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  3. The beginning of what was to become the United States was characterized by inconsistencies in the values and behavior of its pop

The beginning of what was to become the United States was characterized by inconsistencies in the values and behavior of its pop

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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 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 (白种人) race and European civilization were superior was well entrenched in the culture of the colonists at the very time that the "egalitarian" (主张平等的) 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 justifiably (and even philanthropically) treated as property according to the reasoning of slave trader and slave-holders.
  Although slaves were treated as objects, bountiful evidence suggests that they did not view themselves similarly. There are many published autobiographies of salves; Afro-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: interrelationships 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 Afro-American mentality. DuBois articulated this divided consciousness as follows:
The history 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.  
The tone of the passage could best be described as ______.
选项 A、informed and anecdotal
B、critical and argumentative
C、impassioned and angry
D、analytical and objective
答案D
解析 有关作者态度的问题。每个选项都有两个描述性单词。从第一个单词我们可以确定C是不正确的，虽然作者对文章的内容有兴趣，但在描述过程中没有充满激情(impassioned)。从第二个单词来看，A与B也是错的。作者没有在讲故事，所以不可能是anecdotal；另外，文章的发展是合乎逻辑的，但不能说是 argumentative，这个单词表示“攻击性；爱争吵的”。
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