考研英语阅读理解真题解析第四篇“美国元首”

2008 Text 4In 1784, five years before he became president of the United States, George Washington, 52, was nearly toothless. So he hired a dentist to transplant nine teeth into his jaw having extracted them from the mouths of his slaves. 1784，52岁的乔治华盛顿在成为美国总统5年前，牙齿就几乎已经掉光了。他专门请牙医从他的奴隶口中拔出九颗牙齿种在自己的身上。transplant trnspl:nt vt. 移居,移植,迁移 vi. 移居,移植 n. 移居者,移植【例】Santillan waited three years for the first transplant. 为了找到合适的心肺进行移植，桑提连已经等了足足三年。Thats a far different image from the cherry-tree-chopping George most people remember from their history books. But recently, many historians have begun to focus on the roles slavery played in the lives of the founding generation. They have been spurred in part by DNA evidence made available in 1998, which almost certainly proved Thomas Jefferson had fathered at least one child with his slave Sally Hemings. And only over the past 30 years have scholars examined history from the bottom up. Works of several historians reveal the moral compromises made by the nations early leaders and the fragile nature of the countrys infancy. More significantly, they argue that many of the Founding Fathers knew slavery was wrong and yet most did little to fight it.这跟很多人在历史书上读到过的那个砍樱桃树的华盛顿有点大相径庭。但是最近开始，历史学家开始越来越关注奴隶制在美国开国一代人的生活中所扮演的角色。他们多半是受了1998年DNA事件的影响。那个事件证明托马斯杰弗逊至少和他的奴隶萨利赫明思生过一个孩子。学者们从头至尾地研究历史还是近三十年的事情。一些历史学家揭示了早期开国者们的道德妥协和早期国家的不稳定性。更重要的是，他们认为很多开国元勋知道奴隶制是错误的，但是大多数并没有去反抗。spur sp: n. 马刺,刺激物,鼓舞 vt. 刺激,激励,用马刺刺 vi. 用马刺驱马,疾驰【例】Do not spur a willing horse. 君子一言，好马一鞭。compromise kmprmaiz n. 妥协,折衷,折衷案,和解 vi. 妥协处理 vt. 危害 【例】Oppose all vacillation and compromise. 反对任何的动摇妥协。fragile frdail a. 易碎的,脆的 名词：fragility, fragileness 副词：fragilely【例】Is anything fragile enclosed? 这包裹里有易破的东西吗？infancy infnsi n. 幼年,初期,幼儿期【例】Growth is rapid in infancy. 幼儿期的成长相当快。1、They have been spurred in part by DNA evidence made available in 1998, which almost certainly proved Thomas Jefferson had fathered at least one child with his slave Sally Hemings.【译文】他们多半是受了1998年DNA事件的影响。那个事件证明托马斯杰弗逊至少和他的奴隶萨利赫明思生过一个孩子。【解析】该句的主干是They have been spurred in part by DNA evidence，过去分词短语made available in 1998和Which引导的非限定性从句都做后置定语，共同修饰名词evidence。定语从句的主谓结构是which proved，宾语是省略了关系代词的宾语从句（that）Tommas Jefferson had fatheredHemings，其中father 做动词，意为“作为父亲生孩子，成为的父亲”。More than anything, the historians say, the founders were hampered by the culture of their time. While Washington and Jefferson privately expressed distaste for slavery, they also understood that it was part of the political and economic bedrock of the country they helped to create.最主要的原因，就是建国者们受到了当时文化的束缚。当华盛顿和杰弗逊私底下表示对奴隶制的不满时，他们也明白奴隶制同时也是他们努力建造的这个国家的政治经济基础的一部分。bedrock bedrk n. 岩床,根底,基础【例】Ancient culture is the bedrock of all. 古老的文化蕴孕着时代永恒的文明。