Read the following passage and mark the letter A, B, C, or D on your answer sheet to indicate the correct answer to each of the following questions.
During the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, almost nothing was written about the contributions of women during the colonial period and the early history of the newly formed United States. Lacking the right to vote and absence from the seats of power, women were not considered an important force in history. Anne Bradstreet wrote some significant poetry in the seventeenth century, Mercy Otis Warren produced the best contemporary history of the American Revolution, and Abigail Adams penned important letters showing she exercised great political influence over her husband, John, the second President of the United States. But little or no notice was taken of these contributions. During these centuries, women remained invisible in history books.
Throughout the nineteenth century, this lack of visibility continued, despite the efforts of female authors writing about women. These writers, like most of their male counterparts, were amateur historians. Their writings were celebratory in nature, and they were uncritical in their selection and use of sources.
During the nineteenth century, however, certain feminists showed a keen sense of history by keeping records of activities in which women were engaged. National, regional, and local women’s organizations compiled accounts of their doings. Personal correspondence, newspaper clippings, and souvenirs were saved and stored. These sources came from the core of the two greatest collections of women’s history in the United
States - one at the Elizabeth and Arthur Schlesinger Library at Radcliffe College, and the other the Sophia Smith Collection at Smith College. Such sources have provided valuable materials for later Generations of historians.
Despite the gathering of more information about ordinary women during the nineteenth century, most of the writing about women conformed to the “great women” theory of history, just as much of mainstream American history concentrated on “great men.” To demonstrate that women were making significant contributions to American life, female authors singled out women leaders and wrote biographies, or else important women produced their autobiographies. Most of these leaders were involved in public life as reformers, activists working for women’s right to vote, or authors, and were not representative at all of the great of ordinary woman. The lives of ordinary people continued, generally, to be untold in the American histories being published.
What does the passage mainly discuss?
A. The keen sense of history shown by American women
B. The “great women” approach to history used by American historians
C. The role of literature in early American histories
D. The place of American women in written histories
- birth and early life: (sinh ra và cuộc sống lúc đầu)
1820: born in Florence, Italy
(1820: sinh ra ở Florence, Ý)
grew up in England with parents and older sister, Parthenope
(lớn lên ở Anh với cha mẹ và chị gái, Parthenope)
- later life: (cuộc sống lúc sau)
1844: studied nursing in Germany and later went to work in a hospital in London
(1844: học y tá ở Đức và sau đó đi làm việc trong một bệnh viện ở London)
1854: went to the military hospital at Scutari, Turkey.
(1854: đến bệnh viện quân sự tại Scutari, Thổ Nhĩ Kỳ.)
• went with 38 women
(đi cùng 38 phụ nữ)
• cleaned hospital and improved conditions for wounded soldiers
(bệnh viện được dọn dẹp và cải thiện điều kiện cho thương binh)
• death rate dropped from 60% to 2% within six months
(tỷ lệ tử vong giảm từ 60% xuống 2% trong vòng sáu tháng)
- later achievements and death: (thành tựu sau này và sự qua đời)
1855: given an award and a piece of jewelry by Queen Victoria
(1855: Nữ hoàng Victoria trao giải thưởng và một món đồ trang sức)
1859: wrote Notes on Nursing
(1859: viết Ghi chú về điều dưỡng)
1860: opened St. Thomas' Hospital
(1860: mở bệnh viện St. Thomas)
started the Nightingale Training School for Nurses
(thành lập Trường đào tạo Y tá Nightingale)
1868: opened Women's Medical College
(1868: mở trường Cao đẳng Y tế Nữ)
1908: given the merit of honor by King Edward VII
(1908: được Vua Edward VII tặng bằng khen)
1910: died at home in London
(1910: mất tại nhà ở London)