OG2020每日閱讀訓練練習D19

Pistachio_lin

Hi 大家好，閱讀打卡訓練第19天。

Materials/sources: OG2020

Passages:

In current historiography, the picture of a consistent, unequivocal decline in women’s status with the advent of capitalism and industrialization is giving way to an analysis that not only emphasizes both change (whether improvement or decline) and continuity but also accounts for geographical and occupational variation. The history of women’s work in English farmhouse cheese making between 1800 and 1930 is a case in point. In her influential Women Workers and the Industrial Revolution (1930), Pinchbeck argued that the agricultural revolution of the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries, with its attendant specialization and enlarged scale of operation, curtailed women’s participation in the business of cheese production. Earlier, she maintained, women had concerned themselves with feeding cows, rearing calves, and even selling the cheese in local markets and fairs. Pinchbeck thought that the advent of specialization meant that women’s work in cheese dairying was reduced simply to processing the milk. “Dairymen” (a new social category) raised and fed cows and sold the cheese through factors, who were also men. With this narrowing of the scope of work, Pinchbeck believed, women lost business ability, independence, and initiative.

Though Pinchbeck portrayed precapitalist, preindustrial conditions as superior to what followed, recent scholarship has seriously questioned the notion of a golden age for women in precapitalist society. For example, scholars note that women’s control seldom extended to the disposal of the proceeds of their work. In the case of cheese, the rise of factors may have compromised women’s ability to market cheese at fairs. But merely selling the cheese did not necessarily imply access to the money: Davidoff cites the case of an Essex man who appropriated all but a fraction of the money from his wife’s cheese sales.

By focusing on somewhat peripheral operations, moreover, Pinchbeck missed a substantial element of continuity in women’s participation: throughout the period women did the central work of actually making cheese. Their persistence in English cheese dairying contrasts with women’s early disappearance from arable agriculture in southeast England and from American cheese dairying. Comparing these three divergent developments yields some reasons for the differences among them. English cheese-making women worked in a setting in which cultural values, agricultural conditions, and the nature of their work combined to support their continued participation. In the other cases, one or more of these elements was lacking.

簡化/思路:
    In current historiography, the picture of a consistent, unequivocal decline in women's status with the advent of capitalism and industrialization is giving way to an analysis that not only emphasizes both change (whether improvement or decline) and continuity but also accounts for geographical and occupational variation. (說明一種情況/印象逐漸被一種分析取代, 這個分析側重於 1.改變與持續 - improvement or decline, 以及這些東西持續改變了多久. 2.地理上與職業上的差異/變化.)
    The history of women's work in English farmhouse cheese making between 1800 and 1930 is a case in point. (目的是介紹一本書, 想要去說明第一句的情況 <後面的a case in point 說明了這句話的印證>)
    In her influential  Women Workers and the Industrial Revolution (1930), Pinchbeck argued that the agricultural revolution of the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries, with its attendant specialization and enlarged scale of operation, curtailed women's participation in the business of cheese production.   (P說: agricultural revolution實際curtailed women's participation in business of cheese production)
    Earlier, she maintained, women had concerned themselves with feeding cows, rearing calves, and even selling the cheese in local markets and fairs. (在agricultural revolution前，女生可以做的事情有三種).
    Pinchbeck thought that the advent of specialization meant that women's work in cheese dairying was reduced simply to processing the milk. (在agricultural revolution後, 女生只剩處理牛奶的工作）
    “Dairymen” (a new social category) raised and fed cows and sold the cheese through factors, who were also men. (說有種新的工作出現，但這種工作也為男性所做)
    With this narrowing of the scope of work, Pinchbeck believed, women lost business ability, independence, and initiative. (這句話主要在強調, 就是在agricultural revolution發生後, 女性經濟地位發生的變化 -> 同P的說法, 變得不好; 女生失去了生意上能力, 獨立與倡議) - 第一段主要在引入 picture -> analysis的轉換; 然後介紹了一個P的作品, 裡面在說女性地位的式微)


