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市面上流传的GRE阅读机经真题有三百多篇，同时又存在多种版本的答案和解析，有些疑难题目让考生不知道听谁的，还有些版本的解析像是用谷歌翻译把同题目和选项翻译了一下。TD GRE教研组认为，GRE阅读的解析，可以讲得再清楚一点。 GRE不光有技巧，不光有快速解题法，GRE更加考察大家的逻辑硬实力，文字理解实打实的深度。良好的GRE备考应当在课堂上向老师学习快速解题法，取同取反逻辑的同时，课下扎扎实实的读懂每一句话。读懂，是一切技巧使用的前提。皮之不存，毛将焉附？有感于此，我们尝试用比较长的时间，原创一个解析，力求做到超详细，大白话，包你懂。往期GRE阅读真题详细解析?：GRE阅读Passage 解析，今天继续为大家推出GRE阅读Passage 21（长阅读）解析，这篇阅读一共有17句话，带4道题，TD版超详细「包你懂」系列对此篇文章进行了清楚地解析。

GRE阅读Passage 21

Received feminist wisdom has conceived of history as a male enclave devoid of woman subjects and practitioners, particularly before the twentieth century. As Ann For Freedom put it in 1972, “From Herodout’s to Will Durant’s histories, the main characters, the main viewpoints and interests, have all been male”. Feminist accounts of the 1970s and 1980s viewed historiography (the writing of history) as overwhelmingly his, coining the term herstory and presenting it as a compensatory feminist practice. Herstory designated women’s place at the center of an alternative narrative of past events. Rosalind Miles’s description restates the popular view: “Women’s history by contrast has only just begun to invent itself. Males gained entry to the business of recording, defining and interpreting events in the third millennium B.C.; for women, this process did not even begin until the nineteenth century”. The herstorical method provided a means for feminist historians to explore materials by and about women that had previously been neglected or ignored. Herstory promoted curricular transformation in schools and was used as a slogan on T- shirts, pencils, and buttons. Exposing historians tacit and intentional sexism, herstorians set out to correct the record–to show that women had held up half the historical sky. Despite the great scholarly gains made behind the rallying cry, herstory’s popular myth– particularly about the lack of women who have recorded history–require revision. Herstory may accurately describe feminists efforts to construct female- centered accounts of the past, but the term inadvertently blinds us to women’s important contributions to historical discourse before the nineteenth century. Historiography has not been an entirely male preserve, though feminists are justified in faulting its long-standing masculine contours. In fact, criticism of historiography’s sexism is not of recent origin. Early eighteenth-century feminist Mary Astell protested that the Men being the Historians, they seldom condescend to record the great and good actions of Women. Astell, like those who echoed her sentiments two and a half centuries later, must be credited for admirable zeal in setting out to right scholarly wrongs, but her supposition that historians were only male is inaccurate. Her perception is especially strange because she herself wrote a historical work, An Impartial Enquiry into the Cause of Rebellion and Civil War (1704). Astell’s judgment is at the same time understandable, given that much historical writing by women of the late seventeenth century was not published until the nineteenth century. Despite their courage and their rightful anger, Astell and her descendants overlooked early modern woman writer’s contributions to historiography.

文章解析

第一、第二句话：

第三、第四句话：

Feminist accounts of the 1970s and 1980s viewed historiography (the writing of history) as overwhelmingly his, coining the term herstory and presenting it as a compensatory feminist practice. Herstory designated women’s place at the center of an alternative narrative of past events. 白话版讲解： 一些女性主义者在1970和1980年代做了一些记述（accounts），认为（过去的）历史写作是完全属于男性的。她们造出了一个新词叫“herstory”，提倡女性来动手实践写历史书，作为对“history”的不良后果的抵消手段。“herstory”提倡女性也去动手写历史书、记叙过去的事情，同时还认为在女性写的历史（an alternative narrative）中，女性要居于中心位置（跟之前的全是男的写男的相反，要变成女的主要写女的）。

