2. 职称英语
  3. The beginning of what was to become the United States was characterized by i

The beginning of what was to become the United States was characterized by i

游客2025-04-23  32
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 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 race and European civilization were superior was well entrenched in the culture of the colonists at the very time that the "egalitarian" 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 justifiaby (and even philanthropically) treated as property according to the reasoning of slavetraders and slaveholders.
    Although slaves were treated as objects, bountiful evidence suggests that they did not view themselves similarly. There are many published autobiographies of slaves. African- 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. Interrelation- ships 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 African-American mentality. Du Bois articulated this divided consciousness as follows:
    The history of 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. [br] It can be inferred that which of the following pairs are the two elements of the "dual influence" mentioned at the beginning of the last paragraph?
选项 A、Slavery and West African culture.
B、Tribal affiliations in West Africa and family affiliations in West Africa.
C、A sense of individuality and a sense of tribal identification.
D、The history of West Africa and modern black political movements.
答案 A
解析 “双重影响”是指奴隶制度和西非文化。作者在第三段末尾指出，对于个体的奴隶来说，由于他们与亲人分离，因此只能与一个特定地方的同伴进行认同，这种新的家庭单元成了他们最重要的联系纽带。随着奴隶制度逐渐系统化，西非的归属倾向也会进行调整和适应。因此，这种复杂的双重影响实际上是指奴隶制度和西非文化对他们的影响。
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