In 1896 a Georgia couple suing for damages in the accidental death of their two-year-old was told that since the child had made no real economic contribution to the family, there was no liability for damages. In contrast, less than a century later, in 1979, the parents of a three-year-old sued in New York for accidental-death damages and won an award of $750, 000.
The transformation in social values implicit in juxtaposing these two incidents is the subject of Viviana Zelizer’s excellent book, Pricing the Priceless Child. During the nineteenth century, she argues, the concept of the “useful” child who contributed to the family economy gave way gradually to the present-day notion of the “useless” child who, though producing no income for, and indeed extremely costly to, its parents, is yet considered emotionally “priceless”. Well established among segments of the middle and upper classes by the mid-1800’s. This new view of childhood spread throughout society in the late-nineteenth and early-twentieth centuries as reformers introduced child-labor regulations and compulsory education laws predicated in part on the assumption that a child’s emotional value made child labor taboo.
For Zelizer the origins of this transformation were many and complex. The gradual erosion of children’s productive value in a maturing industrial economy, the decline in birth and death rates, especially in child mortality, and the development of the companionate family (a family in which members were united by explicit bonds of love rather than duty) were all factors critical in changing the assessment of children’s worth. Yet, expulsion of children from the “cash nexus, ... although clearly shaped by profound changes in the economic, occupational, and family structures,” Zelizer maintains, “was also part of a cultural process ‘of sacralization’ of children’s lives.” Protecting children from the crass business world became enormously important for late-nineteenth-century middle-class Americans, she suggests; this sacralization was a way of resisting what they perceived as the relentless corruption of human values by the marketplace.
In stressing the cultural determinants of a child’s worth, Zelizer takes issue with practitioners of the new “sociological economics”, who have analyzed such traditionally sociological topics as crime, marriage, education, and health solely in terms of their economic determinants. Allowing only a small role for cultural forces in the form of individual “preferences”, these sociologists tend to view all human behavior as directed primarily by the principle of maximizing economic gain. Zelizer is highly critical of this approach, and emphasizes instead the opposite phenomenon: the power of social values to transform price. As children became more valuable in emotional terms, she argues, their “exchange” or “surrender” value on the market, that is, the conversion of their intangible worth into cash terms, became much greater.
1.It can be inferred from the passage that accidental-death damage awards in America during the nineteenth century tended to be based principally on the（ ）.
2.It can be inferred from the passage that in the early 1800s children were generally regarded by their families as individuals who（ ）.
3.Which of the following alternative explanations of the change in the cash value of children would be most likely to be put forward by sociological economists as they are described in the passage?
4.The primary purpose of the passage is to（ ）.
5.Zelizer refers to all of the following as important influences in changing the assessment of children’s worth except changes in（ ）.
问题1选项
A.earnings of the person at time of death
B.wealth of the party causing the death
C.degree of culpability of the party causing the death
D.amount of money that had been spent on the person killed
问题2选项
A.needed enormous amounts of security and affection
B.required constant supervision while working
C.were important to the economic well-being of a family
D.were unsuited to spending long hours in school
问题3选项
A.The cash value of children rose during the nineteenth century because parents began to increase their emotional investment in the upbringing of their children.
B.The cash value of children rose during the nineteenth century because their expected earnings over the course of a lifetime increased greatly.
C.The cash value of children rose during the nineteenth century because the spread of humanitarian ideals resulted in a wholesale reappraisal of the worth of an individual.
D.The cash value of children rose during the nineteenth century because compulsory education laws reduced the supply, and thus raised the costs, of available child labor.
