prep2-3-10

Essay #3.  114      (21569-!-item-!-188;#058&00114-00)

Ethnohistoric documents from sixteenth-century Mexico
suggesting that weaving and cooking were the most common productive activities
for Aztec women may lead modern historians to underestimate the value of
women's contributions to Aztec society. 
Since weaving and cooking occurred mostly (but not entirely) in a domestic
setting, modern historians are likely to apply to the Aztec culture the modern
Western distinction between "private" and "public"
production.  Thus, the ethnohistoric
record conspires with Western culture to foster the view that women's
production was not central to the demographic, economic, and political
structures in sixteenth-century Mexico.

A closer examination of Aztec culture indicates
that treating Aztec women's production in Mexico in such a manner would be a
mistake.  Even if the products of women's
labor did not circulate beyond the household, such products were
essential to population growth. 
Researchers document a tenfold increase in the population of the valley of Mexico during the previous four
centuries, an increase that was crucial to the developing Aztec political economy.  Population growth--which could not have
occurred in the absence of successful household economy, in which women's work
was essential--made possible the large-scale development of labor-intensive
chinampa (ridged-field) agriculture in the southern valley of Mexico
which, in turn, supported urbanization and political centralization in the
Aztec capital.

But the products of women's labor did in fact
circulate beyond the household.  Aztec
women wove cloth, and cloth circulated through the market system, the tribute
system, and the redistributive economy of the palaces.  Cotton mantles served as a unit of currency
in the regional market system. 
Quantities of woven mantles, loincloths, blouses, and skirts were paid
as tribute to local lords and to imperial tax stewards and were
distributed to ritual and administrative personnel, craft specialists,
warriors, and other faithful servants of the state.  In addition, woven articles of clothing
served as markers of social status and clothing fulfilled a symbolic function
in political negotiation.  The cloth that
was the product of women's work thus was crucial as a primary means of
organizing the flow of goods and services that sustained the Aztec state.

Which of the following best describes the function
of the third paragraph of the passage?

(A) It attempts to reconcile conflicting views
presented in the previous paragraphs.

(B) It presents evidence intended to undermine the
argument presented in the second paragraph.

(C) It provides examples that support the position
taken in the first sentence of the second paragraph.

(D) It describes the contents of the documents
mentioned in the first paragraph.

(E) It suggests that a distinction noted in the
first paragraph is valid.

应该是C吧。

第一段说历史学家因为这个墨西哥妇女的劳动在家里就完全简单地参照欧洲的模式来区分，认为对社会无益。

第二段，说这是错误的。然后和第三段一起通过举例和说明社会环境的方式证实。

B说的是第三段削弱第二段的观点，应该是支持。