第五、第六句话：

Rosalind Miles’s description restates the popular view: “Women’s history by contrast has only just begun to invent itself. Males gained entry to the business of recording, defining and interpreting events in the third millennium B.C.; for women, this process did not even begin until the nineteenth century”. 白话版讲解： Rosalind Miles重述了这个流行的观点：“和男性相比，女性书写历史这种实践才刚刚开始（没多久）。男性公元前三千年开始就在干这行了；女性在19世纪才开始干这行”。

第七、第八、第九句话：

The herstorical method provided a means for feminist historians to explore materials by and about women that had previously been neglected or ignored. Herstory promoted curricular transformation in schools and was used as a slogan on T- shirts, pencils, and buttons. Exposing historians tacit and intentional sexism, herstorians set out to correct the record—to show that women had held up half the historical sky. 白话版讲解： 之前有一些女性写的历史资料和关于女性的历史资料都被历史学家有意或无意地忽略了（neglected or ignored）。（新提出来的）herstory这套理论，为女性主义历史学家提供了一种发现和探究这些资料的方法。Herestory促进学校里的课程发生了转变，有些短袖衫上、铅笔、纽扣上也印了“Herstory”字样，成了一种口号（slogan）。投身“herstory”的一些女性被称为“herstorian”，她们指出以前的historian都是些男的，他们写历史也故意只写男的（这种行为是一种不明说的性别歧视），并开始自己动手写女性的历史，证明女性实际在历史中顶了半边天（男性写的历史里没怎么提女性）。 注解： tacit adj.心照不宣的；不言而喻的；默示的 that is suggested indirectly or understood, rather than said in words

第十、第十一、第十二句话：

Despite the great scholarly gains made behind the rallying cry, herstory’s popular myth—particularly about the lack of women who have recorded history—require revision. Herstory may accurately describe feminists efforts to construct female- centered accounts of the past, but the term inadvertently blinds us to women’s important contributions to historical discourse before the nineteenth century. Historiography has not been an entirely male preserve, though feminists are justified in faulting its long-standing masculine contours. 白话版讲解： 在“herstory”这个口号背后取得了很重大的学术成果（指第五句话的，explore了很多女性写的、写女性的materials，这就是the great scholarly gains），但是herstory这个学派还是持有一个错误的观点（myth），就是herstory学派也认为参与记录历史的女性，确实匮乏。（也就是说，历史上曾经动手写历史书的女性，其实并不少。）herstory学派持有的这个myth，需要修正。“herstory”这个词，精确形容了当代女性主义者在努力写“她”的“故事”，“她”的“历史”。这些当代的女性主义者写历史（accounts of the past）时也开始转而以女性为中心。但是“herstory”这个词，没有体现在19世纪前，有些“她”参与了“写历史”，对历史做出了重要贡献（inadvertently blind us……无意使我们忽略了这一点）。当代的女性主义者对过去的历史书写提出指责，指责历史书写一直以来呈现出是一种男性的轮廓，这种指责是有道理的。但是，当代的女性主义者认为过去的历史书写完全是男性的preserve。这就错了，其实不完全是男性的preserve。 注解： rallying cry=war cry 号召人们参加某活动的口号 a slogan used especially to rally people to a cause 也就是说文章中的rallying cry就是前面提到的印到衣服和铅笔上的herstory这个slogan。 myth n. （普遍持有的）错误见解（或想法） a widely held but false belief or idea preserve n. （个人，群体的）专有活动场所 a sphere of activity regarded as being reserved for a particular person or group 例句： The civil service became the preserve of the educated middle class. 公务员职位成为受过教育的中等阶层专有之地。文章中的preserve和文章第一句话中的enclave的意思相近。