问题4选项
A.review the literature in a new academic subfield
B.present the central thesis of a recent book
C.contrast two approaches to analyze historical change
D.refute a traditional explanation of a social phenomenon
问题5选项
A.the mortality rate
B.the nature of industry
C.the nature of the family
D.attitudes toward reform movements
第1题:A
第2题:C
第3题:B
第4题:B
第5题:D
第1题:
【选项释义】
It can be inferred from the passage that accidental-death damage awards in America during the nineteenth century tended to be based principally on the ______. 从文中可以推断出，19世纪美国的意外死亡损害赔偿往往主要基于______。
A. earnings of the person at time of death A. 死者死亡时的收入
B. wealth of the party causing the death B. 造成死亡的一方的财富
C. degree of culpability of the party causing the death C. 致人死亡一方的罪责程度
D. amount of money that had been spent on the person killed D. 花在死者身上的钱
【考查点】推理判断题。
【解题思路】根据题干信息可定位到原文第一段第一句“1896年，佐治亚州一对夫妇因两岁的孩子意外死亡而要求赔偿，被告知由于孩子对家庭没有实际经济贡献，因此不承担赔偿责任。”（In 1896 a Georgia couple suing for damages in the accidental death of their two-year-old was told that since the child had made no real economic contribution to the family, there was no liability for damages.）提到其父母没有得到赔偿因为是小孩没有给家里创收。所以可以推断，19世纪意外死亡的赔偿是根据人能否创造经济价值来决定的，所以正确答案为A选项。
【干扰项排除】
B、C、D选项原文均未提及，属于无中生有。
第2题:
【选项释义】
It can be inferred from the passage that in the early 1800s children were generally regarded by their families as individuals who ______. 从文章中可以推断出，在19世纪早期的孩子们通常被他们的家庭视为______的人。
A. needed enormous amounts of security and affection A. 需要极大的安全感和关爱
B. required constant supervision while working B. 工作时需要不断的监督
C. were important to the economic well-being of a family C. 对家庭的经济福祉很重要
D. were unsuited to spending long hours in school D. 不适合在学校花很长时间
【考查点】推理判断题。
【解题思路】根据题干关键词19世纪早期可定位到原文第一段第一句“1896年，佐治亚州一对夫妇因两岁的孩子意外死亡而要求赔偿，被告知由于孩子对家庭没有实际经济贡献，因此不承担赔偿责任。”（In 1896 a Georgia couple suing for damages in the accidental death of their two-year-old was told that since the child had made no real economic contribution to the family, there was no liability for damages.），文中的1800’s与第一段的1896对应，所以19世纪早期注重的是孩子的经济价值，所以正确答案为C选项。
【干扰项排除】
A、B、D选项均不属于19世纪早期对于孩子的描述。
第3题:
【选项释义】
Which of the following alternative explanations of the change in the cash value of children would be most likely to be put forward by sociological economists as they are described in the passage? 正如本文所述，社会学经济学家最有可能对儿童现金价值的变化提出以下哪种解释？
A. The cash value of children rose during the nineteenth century because parents began to increase their emotional investment in the upbringing of their children. A. 在19世纪，儿童的现金价值上升了，因为父母开始增加他们在养育孩子方面的情感投资。
B. The cash value of children rose during the nineteenth century because their expected earnings over the course of a lifetime increased greatly. B. 儿童的现金价值在19世纪上升了，因为他们一生的预期收入大大增加了。
C. The cash value of children rose during the nineteenth century because the spread of humanitarian ideals resulted in a wholesale reappraisal of the worth of an individual. C. 儿童的现金价值在19世纪上升了，因为人道主义理想的传播导致了对个人价值的全面重新评估。
D. The cash value of children rose during the nineteenth century because compulsory education laws reduced the supply, and thus raised the costs, of available child labor. D. 19世纪儿童的现金价值上升，因为义务教育法律减少了可用童工的供应，从而提高了成本。
