passage 2 (Q15-Q18)
In her account account of unmarried
women’s experiences in colonial
Philadelphia, Wulf argues that edu-
Line cated young women, particularly
(5) Quakers, engaged in resistance to
patriarchal marriage by exchanging
poetry critical of marriage, copying
verse into their commonplace
books. Wulf suggests that this
(10) critique circulated beyond the
daughters of the Quaker elite
and middle class, whose com-
monplace books she mines,
proposing that Quaker shools
(15) brought it to many poor female
students of diverse backgrounds.
Here Wulf probably overstates
Quaker schools’ impact. At least
three years’ study would be
(20) necessary to achieve the literacy
competence necessary to grapple
with the material she analyzes.
In 1765, the year Wulf uses to
demonstrate the diversity of
(25) Philadelphia’s Quaker schools,
128 students enrolled in these
schools. Refining Wulf’s numbers
by the information she provides
on religious affiliation, gender, and
(30) length of study, it appears that only
about 17 poor non-quaker girls
were educated in Philadelphia’s
Quaker schools for three years or
longer. While Wulf is correct that
(35) a critique of patriarchal marriage
circulated broadly, Quaker schools
probably cannot be credited with
instilling these ideas in the lower
classes. Popular literary satires
(40) on marriage had already landed
on fertile ground in a multiethnic
population that embodied a wide
range of marital beliefs and
practices. These ethnic- and
(45) class-based traditions them-
selves challenged the legitimacy
of patriarchal marriage.
GWD 21-18
Which of the following, if true, would most seriously undermine the author’s basis for saying that Wulf overstates Quaker schools’ impact (line 17-18) ?
A. The information that Wulf herself provided on religious affiliation and gender of students is in fact accurate.
B. Most poor, non-Quaker students enrolled in Quaker schools had completed one or two years’ formal or informal schooling before enrolling.
C. Not all of the young women whose commonplace books contained copies of poetry critical of marriage were Quakers.
D. The poetry featured in young women’s commonplace books frequently included allusions that were unlikely to be accessible to someone with only three years’ study in school. (B)
E. In 1765 an unusually large proportion of the Quaker schools’ student body consisted of poor girls from non-Quaker backgrounds.
想不出B选项如何WEAKEN了作者的BASIC了.请指教 | 