第十三、第十四、第十五句话：

In fact, criticism of historiography’s sexism is not of recent origin. Early eighteenth-century feminist Mary Astell protested that the Men being the Historians, they seldom condescend to record the great and good actions of Women. Astell, like those who echoed her sentiments two and a half centuries later, must be credited for admirable zeal in setting out to right scholarly wrongs, but her supposition that historians were only male is inaccurate. Her perception is especially strange because she herself wrote a historical work, An Impartial Enquiry into the Cause of Rebellion and Civil War (1704). 白话版讲解： 而且，对过去的历史书写中存在性别歧视提出批评，也不是最近（由当代的女性主义者）提出的。18世纪早期有个女性主义者叫Mary Astell，早就抗议了，说（当时的）历史学家都是些男的，他们在写历史书时都不愿屈尊记载女性做出的伟绩和善事。Mary Astell和比她晚250年、重复（echo）她的观点（sentiments）的人（指当代女性主义者）一样，想开始着手去纠正那种学术上的错误。首次带着巨大热情做这件事的功劳，应该被记在Mary Astell的名下（而不应当被记在后来者的名下）。但是Mary Astell有一个推测的想法（supposition），当时她认为历史学家（写历史书的人）都是男的。这个supposition是错误的。她有这种（错误的）看法（perception），其实蛮奇怪的。因为她自己就写了一本名字叫《论反叛和内战的起因》的历史书。（这就说明写历史书的人并不是全是男的嘛）。

第十六、第十七句话：

Astell’s judgment is at the same time understandable, given that much historical writing by women of the late seventeenth century was not published until the nineteenth century. Despite their courage and their rightful anger, Astell and her descendants overlooked early modern woman writer’s contributions to historiography. 白话版讲解： 不过，考虑到17世纪末很多女性虽然写了历史书但并没出版（直到19世纪才出版），Astell（有那样的错误的）观点又是可以理解的（因为没出版，所以她不知道有女性写了历史书，她能看到的历史书几乎全是男的写的）。Astell和她的后裔（指当代女性主义者），对男性主导历史书写提出批评的做法是很勇敢的，她们的愤怒也是正当的，但是她们都忽略了一件事：一些生活在early modern时代的女性作者对历史书写是做出了一些贡献的（这些女性作者动手写过历史书）。（读到这里，我们要推测出early modern时代，应该是指上一句话提到的17世纪末。） 注解： at the same time 另一方面；然而，不过，可是 on the other hand; nevertheless, yet

题目解析

1. It can be inferred that Rosalind Miles refers to the third millennium B.C. primarily in order to A. present an overview of what the practice of history once entailed. B. suggest that the origins of historical study are much earlier than had been previously thought. C. suggest why the third millennium B.C. has received so much attention from historians. D. establish a contrast between men and women in terms of how long they have been recording history. E. indicate how significantly the practice of history has changed since the third millennium B.C.. 本题答案：D

白话版讲解：

修辞目的题。问Rosalind Miles提到公元前三千年有什么修辞功能？文章是想说，男的很早就是干历史书写这一行了，女的很晚才开始干这一行。形成一种对比。所以D选项正确。 A“展现从事历史书写的实践的情况（男的很早就开始写书了，写历史书的全是男的）一度必然会导致（entail）的结果的概览” 这个选项本身比较难看懂，看不懂就无法排除，容易误选。看懂A选项的关键在于充分理解“entail”这个单词的意思。其实这个选项的意思就是说“写历史书的全是男的这种情况，必然会导致历史书里对女性充满歧视啊、全是男性视角、只以男的为subject等情况”。文章在此处提到公元前三千年，并不是为了介绍历史书里对女性充满歧视，全是男性视角，只以男的为subject这一情况，所以A选项错误。 注解： entail vt.必然导致 to make something necessary, or to involve something 例句： Such a large investment inevitably entails some risk. 这样的巨额投资必然会有一定的风险。 B“暗示其实人最早开始从事历史研究的时间比之前人们认为的时间要早得多” 文章这里不是这个目的，所以B选项错误。 C“暗示为什么公元前三千年获得历史学家如此多的关注” 文章这里不是这个目的，所以C选项错误。 E“暗示，自从公元前三世纪以来至今，从事历史书写的实践的情况，发生了多么巨大的变化” 意思是说，以前写历史书的全是男的，只写男的，现在情况大变，也有女的写了，也写女的了。文章这里不是这个目的，所以E选项错误。 2. It can be inferred from the passage that the term herstory A. was popular mainly in the nineteenth century. B. is an old term that feminist put to new uses. C. is controversial within the feminist community. D. is not especially useful to scholars. E. was invented to help make a particular point. 本题答案：E

