2772-GMAT-Passage 25 (25/63)第一题

In 1977 the prestigious Ewha Women’s University in Seoul, Korea, announced the opening of the first women’s studies program in Asia. Few academic programs have ever received such public attention. In broadcast debates, critics dismissed the program as a betrayal of national identity, an imitation of Western ideas, and a distraction from the real task of national unification and economic development. Even supporters underestimated the program; they thought it would be merely another of the many Western ideas that had already proved useful in Asian culture, akin to airlines, electricity, and the assembly line. The founders of the program, however, realized that neither view was correct. They had some reservations about the applicability of Western feminist theories to the role of women in Asia and felt that such theories should be closely examined. Their approach has thus far (thus far: 迄今) yielded important critiques of Western theory, informed by the special experience of Asian women.

For instance, like the Western feminist critique of the Freudian model of the human psyche, the Korean critique finds Freudian theory culture-bound, but in ways different from those cited by Western theorists. The Korean theorists claim that Freudian theory assumes the universality of the Western nuclear, male-headed family and focuses on the personality formation of the individual, independent of (independent of: 不依赖...,独立于....) society. An analysis based on such assumptions could be valid for a highly competitive, individualistic society. In the Freudian family drama (a state, situation, or series of events involving interesting or intense conflict of forces), family members are assumed to be engaged in a Darwinian struggle against each other—father against son and sibling against sibling. Such a concept projects the competitive model of Western society onto human personalities. But in the Asian concept of personality there is no ideal attached to individualism or to the independent self. The Western model of personality development does not explain major characteristics of the Korean personality, which is social and group-centered. The “self” is a social being defined by and acting in a group, and the well-being of both men and women is determined by the equilibrium of the group, not by individual self-assertion (1: the act of asserting oneself or one's own rights, claims, or opinions 2: the act of asserting one's superiority over others). The ideal is one of interdependency.

In such a context, what is recognized as “dependency” in Western psychiatric terms is not, in Korean terms, an admission of weakness or failure. All this bears directly on the Asian perception of men’s and women’s psychology because men are also “dependent.” In Korean culture, men cry and otherwise easily show their emotions, something that might be considered a betrayal of masculinity in Western culture. In the kinship-based society of Korea, four generations may live in the same house, which means that people can be sons and daughters all their lives, whereas in Western culture, the roles of husband and son, wife and daughter, are often incompatible.

1.     Which of the following best summarizes the content of the passage?

(A) A critique of a particular women’s studies program

(B) A report of work in social theory done by a particular women’s studies program

(C) An assessment of the strengths and weaknesses of a particular women’s studies program

(D) An analysis of the philosophy underlying women’s studies programs

(E) An abbreviated history of Korean women’s studies programs

答案：B

我首先就排除了B。这篇文章讲的是report吗？

report：

1 a : common talk or an account spread by common talk : RUMOR  b : quality of reputation *a witness of good report*
2 a : a usually detailed account or statement *a news report*  b : an account or statement of a judicial opinion or decision  c : a usually formal record of the proceedings of a meeting or session
3 : an explosive noise

up

我认为应选a

xdf王昆嵩讲座中说过critique是中性的评价的意思.没有贬义.我觉得这里a is right

B正确，文章中的中心其实从第一段末段就开始转移
请注意最后一句话，Their approach has thus far yielded important critiques of Western theory, informed by the special experience of Asian women。
实际上答案就是这句话的改写。

我也选了D,觉得文章分析的很细致，先举一个社会现象，然后反驳，深入探讨。

有NN解释一下吗～

又看了一看Ｂ项，既提到了a particular women’s studies program又说了social theory

而全文都在绕着这个theory展开,再审一下题问的是best summarize

而Ｄ项根本没有提到theory的问题概括的没有Ｂ好

同意。一段末句出现强因果（thus），即为主题了。说明本文主题不是评判(critique)，而是解释、说明(report)。所以选B。

第一段前面的确在评论这个项目，critique也的确是中性的。但是这不是文中主要的关注对象。

D未提及。

A report of work in social theory done by a particular women’s studies program

done by a ...program是什么意思？

这整句话究竟是什么意思呢？谁能讲一下？