflower had hinted that upon landing they would "use their own liberty, for none had power to command them". Under the terms of the compact, they couldn’t; the compact required all who lived in the colony to "promise all due submission and obedience" to it.
Moreover, despite the compact’s mention of majority rule, the Pilgrim fathers had no intention of turning over the colony’s government to the people. Plymouth was to be ruled by the elite. And the elite wasn’t shameful in the least about advancing its claims to superiority. When the Mayflower Compact was signed, the elite signed first. The second rank consisted of the "goodmen" and the bottom four servants. No women or children signed.
The public considers the Mayflower Compact as
选项
A、the birth of English democracy.
B、the birth of American responsibility.
C、the birth of American democracy.
D、the birth of American freedom.
答案
C
解析
事实细节题。由题干中的关键词the public可以将信息定位于第一段第二句。从该处可知,公众相信这样一种简单的解释:1620年的11月11日,也就是协议生效的那天,是美国民主的奠基日。由此可见,公众认为“五月花号协议”是“美国民主的诞生”,故[C]正确。“五月花号协议”是由从英国逃离的清教徒签订的,他们虽是英国人,但这份协议的签订是为了摆脱英国的统治,因此[A]不正确;第一段虽然提到了responsibility,但是指对学生而言的,故[B]排除;本段并未提到freedom,虽然下文中出现过,但与本题无关,属于偷换概念的迷惑项,所以[D]也不正确。
转载请注明原文地址:https://kaotiyun.com/show/i0OO777K
0
专业英语八级
相关试题推荐
WherewasthefirstshotfiredintheAmericanWarofIndependence?
WhatistheotherofficiallanguagebesidesEnglishinCanada?
ItusedtobesaidthatEnglishpeopletaketheirpleasuresadly.Nodoubtthiswouldstillbetrueiftheyhavehadanyple
ItusedtobesaidthatEnglishpeopletaketheirpleasuresadly.Nodoubtthiswouldstillbetrueiftheyhavehadanyple
ItusedtobesaidthatEnglishpeopletaketheirpleasuresadly.Nodoubtthiswouldstillbetrueiftheyhavehadanyple
Humansareforeverforgettingthattheycan’tcontrolnature.Exactlytwentyyearsago,theTimemagazinecoverstoryannounced【
Humansareforeverforgettingthattheycan’tcontrolnature.Exactlytwentyyearsago,theTimemagazinecoverstoryannounced【
Writeanessayelaboratingthestatement"Inmanysituations,compromiseisnecessary".Requirement:Yourwritingshouldh
然而我虽然自有无端悲哀,却也并不愤懑。因为这经验使我反省,看见自己了:就是我决不是一个振臂一呼应者云集的英雄。只是我自己的寂寞是不可不驱除的,因为这于我太痛苦。我于是用了种种法,来麻醉自己的灵魂,使我沉入于国民中,使我回到古代去,后来也亲历或旁观过几
三年前在南京我住的地方有一道后门,每晚我打开后门,便看见一个静寂的夜。下面是一片菜园,上面是星群密布的蓝天。星光在我们的肉眼里虽然微小,然而它使我们觉得光明无处不在。那时候我正在读一些关于天文学的书,也认得一些星星,好像它们就是我的朋友,它们常常在和我谈话
随机试题
低渗性缺水补液的原则为()
三羧酸循环中草酰乙酸主要补充来自于
在询问出血性疾病病人的病史时应包括
心包炎中最常见的病因是
患儿,6岁。泄泻1天,泻下稀薄如水注,粪色深黄臭秽,夹有少量黏液,腹部时感疼痛,食欲减退,恶心欲吐,口渴引饮,舌红苔黄腻。其证候是
某幢高层写字楼建设项目,业主委托某监理单位进行施工阶段(包括施工招标)监理。该工程邀请甲、乙、丙三家施工企业进行总价投标。评标采用四项指标综合评分法。四项指标及权数分别为:投标单位的业绩与信誉0.10,施工管理能力0.15,施工组织设计合理性0.2
( ),税务机关可以对其核定应纳税额。
在一个人力资源信息系统中有多个子系统。这些子系统可以按此相连,也可以没有关系,使用者可以根据特殊需要对系统加以设计。这种类型的人力资源信息系统属于()系统。
一代伟人邓小平经常妙语连珠,下列语录按出现时间先后排列正确的是:①“一个国家,两种制度”②“解放思想,实事求是,团结一致向前看”③“中国的对外政策是独立自主的,是真正的不结盟”④“改革开放胆子要大一些,看准了就大胆地
A、 B、 C、 D、 D
最新回复
(
0
)