白话版讲解：

因为根据文章，herstory这个term是1970年代和1980年代才被coin出来的，所以A选项和B选项错误。因为没有提到在女性主义者内部controversial，所以C选项错误。因为文章没有说“不是特别有用”，相反，在文章第七句话和第十句话，还说herstory给学者提供了一种方法，带来了great scholarly gains，所以D选项错误。 E“被发明是为了提出一个具体的point”，即提出一个观点，认为之前的都是history，history都被男人写男人的事，对女性有歧视，我们要搞herstory。 3. Mary Astell is discussed by the author as an example of an eighteenth-century feminist historian A. who was representative of the intellectual interests of the woman historians of her time. B. who inspired many practitioners of herstory in the twentieth century. C. who shared with modern herstorian’s a mistaken assumption regarding the writing of history. D. whose major work aroused much controversy at the time of its publication. E. whose major work still has not received the attention from scholars that it deserves. 本题答案：C

白话版讲解：

问文章作者把Mary Astell当成了一位什么样的18世纪女性主义历史学家的例子？ A“Mary Astell的智识兴趣代表了她那个年代的女性历史学家的智识兴趣” 文章没有提到，所以A选项错误。 B“Mary Astell鼓舞了很多在20世纪开始搞herstory的女性主义历史学家” 根据文章，20世纪70年代和80年代开始搞herstory的女性主义历史学家，其实是不知道Mary Astell的，还以为自己是率先批评history的人，所以不能说Mary Astell鼓舞了她们，B选项错误。 C“和一些现代历史学家一样，Mary Astell对于历史的书写，有一个错误的assumption”就是说Mary Astell认为历史全是男的写的，当代一些历史学家也认为历史全是男的写的。符合文章内容，所以C选项正确。选项中的assumption，对应文章中的supposition和myth。如果能看明白这一点，可以更快选出正确答案。 D“Mary Astell的主要作品一出版就引起了争议” 这一说法文章没有提到，所以D选项错误。 E“Mary Astell的著作迄今为止没有得到学者们应有的关注” 这个选项容易被误选。文章确实提到了Mary Astell对男性主导的history率先提出批评这个事，以前确实没有得到attention，但没有说她的主要作品到目前为止有没有得到attention。文章并没有对“目前”的情况做评论，所以E选项错误。 4. The author implies which of the following about Astell’s supposition? A. It is likely to have arisen because of Astell’s unawareness of much of the historical work written by women. B. It was one that Astell reconsidered after she wrote her own historical work. C. It was one that was not shared by other feminist historians of Astell’s time. D. It was one that inspired Astell to write her own historical work. E. It directly contradicts one of the basic claims of herstory. 本题答案：A

白话版讲解：

问下列关于Astell的supposition的说法，哪个是文章作者暗示了的？ A“因为很多女性写的历史书，Astell并没有看到，所以她才有了那样的supposition” 根据文章第十六句话，A选项正确。 B“Astell自己写了一本历史书后，就重新考虑那个supposition了（reconsider指重新考虑一个看法或决定，有点像改变了）” C“Astell那个时代的其他女性主义历史学家没有那样的supposition” D“因为有了那样的supposition，Astell得到了激励，才自己写了一本历史书” B、C、D都是文章没有提到的，都是无中生有，所以这三个选项错误。 E“那个supposition和Herstory流派理论中的一个基本论点相矛盾” Astell的supposition和Herstory流派所持的一个myth是相同的。所以E选项错误。