Two divergent definitions have dominated sociologists’ discussions of the nature of ethnicity. The first emphasizes the primordi

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问题     Two divergent definitions have dominated sociologists’ discussions of the nature of ethnicity. The first emphasizes the primordial and unchanging character of ethnicity. In this view, people have an essential need for belonging that is satisfied by membership in groups based on shared ancestry and culture. A different conception of ethnicity de-emphasizes the cultural component and defines ethnic groups as interest groups. In this view, ethnicity serves as a way of mobilizing a certain population behind issues relating to its economic position. While both of these definitions are useful, neither fully captures the dynamic and changing aspects of ethnicity in the United States. Rather, ethnicity is more satisfactorily conceived of as a process in which preexisting communal bonds and common cultural attributes are adapted for instrumental purposes according to changing real-life situations.
    One example of this process is the rise of participation by Native American people in the broader United States political system since the Civil Rights movement of the 1960’s. Besides lead- ing Native Americans to participate more actively in politics(the number of Native American legislative officeholders more than doubled), this movement also evoked increased interest in tribal his- tory and traditional culture. Cultural and instrumental components of ethnicity are not mutually exclusive, but rather reinforce one another.
    The Civil Rights movement also brought changes in the uses to which ethnicity was put by Mexican American people. In the 1960’s, Mexican Americans formed community-based political groups that emphasized ancestral her- itage as a way of mobilizing constituents. Such emerging issues as immigration and voting rights gave Mexican American advocacy groups the means by which to promote ethnic soli- darity. Like European ethnic groups in the nineteenth-century United States, late-twentieth-century Mexican American leaders combined ethnic with contemporary civic symbols. In 1968 Henry Censors, then mayor of San Antonio, Texas, cited Mexican leader Benito Juarez as a model for Mexican Americans in their fight for contemporary civil rights. And every year, Mexican Amer- icans celebrate Cinco de Mayo as fervently as many Irish American people embrace St. Patrick’ s Day(both are major holidays in the countries of origin), with both holidays having been reinvented in the context of the United States and linked to ideals, symbols, and heroes of the United States.
Information in the passage supports which of the following statements about many European ethnic groups in the nineteenth-century United States?

选项 A、They emphasized economic interests as a way of mobilizing constituents behind certain issues.
B、They conceived of their own ethnicity as being primordial in nature.
C、They created cultural traditions that fused United States symbols with those of their countries of origin.
D、They de-emphasized the cultural components of their communities in favor of political interests.
E、They organized formal community groups designed to promote a renaissance of ethnic history and culture.

答案C

解析 文中支持哪一个关于19世纪在美国的许多欧洲民族组织的说法?文中在L50—54中指出19世纪欧洲人民族组织和20世纪晚期墨裔民族组织相似,因此后者的特征就是前者特征。C正确,创造了融合美国标志和其本国特点的文化传统。见原文L53—54。A、B、D、E皆不合原文叙述。
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