For one thing, the South could not afford to part with its slaves. Owning slaves was “like having a large bank account,” says Wiencek, author of An Imperfect God: George Washington, His Slaves, and the Creation of America. The southern states would not have signed the Constitution without protections for the “peculiar institution,” including a clause that counted a slave as three fifths of a man for purposes of congressional representation.一方面，南方各州无法认同废除奴隶制度。如不完美的上帝：乔治华盛顿、他的奴隶和美国的建立一书作者Wiencek所描述，拥有努力“就像拥有一笔巨额存款”。如果没有对于这种“特殊制度”的保护，南方各州不会同意签署宪法。这种特殊的制度保护包括：在国会代表人数中一个奴隶可以算作五分之三个公民。congressional kngrenl a. 会议的,议会的,国会的 【例】The congressional opponents zeroed in on the bill. 国会中的反对派把矛头集中指向那项议案。2、The southern states would not have signed the Constitution without protections for the “peculiar institution,” including a clause that counted a slave as three fifths of a man for purposes of congressional representation.【译文】如果没有对于这种“特殊制度”的保护，南方各州不会同意签署宪法。这种特殊的制度保护包括：在国会代表人数中一个奴隶可以算作五分之三个公民。【解析】这句话虽然很长，但是结构很简单。”including”后面是对“perculiar institution”的进一步解释，在理解的时候，可以把这句话分成两句话来理解。“如果没有对于这种“特殊制度”的保护，南方各州不会同意签署宪法。这种特殊的制度保护包括：在国会代表人数中一个奴隶可以算作五分之三个公民。”And the statesmens political lives depended on slavery. The three-fifths formula handed Jefferson his narrow victory in the presidential election of 1800 by inflating the votes of the southern states in the Electoral College. Once in office, Jefferson extended slavery with the Louisiana Purchase in 1803; the new land was carved into 13 states, including three slave states.政治家的政治生命也取决于奴隶制度。正由于这个五分之三公式，南方选举团的选票扩大了，杰弗逊才在1800大选中险胜。入主白宫之后的1803年，杰弗逊通过购买路易斯安那州扩大了奴隶制度，这片土地后来被划分为了13个州，其中包括3个蓄奴州。formula f:mjul n. 公式,程式;准则,方案复【例】What formula will they accept? 什么方案各方都能接受呢？Still, Jefferson freed Hemingss children though not Hemings herself or his approximately 150 other slaves. Washington, who had begun to believe that all men were created equal after observing the bravery of the black soldiers during the Revolutionary War, overcame the strong opposition of his relatives to grant his slaves their freedom in his will. Only a decade earlier, such an act would have required legislative approval in Virginia.然而，杰弗逊还是解放了赫明思的孩子们，虽然没有同样解放赫明思和其他150名奴隶。华盛顿在目睹了美国独立战争中黑人士兵的英勇之后开始相信人人生就平等。于是，不顾亲属的反对，他解放了自己所有的努力。而仅仅在十年前，解放奴隶的法案才在弗吉尼亚得以批准。legislative ledisltiv a. 立法的,有立法权的,立法机构的 n. 立法权,立法机构 【例】composed of one legislative body. 由一个立法机关组成。36. George Washingtons dental surgery is mentioned toA show the primitive medical practice in the past. primitive primitiv 原始的B demonstrate the cruelty of slavery in his days.C stress the role of slaves in the U.S. history.D reveal some unknown aspect of his life.36.参考答案【D】【解析】弄清楚作者开始讲述故事的目的，关键要知道他是如何从一则轶事过渡到下文主题的。从篇章分析看，由“华盛顿利用奴隶的轶事”到“华盛顿砍倒樱桃树的典型形象”再到“奴隶制在开国元勋生活中扮演的角色”，华盛顿这个人物才是行文的线索，作者从讲述他不为人们熟悉的故事入手，引出话题，因此D正确。答案解析例子（段落）作用题，解这类题目需从文章主题及结构的角度入手。这篇文章谈的主题是什么呢？谈的是美国开国者们在对待奴隶制度方面一些鲜为人知的、有的可能并不如我们想象的那么完美的一些事情或做法。当然，作者的态度显然是比较客观的，并没有因为这些事情而否认他们的历史地位。由此入手，那么第一段的牙齿手术在全文里起什么作用呢？是起到引入话题的作用。怎么个引入呢？先说华盛顿，不过由于华盛顿他老人家在我们的心中形象一直很高大，于是，先从一个小小的故事入手，揭露华盛顿生活中不为人所知的一面，这样话题就展开了，所以D为正确答案。