Among many historians a belief persists that Cotton Mather’s biographies of some of the settlers of the Massachusetts Bay Colony (published 1702) are exercises in hagiography, endowing their subjects with saintly piety at the expense of historical accuracy. Yet modern studies have profited both from the breadth of information that Mather provides in, for example, his discussions of colonial medicine and from his critical observations of such leading figures as Governor John Winthrop. Mather’s wry humor as demonstrated by his detailed descriptions of events such as Winthrop’s efforts to prevent wood-stealing is overlooked by those charging Mather with presenting his subjects as extremely pious. The charge also obscures Mather’s concern with the settlers’ material, not just spiritual, prosperity. Further, this pejorative view underrates the biographies’ value as chronicles: Mather amassed all sorts of published and unpublished documents as sources, and his selection of key events shows a marked sensitivity to the nature of the colony’s development.
文章解析
第一句话：
Among many historians a belief persists that Cotton Mather’s biographies of some of the settlers of the Massachusetts Bay Colony (published 1702) are exercises in hagiography, endowing their subjects with saintly piety at the expense of historical accuracy.
白话版讲解：
有个叫Cotton Mather的人，在1702年出版了很多传记，给一些在马萨诸塞湾殖民地定居的拓荒者立传。很多历史学家都一直有这样一种看法，即Cotton Mather出的这些传记是有违历史真实的，把传主理想化了，把他们写得像圣徒一样虔诚。
第二句话：
Yet modern studies have profited both from the breadth of information that Mather provides in, for example, his discussions of colonial medicine and from his critical observations of such leading figures as Governor John Winthrop.
白话版讲解：
Mather的传记作品提供的信息很广很丰富（比如对殖民地医疗情况的详述），又对一些重要人物（如John Winthrop总督）给出了critical的观察。这两点都让一些现代（历史）研究受益了。
critical在这里的意思是“进行认真审慎的判断的”（exercising or involving careful judgment or judicious evaluation），即看一个事物既看正面也看反面。现在中文中流行的“批判性思维”就是从英语的“critical thinking”翻译过来的，把critical翻译成“批判的”不是很合适，但勉强可以。具体在本句话中，就是说“Mather对一些重要人物是既看正面也看反面的，不是只写他们有多虔诚”。
注解：
discussion n. 详述（a detailed treatment of a particular topic in speech or writing）
第三句话：
Mather’s wry humor as demonstrated by his detailed descriptions of events such as Winthrop’s efforts to prevent wood-stealing is overlooked by those charging Mather with presenting his subjects as extremely pious.
白话版讲解：
Mather对一些事件（比如Winthrop想办法防止偷盗木材的事）的详述，证明了Mather写的东西里面是有一种挖苦的幽默风格的。那些指责Mather老是把人物（拔高）写得极其虔诚的人，忽视了Mather作品中的讽刺幽默。
第四句话：
The charge also obscures Mather’s concern with the settlers’ material, not just spiritual, prosperity.
白话版讲解：
那些人对Mather的指责（说Mather只注重写精神上的pious这件事），这掩盖了一点：Mather写作时其实挺关注拓荒者的物质繁荣，而并不是只关注他们的精神繁荣。
第五句话：
Further, this pejorative view underrates the biographies’ value as chronicles: Mather amassed all sorts of published and unpublished documents as sources, and his selection of key events shows a marked sensitivity to the nature of the colony’s development.
白话版讲解：
此外，对Mather作品的那种贬损的看法低估了Mather那些传记作为一种（记录来了历史事件）的编年史史书的价值。Mather（写作时）收集了各种出版了的和未出版的文件当成自己写作的参考资源；他在作品中提到一些事件，不提一些事件，显示他对殖民地发展情况的本质是非常敏感的。（Mather搜集到的信息数量多；Mather很懂殖民地发展的nature，所以他收集的资源的nature也好。）
有同学把this pejorative view underrates the biographies’ value as chronicles错误理解成“这种贬损的看法把Mather的传记贬低为chronicles”，这里我们再讲得明白一些，作者的观点是：Mather的这些人物传记，当然是一种纪传体的史书，但是这些人物传记里记了很多events，所以即使把这些人物传记当成是chronicles（编年体史书）看，也有一定价值。那些贬低Mather的人，低估了这种价值。
历史书有三种体裁：《史记》、《汉书》等二十四史，全部是“纪传体史书”。纪传体史书的主体部分是人物传记，里面会提到event，但是重点在写人。《资治通鉴》是编年体，主要按年份来讲清楚每一年发生了什么事。《明史纪事本末》是“纪事本末体”，重点在讲清楚一件事的来龙去脉。
题目解析
1. The primary purpose of the passage is to
A.argue against a theory universally accepted by historical researchers.
