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发布时间：2006-06-22 13:30     点击：

    (D) an indignant denial

    (E) a dogmatic explanation

    In large part as a consequence of the feminist move- ment, historians have focused a great deal of attention in recent years on determining more accurately the status of women in various periods. Although much has been accomplished for the modern period, premodern cultures have proved more difficult: sources are restricted in number, fragmentary, difficult to interpret, and often contradictory. Thus it is not particularly surprising that some earlier scholarship concerning such cultures has so far gone unchallenged. An example is Johann Bachofen's 1861 treatise on Amazons, women-ruled societies of questionable existence contemporary with ancient Greece.

    Starting from the premise that mythology and legend preserve at least a nucleus of historical fact, Bachofen argued that women were dominant in many ancient soci- eties. His work was based on a comprehensive survey of references in the ancient sources to Amazonian and other societies with matrilineal customs-societies in which descent and property rights are traced through the female line. Some support for his theory can be found in evidence such as that drawn from Herodotus, the Greek "historian" of the fifth century B. C., who speaks of an Amazonian society, the Sauromatae, where the women hunted and fought in wars. A woman in this society was not allowed to marry until she had killed a person in battle.

    21. The primary purpose of the passage is to

    (A) compare competing new approaches to understanding the role of women in ancient societies

    (B) investigate the ramifications of Bachofen's theory about the dominance of women in ancient societies

    (C) explain the burgeoning interest among historians in determining the actual status of women in various societies

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