其他三个选项都不是这个例子的作用。A选项是说明过去医疗技术的原始，这个手术，技术算不算原始，咱也不好说，但这篇文章不是谈医疗技术，所以肯定不是为了表达这层意思。B选项不对，强调其生活年代奴隶制度的残酷？如果这样的话，那本文接下来是不是应该讨论残酷不残酷的问题了？这个手术是很残酷，估计富有同情心的人易选此项，但残酷不残酷显然与本文主题无关，所以排除。C选项有一定的干扰性，出题者知道我们做这个题目的时候，肯定要往第二段下面看，不远处就有focus on the roles slavery played in the lives of the founding generation，这不就是stress the role of slaves in the U.S. history吗？但这似乎不对！首先，动作主体不对。原文的focus on的动作主体是many historians，而本题所问的动作主体显然是作者，这没有任何疑问。当然啦，作者也极有可能是一位历史学家，而且，他对这些historians的观点似乎是赞同的。但这毕竟是两回事；其次，C选项表述跟原文也不符，C选项是强调奴隶在美国历史上的作用，这个比较宽泛，而原文说的是奴隶在那一代人生活中所扮演的角色，讨论局限在革命的那一代。如果这个选项对，那岂不是说奴隶在美国历史上所扮演的角色就是为华盛顿提供牙齿？第三，也是最重要的，从文章的主题和结构来看，这是文章的第一段，如果是为了强调奴隶在美国历史中所扮演的角色，那这篇文章的主题是不是就要写奴隶如何如何了？但这篇文章显然不是，是写开国者们对奴隶制度的态度、想法及做法等，还有对他们的评价，重点在开国者。37. We may infer from the second paragraph thatA DNA technology has been widely applied to history research.B in its early days the U.S. was confronted with delicate situations.C historians deliberately made up some stories of Jeffersons life.D political compromises are easily found throughout the U.S. history.37.参考答案【B】【解析】第二段倒数第二句提到，历史学家的著作揭示了新生国家的脆弱性，B就是文中the fragile nature of the countrys infancy的改写。Fraglie这里取比喻意，即,week and uncertain,and likely to become worse under pressure“脆弱的，不稳定的”；infancy意为the time when something is just starting to be developed“初期，早期”。B中delicate意为needing to be dealt with carefully or sensitively in order to avoid problems or failure“微妙的，需要谨慎处理的”。答案解析A不对，第二段只说了利用DNA技术确定了Jefferson和他的奴隶至少生了一个孩子，至于这项技术有没有被广泛用于历史研究，本文并未提及，尽管这可能就是客观事实。B正确，原文fragile nature of the countrys infancy就是依据，fragile nature不就说明当时美国面对着delicate situations吗？C选项放心排除，历史学家编故事？没有文字表明这是编故事吧？D选项不对，原文只有moral compromises made by the nations early leaders，这并没说明compromises美国历史上随处可见，而且还是与moral compromises不同的political compromises！即使D选项所述与历史事实相符，它也绝无可能入选！38. What do we learn about Thomas Jefferson?A His political view changed his attitude towards slavery.B His status as a father made him free the child slaves.C His attitude towards slavery was complex.D His affair with a slave stained his prestige.38.参考答案【C】【解析】本题考查的知识点是：综合文中有关某一人物的细节。杰弗逊认识到奴隶制不该存在，但是政治生涯又得益于奴隶制度，因此，他对奴隶制的态度一定是复杂的。答案解析第3段最后While Washington and Jefferson privately expressed distaste for slavery, they also understood that it was part of the political and economic bedrock of the country they helped to create. 说明了Jefferson对slavery的attitude是distaste，但又没有废除它，因为它是国家政治经济的基石。接下来的第4、5、6段，行文脉络非常清晰，第4段谈经济基石（当然也有政治，南方的），第5段谈政治基石，第6段再转折一下，虽然Jefferson认为奴隶制度是一个基石，没有触动他，但他还是解放了Hemingss children，这也算是做了点事情，这一定程度上呼应了前面的distaste，虽然这其中可能有他的孩子。纵观36段，就是在表达Jefferson对奴隶制度的复杂态度，所以C选项正确。A选项不对，因为，他的态度虽然复杂，但未说有什么转变，可以自始自终就是复杂的。另外，他的政治观点是什么，是不是他的政治观点改变了他的态度，或者影响了他的态度，均不得而知。B选项只是推测，而且是有一定合理性的推测，但不能选，因为原文只提事情，未提原因，比较重亲情男孩或男人可能容易选此项。深入地想一下，有可能源自他对奴隶制度的distaste。况且，他是不是其中某个或某几个孩子的父亲，我们现在是知道，但他本人未必知道啊。D纯属推测，原文找不到任何根据，虽然此推测有一定的合理性。可以放心排除。40. Washingtons decision to free slaves originated from hisA moral consid