2015吉林大學考博英語真題閱讀理解精練

2015吉林大學考博英語真題閱讀理解精練
Bernard Bailyn has recently reinterpreted the early history of the
United States by applying new social research findings on the
experiences of European migrants. In his reinterpretation, migration
becomes the organizing principle for rewriting the history of
preindustrial North America. His approach rests on four separate
propositions.
The first of these asserts that residents of early modern England
moved regularly about their countryside; migrating to the New World
was simply a “natural spillover”. Although at first the colonies
held little positive attraction for the English — they would rather
have stayed home — by the eighteenth century people increasingly
migrated to America because they regarded it as the land of
opportunity. Secondly, Bailyn holds that, contrary to the notion that
used to flourish in America history textbooks, there was never a
typical New World community. For example, the economic and
demographic character of early New England towns varied considerably.
Bailyn’s third proposition suggest two general patterns
prevailing among the many thousands of migrants: one group came as
indentured servants, another came to acquire land. Surprisingly,
Bailyn suggests that those who recruited indentured servants were the
driving forces of transatlantic migration. These colonial
entrepreneurs helped determine the social character of people who
came to preindustrial North America. At first, thousands of unskilled

laborers were recruited; by the 1730’s, however, American employers
demanded skilled artisans.
Finally, Bailyn argues that the colonies were a half-civilized
hinterland of the European culture system. He is undoubtedly correct