    Though Pinchbeck portrayed precapitalist, preindustrial conditions as superior to what followed, recent scholarship has seriously questioned the notion of a golden age for women in precapitalist society. (這裏說recent scholarship質疑P的說法; 開始符合第一段說的picture -> analysis的轉換; P的作品屬於被取代的picture, 新的研究開始質疑P的說法)
    For example, scholars note that women's control seldom extended to the disposal of the proceeds of their work. (實際駁斥P的例子; 1. <女性很少真的能夠支配他們工作而來的收入>)
    In the case of cheese, the rise of factors may have compromised women's ability to market cheese at fairs. (先說P的的說法在哪一處還行)
    But merely selling the cheese did not necessarily imply access to the money: Davidoff cites the case of an Essex man who appropriated all but a fraction of the money from his wife's cheese sales. (但是只賣東西不代表他們就能支配所得, 有個例子就是男生會拿走一部分的工作所得)

    By focusing on somewhat peripheral operations, moreover, Pinchbeck missed a substantial element of continuity in women's participation: throughout the period women did the central work of actually making cheese. (這裡又再一次attack P的論點, 說女性一直以來都有在做cheese making的工作)

    Their persistence in English cheese dairying contrasts with women's early disappearance from arable agriculture in southeast England and from American cheese dairying. (解釋上一句的continuity, 說兩個對比: 在南英格蘭的可耕地消失與美國cheese dairying的消失 versus 女性還是努力做堅持在在cheese dairy)
    Comparing these three divergent developments yields some reasons for the differences among them. (解釋為什麼這樣的"continuity"可以持續下去. <意即persistence下去的原因>)
    English cheese-making women worked in a setting in which cultural values, agricultural conditions, and the nature of their work combined to support their continued participation. (這句話解釋為什麼english cheese-making women為什麼可以持續下去，因為有 cultural values, agricultural conditions, and the nature of their work, 這三要點去支持他們一直持續他們的工作)
    In the other cases, one or more of these elements was lacking. (換言之, 少了任一個都沒辦法進行下去)
   


段落整理
第一段: 先說在historiography裡的一種轉變; 介紹了舊時的說法。
第二段: 開始攻擊舊時的說法; 提出新的研究是怎麼說的。
第三段: 繼續攻擊舊時的說法; 說這說法漏了什麼東西




1. The primary purpose of the passage is to

(A) present recently discovered evidence that supports a conventional interpretation of a historical period
(B) describe how reinterpretations of available evidence have reinvigorated a once-discredited scholarly position
(C) explain why some historians have tended to emphasize change rather than continuity in discussing a particular period
(D) explore how changes in a particular occupation serve to counter the prevailing view of a historical period
(E) examine a particular area of historical research in order to exemplify a general scholarly trend (對先引入了舊時說法, 後面第二段, 第三段都在說這個說法不對; 都在呼應第一段第一句的from picture of consistent and unequivocal -> analysis)


2. Regarding English local markets and fairs, which of the following can be inferred from the passage?
(A) Both before and after the agricultural revolution, the sellers of agricultural products at these venues were men.
(B) Knowing who the active sellers were at these venues may not give a reliable indication of who controlled the revenue from the sales. (第一段P說了女性 did selling work, 但是第二段說他們就算做selling work也沒有代表他們真的有支配這些所得)
(C) There were no parallel institutions at which American cheese makers could sell their own products.
(D) Prior to the agricultural revolution, the sellers of agricultural products at these venues were generally the producers themselves.
(E) Prior to the agricultural revolution, women sold not only cheese but also products of arable agriculture at these venues.

3. The passage describes the work of Pinchbeck primarily in order to

(A) demonstrate that some of the conclusions reached by recent historians were anticipated in earlier scholarship
(B) provide an instance of the viewpoint that, according to the passage's author, is being superseded (這一段對的, 提出了P的說法後, 整段文章都在攻擊這個論點)
(C) illustrate the ways in which recent historians have built on the work of their predecessors
(D) provide a point of reference for subsequent scholarship on women's work during the agricultural revolution
(E) show the effect that the specialization introduced in the agricultural and industrial revolutions had on women's work


4. It can be inferred from the passage that women did work in

(A) American cheesemaking at some point prior to industrialization (定位:Their persistence in English cheese dairying contrasts with women's early disappearance from arable agriculture in southeast England and from American cheese dairying. 說明了 "early disappearance from... and... American cheese dairy; American cheese dairying最後消失了; 可以說明在industrialization之前存在)
(B) arable agriculture in northern England both before and after the agricultural revolution
(C) arable agriculture in southeast England after the agricultural revolution, in those locales in which cultural values supported their participation
(D) the sale of cheese at local markets in England even after the agricultural revolution
(E) some areas of American cheese dairying after industrialization




以上分析，還請有想法的人不吝分享，謝謝。