考研阅读精讲（四）（上）
历史进程系列
2009 T4
1 The most thoroughly studied in the history of the new world are the ministers and political leaders of seventeenth-century New England. According to the standard history of American philosophy, nowhere else in colonial America was “So much important attached to intellectual pursuits .”According to many books and articles, New England’s leaders established the basic themes and preoccupations of an unfolding, dominant Puritan tradition in American intellectual life.
According to the standard history of American philosophy, nowhere else in colonial America was “So much important attached to intellectual pursuits .”
According to…philosophy是全句的状语，表示句子主干中信息的来源。
否定词nowhere放在了句首，所以句子使用了倒装结构。
自然语序为：So much importance was attached to intellectual pursuits nowhere else in colonial America
其中主语为So much importance，谓语为was attached，介词短语to intellectual pursuits做目的状语
据权威的美国哲学史记载，在美洲殖民地其他任何地方都不及这里“如此重视对知识文化的追求” 。
清教徒（Puritan）
是指要求清除英国国教中天主教残余的改革派。
清教徒信奉加尔文主义（Calvinism），认为《圣经》才是唯一最高权威，清教徒的先驱者产生于玛丽一世统治后期， 流亡于欧洲大陆的英国新教团体中。随后，部分移居至美洲。
清教徒是创业精神的代言人，他们认为人开创产业必须要禁欲和俭省节约。
他们限制一切纵欲、享乐甚至消费行为，认为不是纵欲和贪婪积累了财富，而是克制和禁欲增长了社会财富。英
n.禁欲者；苦行者；清教徒（属于16和17世纪的英国教会）
adj.清教徒的；清教主义的；禁欲的；苦行的。
16世纪英国亨利八世进行了一系列宗教改革，他希望实现宗教的国家化，让国王成为英国教会的领袖，最终实现政教一体。这种激进的宗教改革，却引起了英国国内的宗教分裂。那些不满亨利八世宗教改革的教徒被称之为清教徒，他们发起的一场反对英国国王的运动，被称之为清教运动。
这些清教徒在英国遭到了天主教的迫害，因此他们纷纷选择移民北美大陆。人们认为美国的这种自治精神就是来自于这批清教徒，他们从《圣经》中学些了圣约传统，即每个人都跟上帝订立圣约，建立一种伙伴关系。这种圣约关系扩展到世俗事务、世俗政治当中，表现为人与人之间都是平等自由的，是一种契约关系。
According to many books and articles, New England’s leaders established the basic themes and preoccupations of an unfolding, dominant Puritan tradition in American intellectual life.
根据大量书籍和文章记载，新英格兰的领导者确立了美国精神生活中逐渐发展并占据统治地位的清教徒的基本主题的持续关注点。
2 To take this approach to the New Englanders normally mean to start with the Puritans’ theological innovations and their distinctive ideas about the church-important subjects that we may not neglect. But in keeping with our examination of southern intellectual life, we may consider the original Puritans as carriers of European culture adjusting to New world circumstances. The New England colonies were the scenes of important episodes in the pursuit of widely understood ideals of civility and virtuosity .
To take this approach to the New Englanders normally mean to start with the Puritans’ theological innovations and their distinctive ideas about the church—important subjects that we may not neglect.
take a approach to sth 对…采用…方法/态度
to take … 和to start with 分别做主句的主语和宾语
—后的内容补充说明前面ideas
其中包括that引导的定语从句修饰subjects
以这种方式看待新英格兰人通常意味着要从这些清教徒和神学变革和他们关于教会的与众不同的理念入手—这些我们不容忽略的主题。
The New England colonies were the scenes of important episodes in the pursuit of widely understood ideals of civility and virtuosity.
新英格兰殖民地是追求广泛认可的 和 的重要事件见证之地地。
civility [səˈvɪləti]
n.彬彬有礼的行为;礼貌;
virtuosity [ˌvɜːtʃuˈɒsəti]
n.（表演或演奏方面的）高超技艺，精湛演技
新英格兰殖民地是追求广泛认可的做人的道理和做事的道理的重要事件见证之地地。
3 The early settlers of Massachusetts Bay included men of impressive education and influence in England. Besides the ninety or so learned ministers who came to Massachusetts church in the decade after 1629,there were political leaders like John Winthrop, an educated gentleman, lawyer, and official of the Crown before he journeyed to Boston. There men wrote and published extensively, reaching both New World and Old World audiences, and giving New England an atmosphere of intellectual earnestness.
earnestness n.认真；诚挚；一本正经的文风
There men wrote and published extensively, reaching both New World and Old World audiences, and giving New England an atmosphere of intellectual earnestness.
earnestness
n.认真；诚挚；一本正经的文风
这些人大量著书并出版，这些著作在新大陆和旧大陆的读者中传阅，并为新英格兰营造了一种热衷于才智的氛围。
4 We should not forget , however, that most New Englanders were less well educated. While few crafts men or farmers, let alone dependents and servants, left literary compositions to be analyzed, it is obvious that their views were less fully intellectualized . Their thinking often had a traditional superstitions quality.
A tailor named John Dane, who emigrated in the late 1630s, left an account of his reasons for leaving England that is filled with signs. sexual confusion, economic frustrations , and religious hope-all name together in a decisive moment when he opened the Bible, told his father the first line he saw would settle his fate, and read the magical words: “come out from among them, touch no unclean thing , and I will be your God and you shall be my people.” One wonders what Dane thought of the careful sermons explaining the Bible that he heard in puritan churched.
5 Meanwhile, many settles had slighter religious commitments than Dane’s, as one clergyman learned in confronting folk along the coast who mocked that they had not come to the New world for religion . “Our main end was to catch fish. “
36、The author notes that in the seventeenth-century New England ___________.
A. Puritan tradition dominated political life.
B. intellectual interests were encouraged.
C. Politics benefited much from intellectual endeavors.
D. intellectual pursuits enjoyed a liberal environment.
参考答案：B
37、It is suggested in paragraph 2 that New Englanders__________.
A. experienced a comparatively peaceful early history.
B. brought with them the culture of the Old World
C. paid little attention to southern intellectual life
D. were obsessed with religious innovations
参考答案：B
38、The early ministers and political leaders in Massachusetts Bay __________.
A. were famous in the New World for their writings
B. gained increasing importance in religious affairs
C. abandoned high positions before coming to the
New World
D. created a new intellectual atmosphere in New England
参考答案：D
39、The story of John Dane shows that less well-educated New Englanders were often __________.
A. influenced by superstitions
B. troubled with religious beliefs
C. puzzled by church sermons
D. frustrated with family earnings
参考答案：A
40、The text suggests that early settlers in New England__________.
A. were mostly engaged in political activities
B. were motivated by an illusory prospect
C. came from different backgrounds.
D. left few formal records for later reference
参考答案：C
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