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  3. This year marked the 50th anniversary of the publication of EP Thompson’s The Making of the English Working Class, which revolut

This year marked the 50th anniversary of the publication of EP Thompson’s The Making of the English Working Class, which revolut

admin2022-09-18  25
问题     This year marked the 50th anniversary of the publication of EP Thompson’s The Making of the English Working Class, which revolutionized the study of history. Until then, history had been mainly about the powerful—the ruling order of kings and queens, aristocrats, industrialists, soldiers, politicians and landowners—and the interpretation of the world through their culture and belief systems.
    With Thompson’s book, this was turned upside down—"history from below" was a new way of seeing the world through the eyes of the new rising working class of the early 19th century and the movements and ideas that it and its allies created. He sought "to rescue the poor stockinger, the Luddite cropper, the ’obsolete’ (被淘汰的) hand-loom weaver, the ’Utopian’ artisan, and even the easy-cheated follower of Joanna Southcott, from the enormous arrogance of offspring".
    This approach to history is now under attack from the theorist of the new right and from coalition education ministers. But why does this matter? There are at least two reasons why this issue has direct relevance.
    First, the current dominance of neoliberal (新自由主义者) , elitist ideology threatens to create a culturally totalitatian (极乐主义) Orwellian society with no space for alternative conceptions. The gap between the rich and powerful and the rest is accompanied by a similar gulf in political perceptions. The result is that the political process becomes more and more discredited. This closing down of the discussion of alternative analyses is exemplified by the revolt of economics students against being taught exclusively the neoclassical orthodoxies, and their demands that alternative theories—those of Marx, Adam Smith and Keynes—should be included in their curriculums.
    Second, Thompson showed how fundamental social and political change came from movements of the "common people". He had little time for political parties and their bureaucratized processes, still less for the belief that history was predetermined: he believed in the human agency of ordinary people making their own history. As he put it, "The working class did not rise like the sun at an appointed time. It was present at its own making." In this sense, his position prefigures the non-aligned progressive left of the early 21st century—exemplified by the Greens, the Occupy movement, UK Uncut, and the opposition to the renewal of Trident.
    The consequences of forgetting these lessons would be profound. Political disillusionment and alienation may increase. A vacuum in democratic politics is likely to lead to the rise of the populist, xenophobic (恐惧外国人的) right, as can be seen in the current politics of both the UK and other European societies. The stakes could hardly be higher.
Why did Thompson seek "to rescue the poor stockinger…offspring" (Line 4, Para. 2)?
选项 A、Because they lived in poor and miserable conditions.
B、Because they were oppressed by the ruling class.
C、Because they actually created history but no one valued them.
D、Because they made terrible products and no one liked them.
答案C
解析 推断题。根据题干中的rescue the poor stockinger可定位到原文第二段第二句。该句提到汤普森要将织袜工等这些人从后人的无比傲慢中拯救出来。本题的关键是理解“后人的傲慢”，第五段第二句提到“他相信大众创造自己的历史”，可见汤普森认为后人并没有认可这些工人阶层，可知C选项符合题意，故选C。
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