B.call attention to an unusual approach to documenting a historical era.
C.summarize research on a specific historical figure.
D.counter a particular view about the work of a biographer.
E.point out subtle differences among controversial historical reports.
本题答案：D
白话版解析：
题目问全文的修辞功能。
我们回顾一下全文，第一句话说了一个belief，第二句话到第五句话说这种belief错了，并详细说了一下这种belief错在哪几个方面了。这道题有同学可能想选A，但是A选项的universally表示“by everyone”，那么universally accepted就是accepted by everyone，这不符合原文第一句话说的among many historians，因为many historians不能代表every historian。
2. The author of the passage implies that an argument for the historical accuracy of Mather’s works is most strongly supported by which of the following?
A.surviving documents that corroborate Mather’s detailed descriptions of his subjects
B.Mather’s firsthand personal acquaintance with those about whom he wrote
C.Mather’s frank and straightforward accounts of the lives and times of people about whom he had conducted extensive research
D.Mather’s ability to detail important historical events in the religious context of which they were a part
E.the quantity and nature of the sources from which Mather obtained his information.
本题答案：E
白话版讲解：
题目问哪一选项的说法可以支持“Mather作品具备历史精确性”这一论点？
根据第二句话中的the breadth of information及第五句话，可选出正确答案。
3. Information in the passage best supports which of the following statements about Mather’s biographies of the settlers of the Massachusetts Bay Colony?
A. Annals written by Mather and others were censored by later historians, thus detracting from their value as full and accurate accounts of the period.
B. Mather’s description of Governor Winthrop includes all of Winthrop’s shortcomings, such as a tendency toward levity at inappropriate times.
C. Mather’s descriptions of the Massachusetts Bay colonists were based primarily on firsthand experiences.
D. Many historians believe that Mather’s biographies are poor sources of historical information because biography is an inherently unreliable genre of historical writing.
E. Mather’s writings reflect an interest in the degree of economic success achieved by early Massachusetts Bay colonists.
本题答案：E
白话版讲解：
细节题。A选项censored by later historians（被审查删改），B选项levity at inappropriate times（不该诙谐的时候诙谐），C选项firsthand experiences（第一手的经验），D选项biography is an inherently unreliable genre of historical writing（传记本来就是一种不可靠的历史写作体裁），这四个选项错误明显，比较好排除。E选项的an interest in the degree of economic success对应第四句话的“the settlers’ material, not just spiritual, prosperity.”所以E为正确选项。”
4. It can be inferred from the passage that many historians believe that Mather’s biographies primarily
A. disclose important historical data from the settlers’ private diaries.
B. glorify the early colonists of the Massachusetts Bay Colony.
C. provide a fuller picture of the multifaceted characters of such historical figures as John Winthrop.
D. indicate the salutary effects of the settlers’ religious practices on colonial life.
E. reveal that the settlers considered their lives to be similar to those of the saints.
本题答案：B
白话版讲解：
细节题。A选项的the settlers’ private diaries，C选项的a fuller picture of the multifaceted characters（暗示以前不够full，现在才full），D选项“宗教活动对殖民地生活的有益效果”，E选项的“拓荒者自己觉得自己的人生和圣徒的人生相似”，都是文章没有提到的。
文章第一句话中的hagiography的意思是“将传主理想化（或偶像化）的传记”a biography idealizing its subject”，本题B选项glorify the early colonists可以和这个单词对应，因为the early colonists就是Mather写的传记的subjects。所以选B。
