Essay #11.
Current feminist theory, invalidating women's own stories of their experience, has encouraged scholars ofwomen's history to view the use of women's oral narratives as the methodology,next to the use of women's written autobiography, that brings historiansclosest to the "reality" of women's lives. Such narratives, unlike most standardhistories, represent experience from the perspective of women, affirm theimportance of women's contributions, and furnish present-day women withhistorical continuity that is essential to their identity, individually andcollectively.
Scholars of women's history should,however, be as cautious about accepting oral narratives at face value as theyalready are about written memories. Oralnarratives are no more likely than are written narratives to provide adisinterested commentary on events or people. Moreover, the stories people tell to explain themselves are shaped bynarrative devices and storytelling conventions, as well as by other culturaland historical factors, in ways that the storytellers may be unaware of. The political rhetoric of a particular era,for example, may influence women's interpretations of the significance of theirexperience. Thus a woman who views theSecond World War as pivotal in increasing the social acceptance of women's paidwork outside the home may reach that conclusion partly and unwittingly becauseof wartime rhetoric encouraging a positive view of women's participation insuch work.
Question #38. 218-05 (23025-!-item-!-188;#058&000218-05)
According to the passage, scholarsof women's history should refrain from doing which of the following?
(A) Relying on traditionalhistorical sources when women's oral narratives are unavailable
(B) Focusing on the influence ofpolitical rhetoric on women's perceptions to the exclusion of other equallyimportant factors
(C) Attempting to discover thecultural and historical factors that influence the stories women tell
(D) Assuming that the conventionsof women's written autobiographies are similar to the conventions of women'soral narratives 我选的这个，不是上文划线部分说了口述时的convention会影响到口述内容，因此我认为假设口述和自传的convention相同是错的。
(E) Accepting women's oralnarratives less critically than they accept women's written histories 这个是正确答案，但是没有在文中找到相应的话。less critically than 的意思是接受口述时要求不如笔述苛刻，我觉得也是错的，但不知文中有否提到。
谢谢~~
| 
