An Irish newspaper editorial encouraging women to participate in the non-importation movement launched in Ireland in 1779 appears consistent with a perception that the political use of the consumer originated in North America and spread eastwards across the Atlantic to Ireland. This is a view that most historians have concurred with. For example, T.H. Breen argued that the consumer was a brilliantly original American invention. Breen did acknowledge that a few isolated may have taken place in other countries. However, Mary ODowd argues that from the late seventeenth century, Irish political discourse advocated for the nonconsumption of imported goods and support for home manufactures by women in ways that were strikingly similar to those used later in North America.
体会下这两道小题目
1. The passage is primarily concerned with
A. resolving a dispute
B. advocating a course of action
C. tracing the evolution of a practice
D. citing competing views of an issue
E. chronicling a series of events
2. In the context of the passage, the highlighted sentence serves to
A. qualify a point made in the preceding sentence
B. correct an erroneous assumption
C. provide evidence in support of a perception cited in the opening sentence
D. provide a rationale for the view expressed in the following sentence
E. establish the popularity of a point of view
解析
答案：1 D 2 A
你都做对了么?
我们一起来分析下：
文章开始，通过一篇新闻评论(newspaper editorial)引出主流观点：，传播到爱尔兰。T.H. Breen 是主流观点的例子。However之后, 介绍Mary ODowd的相反观点：爱尔兰的妇女抵制进口品的历史可以追溯到17世纪，它是有自己的历史的，也就是说，不是起源于美国的。
第一题是文章主旨题。通过文章结构分析可知答案D最准确。A选项不准确，因为”resolving”需要作者明确表态支持哪个观点，而该文作者没有明确自己的观点。
第二题是高亮句子功能题。高亮的句子为“Breen did acknowledge that a few isolated may have taken place in other countries.”这一句的上一句是说Breen认为抵制消费活动起源于美国，显然高亮句是B做的让步。A选项最准确。下一句是Mary的完全相反的观点：抵制行为起源于爱尔兰，D选项不正确，高亮句不是为后句的观点提供合理性。
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