【考查点】推理判断题。
【解题思路】根据题干信息可定位到原文最后一段第二句“这些社会学家倾向于将所有人类行为视为主要以经济利益最大化原则为指导。”（these sociologists tend to view all human behavior as directed primarily by the principle of maximizing economic gain.）提到所谓的社会经济学家认为人的一切社会活动都是把金钱放在最重要的地位，所以正确答案为B选项。
【干扰项排除】
A选项对应原文第二段第二句“尽管‘无用’的孩子没有为父母创造收入，而且确实为父母付出了巨大的代价，但在情感上却被认为是‘无价的’。”，是Viviana Zelizer的观点，属于张冠李戴；
C选项原文未提及，属于无中生有；
D选项对应原文第二段最后一句“19世纪末和20世纪初，随着改革者引入童工条例和义务教育法，这种对儿童的新观点在整个社会中传播开来，这在一定程度上是基于儿童的情感价值使童工成为禁忌的假设。”（This new view of childhood spread throughout society in the late-nineteenth and early-twentieth centuries as reformers introduced child-labor regulations and compulsory education laws predicated in part on the assumption that a child’s emotional value made child labor taboo.），也不是社会学经济学家的观点，属于张冠李戴。
第4题:
【选项释义】
The primary purpose of the passage is to ______. 这篇文章的主要目的是______。
A. review the literature in a new academic subfield A. 回顾一个新的学术分支领域的文献
B. present the central thesis of a recent book B. 提出最近一本书的中心论点
C. contrast two approaches to analyze historical change C. 对比分析历史变化的两种方法
D. refute a traditional explanation of a social phenomenon D. 驳斥对社会现象的传统解释
【考查点】主旨大意题。
【解题思路】根据题干信息可定位到原文第二段第一句“维维安娜•泽利泽的优秀著作《为无价儿童定价》的主题是将这两起事件并列在一起所隐含的社会价值观的转变。”（The transformation in social values implicit in juxtaposing these two incidents is the subject of Viviana Zelizer’s excellent book, Pricing the Priceless Child.）第四段第一句“在强调儿童价值的文化决定因素时，泽利泽与新‘社会学经济学’的实践者产生了分歧，他们只从经济决定因素的角度分析了犯罪、婚姻、教育和健康等传统社会学话题。”（In stressing the cultural determinants of a child’s worth, Zelizer takes issue with practitioners of the new “sociological economics”, who have analyzed such traditionally sociological topics as crime, marriage, education, and health solely in terms of their economic determinants.）可知文章主要在讲述Viviana Zelizer的Pricing the Priceless Child这本书，所以正确答案为B选项。
【干扰项排除】
A选项原文未提到a new academic subfield，属于无中生有；
C选项文章没有通过对比来分析历史，属于无中生有；
D选项作者并没有表明对社会现象的传统解释的态度，属于无中生有。
第5题:
【选项释义】
Zelizer refers to all of the following as important influences in changing the assessment of children’s worth except changes in ______. 泽利泽提到，除了______的变化外，以下所有因素都是改变儿童价值评估的重要影响因素。
A. the mortality rate A. 死亡率
B. the nature of industry B. 工业的本质
C. the nature of the family C. 家庭的性质
D. attitudes toward reform movements D. 对改革运动的态度
【考查点】事实细节题。
【解题思路】根据题干信息可定位到原文第三段第二句“在成熟的工业经济中，儿童的生产价值逐渐被侵蚀，出生率和死亡率的下降，特别是儿童死亡率的下降以及陪伴家庭的发展（一个家庭中的成员通过明确的爱而不是责任的纽带团结在一起）都是改变儿童价值评估的关键因素”（The gradual erosion of children’s productive value in a maturing industrial economy, the decline in birth and death rates, especially in child mortality, and the development of the companionate family (a family in which members were united by explicit bonds of love rather than duty) were all factors critical in changing the assessment of children’s worth），其中提到影响儿童价值的因素包括：成熟的工业体系导致童工的比重下降，出生率、死亡率尤其是儿童的死亡率下降，家庭成员间的关系。文章没有提到对改革运动的态度，所以正确答案为D选项。
【干扰项排除】
A、B、C选项均对应原文第三段第二句“在成熟的工业经济中，儿童的生产价值逐渐被侵蚀，出生率和死亡率的下降，特别是儿童死亡率的下降以及陪伴家庭的发展（一个家庭中的成员通过明确的爱而不是责任的纽带团结在一起）都是改变儿童价值评估的关键因素”（The gradual erosion of children’s productive value…of children’s worth），属于反向干扰。
