2008年Text 4

　　In 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 months of his slaves.

　　That's 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 nation's early leaders and the fragile nature of the country's infancy. More significantly, they argue that many of the Founding Fathers knew slavery was wrong and yet most did little to fight it.

　　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.

　　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.

　　And the statesmen's 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.

　　Still, Jefferson freed Hemings's 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.

　　36. George Washington's dental surgery is mentioned to

　　[A] show the primitive medical practice in the past.

　　[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.

　　[答案] C

　　[解題思路]

　　文章第一段是關于華盛頓換牙的例子，文章第二段隨即指出"That's 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"(相比人們在歷史書本中學到的那個坎櫻桃樹的喬治，這是一個截然不同的形象。但是近來很多歷史學家都開始關注奴隸制在美國開國的那一代人中所扮演的角色)，因此顯然只有C選項符合原文。A、B選項可以比較容易地排除，而D選項具有一定的干擾性。這句話是對第二段第一句話的表面理解，但是不如C選項更加具體和有針對性。

　　[題目譯文]

　　喬治·華盛頓的牙科手術用來

　　[A] 說明過去的落后醫術

　　[B] 說明在他的時候奴隸制的殘酷

　　[C] 強調奴隸在美國歷史中所扮演的角色

　　[D] 揭示他不為人知的一面

　　40. Washington's decision to free slaves originated from his

　　[A] moral considerations.

　　[B] military experience.

　　[C] financial conditions.

　　[D] political stand.

　　[答案] B

　　[解題思路]

　　本題對應于文章最后一段第二句話指出"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"(華盛頓在目睹了黑人們在革命戰爭中的勇敢之后，開始相信所有人生來都是平等的，于是他不顧親戚的反對，堅持給予他的所有奴隸自由)，很顯然正確答案是B。

　　[題目譯文]

　　華盛頓解放其奴隸的決定源自他的

　　[A] 道德考慮

　　[B] 軍事經歷

　　[C] 財政狀況

　　[D] 政治立場