GMAT考试阅读资料(五)a

Passage 23
　　At the end of the nineteenth century， a rising interest　in Native American customs and an increasing desire to　understand Native American culture prompted ethnolo-　gists to begin recording¹ the life stories of Native Amer-（5） ican. Ethnologists had a distinct reason for wanting tohear the stories： they were after linguistic² or anthropo-logical data that would supplement their own fieldobservations， and they believed that the personalstories， even of a single individual， could increase their（10） understanding of the cultures that they had beenobserving from without. In addition many ethnologistsat the turn of the century believed that Native Amer-ican manners and customs were rapidly disappearing，and that it was important to preserve for posterity⁴ as（15） much information as could be adequately recordedbefore the cultures disappeared forever.
　　There were， however， arguments against this methodas a way of acquiring accurate and complete informa-tion. Franz Boas， for example， described autobiogra-（20） phies as being “of limited value， and useful chiefly forthe study of the perversion⁵ of truth by memory，” whilePaul Radin contended that investigators⁷ rarely spentenough time with the tribes they were observing， andinevitably derived⁹ results too tinged¹⁰ by the investi-（25） gator‘s own emotional tone to be reliable.
　　Even more importantly， as these life stories movedfrom the traditional oral mode to recorded writtenform， much was inevitably⁸ lost. Editors often decidedwhat elements were significant to the field research on a（30） given tribe. Native Americans recognized that theessence of their lives could not be communicated inEnglish and that events that they thought significantwere often deemed unimportant by their interviewers.Indeed， the very act of telling their stories could force（35） Native American narrators to distort their cultures， astaboos had to be broken to speak the names of deadrelatives crucial to their family stories.
　　Despite all of this， autobiography¹¹ remains¹² a usefultool for ethnological research： such personal reminis-（40） cences and impressions， incomplete as they may be， arelikely to throw more light on the working of the mindand emotions than any amount of speculation¹³ from anethnologist or ethnological theorist from anotherculture.

　　1. Which of the following best describes the organization of the passage？
　　　（A） The historical backgrounds of two currently used research methods are chronicled.
　　　（B） The validity of the data collected by using two different research methods is compared.
　　　（C） The usefulness of a research method is questioned and then a new method is proposed.
　　　（D） The use of a research method is described and the limitations of the results obtained are discussed.
　　　（E） A research method is evaluated and the changes necessary for its adaptation to other subject areas are discussed.

　　2. Which of the following is most similar to the actions of　nineteenth-century ethnologists in their editing of the　life stories of Native Americans？
　　　（A） A witness in a jury trial invokes¹⁴ the Fifth Amendment¹⁵ in order to avoid relating personally incriminating evidence.
　　　（B） A stockbroker¹⁶ refuses to divulge¹⁷ the source of her information on the possible future increase in a stock‘s value.
　　　（C） A sports announcer describes the action in a team sport with which he is unfamiliar¹⁸.
　　　（D） A chef purposely excludes the special ingredient from the recipe of his prizewinning dessert.
　　　（E） A politician fails to mention in a campaign speech the similarities in the positions held by her opponent for political office and by herself.

　　3. According to the passage， collecting life stories can be a　useful methodology because
　　　（A） life stories provide deeper insights into a culture than the hypothesizing of academics who are not members of that culture
　　　（B） life stories can be collected easily and they are not subject to invalid¹⁹ interpretations²¹
　　　（C） ethnologists have a limited number of research methods from which to choose
　　　（D） life stories make it easy to distinguish between the important and unimportant features of a culture
　　　（E） the collection of life stories does not require a culturally knowledgeable²² investigator⁶

　　4. Information in the passage suggests that which of　the following may be a possible way to eliminate　bias²³ in the editing of life stories？
　　　（A） Basing all inferences made about the culture on an ethnological theory
　　　（B） Eliminating all of the emotion-laden information reported by the informant
　　　（C） Translating the informant‘s words into the researcher’s language
　　　（D） Reducing the number of questions and carefully specifying²⁴ the content of the questions that the investigator can ask the informant
　　　（E） Reporting all of the information that the informant provides regardless of the investigator‘s personal opinion about its intrinsic value

　　5. The primary purpose of the passage as a whole is to
　　　（A） question an explanation
　　　（B） correct a misconception
　　　（C） critique a methodology
　　　（D） discredit²⁵ an idea
　　　（E） clarify an ambiguity²⁶

　　6. It can be inferred from the passage that a characteristic　of the ethnological research on Native Americans　conducted during the nineteenth century was the use　of which of the following？
　　　（A） Investigators familiar with the culture under study
　　　（B） A language other than the informant‘s for recording life stories
　　　（C） Life stories as the ethnologist‘s primary source of information
　　　（D） Complete transcriptions of informants‘ descriptions of tribal²⁷ beliefs
　　　（E） Stringent²⁸ guidelines for the preservation²⁹ of cultural data

　　7. The passage mentions which of the following as a factor that can affect the accuracy of ethnologists‘transcriptions of life stories？
　　　（A） The informants‘ social standing³ within the culture
　　　（B） The inclusiveness of the theory that provided the basis for the research
　　　（C） The length of time the researchers spent in the culture under study
　　　（D） The number of life stories collected by the researchers
　　　（E） The verifiability of the information provided by the research informants

　　8. It can be inferred from the passage that the author would　be most likely to agree with which of the following　statements about the usefulness of life stories as a source　of ethnographic information？
　　　（A） They can be a source of information about how people in a culture view the world.
　　　（B） They are most useful as a source of linguistic information.
　　　（C） They require editing and interpretation²⁰ before they can be useful.
　　　（D） They are most useful as a source of information about ancestry³⁰.
　　　（E） They provide incidental information rather than significant insights into a way of life.