專八閱讀訓練Feminism

Feminism

The statistics I’ve cited and the living examples are all too familiarto you. But what may not be so familiar will be the increasingnumber of women who are looking actively for advancement offor a new job in your offices. This woman may be equipped withprofessional skills and perhaps valuable experience, She will notbe content to be Executive Assistant to Mr. Seldom Seen of theAssistant Vice President’s Girl Friday, who is the only one whocomes in on Saturday.

She is the symbol of what I call the Second Wave of Feminism. She is the modern woman who isdetermined to be.

Her forerunner was the radical feminist who interpreted her trapped position as a female asoppression by the master class of men. Men, she believed, had created a domestic, servile role forwomen in order that men could have the career and the opportunity to participate in making thegreat decisions of society. Thus the radical feminist held that women through history had beenoppressed and dehumanized, mainly because man chose to exploit his wife and the mother of hischildren. Sometimes it was deliberate exploitation and sometimes it was the innocence of neverlooking beneath the pretensions of life.

The radical feminists found strength in banding together. Coming to recognize each other for thefirst time, they could explore their own identities, realize their own power, and view the male and hissystem as the common enemy. The first phases of feminism in the last five years often took on thismilitant, class-warfare tone. Betty Friedan, Gloria Steinem, Germaine Greer, and many othershammered home their ideas with a persistence that aroused and intrigued many of the brightestand most able women in the country. Consciousness-raising groups allowed women to exploreboth their identities and their dreams—and the two were often found in direct conflict.

What is the stereotyped role of American women? Marriage. A son. Two daughters. ing. Lunch. Bowling, maybe a garden club of for the very daring, non-credit courses inceramics. Perhaps an occasional cocktail party. Dinner. Football or baseball on TV. Each day thesame. Never any growth in expectations—unless it is growth because the husband has inevitable question: “Is that all there is to life?”

The rapid growth of many feminist organizations attests to the fact that these radical feminists hadtouched some vital nerves. The magazine “Ms.” was born in the year of the death of the magazine“Life.” But too often the consciousness-raising sessions became ends in themselves. Too oftensexism reversed itself and man-hating was encouraged. Many had been with the male chauvinist.

It is not difficult, therefore, to detect a trend toward moderation. Consciousness-raising increasinglyis regarded as a means to independence and fulfillment, rather than a ceremony of fulfillment ine independence can be realized through competence, through finding a career, through theuse of education. Remember that for many decades the education of women was not supposedto be useful.

1. What was the main idea of this passage?

[A] The Second Wave of Feminist. [B] Women’s Independent Spirits.

[C] The Unity of Women. [D] The Action of Union.

2. What was the author’s attitude toward the radical?

[A] He supported it wholeheartedly. [B] He opposed it strongly.

[C] He disapproved to some extent. [D] He ignored it completely.

3. What does the word “militant” mean?

[A] Aggressive. [B] Ambitions. [C] Progressive. [D] Independent.

4. What was the radical feminist’s view point about the male?

[A] Women were exploited by the male.

[B] Women were independent of the male.

[C] Women’s lives were deprived by the male.

[D] The male were their common enemy.

答案詳解：

1. A. 第二次女權運動的浪潮。在第一段，一般性描述之後（見難句譯註1），作者畫龍點睛的指明“她就是我所指的第二次女權運動浪潮的象徵。她是決心要成爲的現代婦女的代表。”以後的文章就是圍繞女權運動而寫的。見文章大意。

B. 婦女的獨立精神。這只是女權運動中部分內容。 C. 婦女團結。第三段一開始就提到“激進女權主義者發現了緊密團結在一起的力量。”也是女權運動的部分內容。D. 團結運動。

2. C. 有點不贊成。這在最後兩段表現的最爲明顯：“許多女權運動組織迅速發展證明這些激進爭取女權的人觸到了某些活躍的神經。（非常活躍）。 Ms 雜誌就在《生活》停刊那年誕生。可是喚起覺醒的會議常常成爲這些活動的目的。性別歧視（歧視婦女）也常常顛倒過來並且提倡憎恨男人。許多人曾是男權至上主義者。”“因此，察覺向平和中的趨向發展並不難。提高覺悟的做法越來越被認爲是獨立與成就的方式，而不是慶賀成就本身的儀式。真正的獨立是能夠通過能力，通過尋找一份事業，通過應用教育加以實現。要記住，幾十年來，婦女教育被認爲是無用的。”如果是倒數第二段是作者對激進分子有點批評，不滿的態度的表現，那麼最後一段就是作者的觀點：獨立是靠塌實工作，提高婦女自身的能力來實現的。

A. 他全心全意的擁護。 B. 他強烈反對。不完全如此。 D. 他完全忽視不顧。

3. A. 好鬥的。（鬥爭性強的.）。第三段第三句：“在最近5年中女權運動首要方面常常具有這種好鬥的階級鬥爭調子。”

B. 野心的。 C. 進步的。 D. 獨立的。

4. D. 男人是她們共同的敵人。第三段：“激進女權運動分子在緊密團結中找到了力量。第一次她們認識了自己，她們可以探索自我，意識到她們的力量，把男人及其制度視爲她們共同的敵人。”

A. 婦女爲男人們所剝削。這在第三段中講到，見難句譯註3。這是婦女觀點中具體內容之一。也是爲什麼說男人及制度是她們共同敵人的原因之一。 B. 婦女不受男人支配。 C. 男人剝奪了女人生活。