新SAT阅读官方题型解析-主旨题(1)

>>SAT考试试题库：新SAT阅读官方题型解析-主旨题(1)

The Official SAT Study Guide

Questions 32-41 are based on the following passage.

This passage is adapted from Virginia Woolf, Three Guineas.1938 by Harcourt, Inc. Here, Woolf considers the situation of women in English society.

Close at hand is a bridge over the River Thames,an admirable vantage ground for us to make a survey. The river flows beneath; barges pass, laden with timber, bursting with corn; there on one side are the domes and spires of the city; on the other, Westminster and the Houses of Parliament. It is a place to stand on by the hour, dreaming. But not now. Now we are pressed for time. Now we are here to consider facts; now we must fix our eyes upon the procession—the procession of the sons of educated men.

There they go, our brothers who have been educated at public schools and universities, mounting those steps, passing in and out of those doors, ascending those pulpits, preaching, teaching, administering justice, practising medicine,transacting business, making money. It is a solemn sight always—a procession, like a caravanserai crossing a desert. . . . But now, for the past twenty years or so, it is no longer a sight merely, a photograph, or fresco scrawled upon the walls of time, at which we can look with merely an esthetic appreciation. For there, trapesing along at the tail end of the procession, we go ourselves. And that makes a difference. We who have looked so long at the pageant in books, or from a curtained window watched educated men leaving the house at about nine-thirty to go to an office, returning to the house at about six-thirty from an office, need look passively no longer. We too can leave the house, can mount those steps, pass in and out of those doors, . . . make money, administer justice. . . . We who now agitate these humble pens may in another century or two speak from a pulpit. Nobody will dare contradict us then; we shall be the mouthpieces of the divine spirit—a solemn thought, is it not? Who can say whether, as time goes on, we may not dress in military uniform, with gold lace on our breasts, swords at our sides, and something like the old family coal-scuttle on our heads, save that that venerable object was never decorated with plumes of white horsehair. You laugh—indeed the shadow of the private house still makes those dresses look a little queer. We have worn private clothes so long. . . . But we have not come here to laugh, or to talk of fashions—men’s and women’s. We are here, on the bridge, to ask ourselves certain questions.

And they are very important questions; and we have very little time in which to answer them. The questions that we have to ask and to answer about that procession during this moment of transition are so important that they may well change the lives of all men and women for ever. For we have to ask ourselves, here and now, do we wish to join that procession, or don’t we? On what terms shall we join that procession? Above all, where is it leading us, the procession of educated men? The moment is short; it may last five years; ten years, or perhaps only a matter of a few months longer. . . . But, you will object, you have no time to think; you have yourbattles to fight, your rent to pay, your bazaars to organize. That excuse shall not serve you, Madam.

As you know from your own experience, and there are facts that prove it, the daughters of educated men have always done their thinking from hand to mouth; not under green lamps at study tables in the cloisters of secluded colleges. They have thought while they stirred the pot, while they rocked the cradle. It was thus that they won us the right to our brand-new sixpence. It falls to us now to go on thinking; how are we to spend that sixpence? Think we must. Let us think in offices; in omnibuses; while we are standing in the crowd watching Coronations and Lord Mayor’s Shows; let us think . . . in the gallery of the House of Commons; in the Law Courts; let us think at baptisms and marriages and funerals. Let us never cease from thinking—what is this“civilization” in which we find ourselves? What are these ceremonies and why should we take part in them? What are these professions and why should we make money out of them? Where in short is it leading us, the procession of the sons of educated men?

33. The central claim of the passage is that

A) educated women face a decision about how to engage with existing institutions.

B) women can have positions of influence in English society only if they give up some of their traditional roles.

C) the male monopoly on power in English society has had grave and continuing effects.

D) the entry of educated women into positions of power traditionally held by men will transform those positions.

答案: A

答案解析:

本题问的是全文的中心论点。从文章前面的提示信息“Woolf considers the situation of women in English society”就可以初步了解，文章是关于女性在英国社会中的一些情况。文章lines1-19都在讲述和男性有关的社会，因此是文章的铺垫，和中心论点无关。直到line19提到 “But now, for the past twenty years or so …” 才开始引入正题，指出在当今社会，“We too can leave the house, can mount those steps, pass in and out of those doors, . . . make money, administer justice …”(lines 30-32)，作者呼吁受过教育的女性应该摆脱现有体系、加入工作，现在正处于这样的过渡时期 (“moment of transition”)，女性必须考虑自己在未来工作中的角色。因此，答案为A选项。

B选项错误，作者虽然提到了女性的传统角色，但并没有暗示女性只有放弃这些传统角色才能获得有影响的位置。

C选项错误，作者并没有暗示男性主导的社会已经产生重大的、持续的影响，此外，本文中心论点应该是以女性为核心的。

D选项错误，作者虽然指出受过教育的女性可以从事男性所在的职位，但并没有暗示在女性获得权位之后，那些位置会发生转变。

重点词汇：

procession: [prə'seʃ(ə)n] n. 队伍，行列;一列，一排;列队行进 | vi. 列队行进 | vt. 沿著……行进

agitate: ['ædʒɪteɪt] vt. 摇动;骚动;使…激动 | vi. 煽动

institution: [ɪnstɪ'tjuːʃ(ə)n] n. 制度;建立;(社会或宗教等)公共机构;习俗

position: [pə'zɪʃ(ə)n] n. 位置，方位;职位，工作;姿态;站位 | vt. 安置;把……放在适当位置

monopoly: [mə'nɒp(ə)lɪ] n. 垄断;垄断者;专卖权

grave: [greɪv] adj. 重大的;严肃的;黯淡的 | n. 墓穴，坟墓;死亡 | vt. 雕刻;铭记

未完待续，更多考试资料请持续关注坦途网SAT考试频道!