清華大學（後西醫）
111年
英文
第 40 題
📖 題組：
Reading 4
In analyzing the representation of white ethnic groups, it has been customary to use a framework I term responsive pluralism, which emphasizes the response of political elites to newly mobilized political forces that are demanding recognition. A key tenet of responsive pluralism is that all votes are equal and fungible. In other words, political elites---those with power---will entertain the possibility of a coalition with any group that possesses votes. In return for these votes, the elites will make available a stream of public goods in the form of patronage, symbolic recognition, and social services.
But for minorities, the situation is more complex and considerably less flattering to America’s preferred conception of its political traditions. Simply put, minorities have often faced constraints on their participation in the American polity due to their social and legal status. This situation has resulted in what I term stratified pluralism. As members of racial or other categories, they have often been defined out of the realm of full citizenship as it is usually understood in a democracy.
Blacks in particular could not vote for a long time so candidacies for office were not feasible. It was not until the democratic rights of citizenship were formally recognized by the polity that racial minorities could even compete as players in the electoral arena. Moreover, racism further hampered minority advancement even after the vote had been granted. In some cases, white voters simply refused to vote for minority candidates; in others, the elites themselves made it clear that they wished to limit or prevent minority representation. Minority votes were considered less desirable than white votes, and they were therefore less fungible as a commodity to be exchanged for public goods. Minorities were often incorporated into a dominant coalition only if a race-oriented agenda was abandoned by the minority leaders. As a consequence of stratified pluralism, widespread and efficacious minority officeholding has been the exception rather than the rule in U.S. history.
A group trying to elect representatives to office must use the electoral process to convert its demographic raw materials into positions of authority in government: in effect, the group tries to translate numbers into power. There is nothing automatic or mechanical about this process of conversion. It is conditioned by at least five distinct factors, each of which can intervene to prevent a group from being represented in office in relation to its proportion of the population: enfranchisement, mobilization, spatial concentration, favorable districts, and coalitions.
Reading 4
In analyzing the representation of white ethnic groups, it has been customary to use a framework I term responsive pluralism, which emphasizes the response of political elites to newly mobilized political forces that are demanding recognition. A key tenet of responsive pluralism is that all votes are equal and fungible. In other words, political elites---those with power---will entertain the possibility of a coalition with any group that possesses votes. In return for these votes, the elites will make available a stream of public goods in the form of patronage, symbolic recognition, and social services.
But for minorities, the situation is more complex and considerably less flattering to America’s preferred conception of its political traditions. Simply put, minorities have often faced constraints on their participation in the American polity due to their social and legal status. This situation has resulted in what I term stratified pluralism. As members of racial or other categories, they have often been defined out of the realm of full citizenship as it is usually understood in a democracy.
Blacks in particular could not vote for a long time so candidacies for office were not feasible. It was not until the democratic rights of citizenship were formally recognized by the polity that racial minorities could even compete as players in the electoral arena. Moreover, racism further hampered minority advancement even after the vote had been granted. In some cases, white voters simply refused to vote for minority candidates; in others, the elites themselves made it clear that they wished to limit or prevent minority representation. Minority votes were considered less desirable than white votes, and they were therefore less fungible as a commodity to be exchanged for public goods. Minorities were often incorporated into a dominant coalition only if a race-oriented agenda was abandoned by the minority leaders. As a consequence of stratified pluralism, widespread and efficacious minority officeholding has been the exception rather than the rule in U.S. history.
A group trying to elect representatives to office must use the electoral process to convert its demographic raw materials into positions of authority in government: in effect, the group tries to translate numbers into power. There is nothing automatic or mechanical about this process of conversion. It is conditioned by at least five distinct factors, each of which can intervene to prevent a group from being represented in office in relation to its proportion of the population: enfranchisement, mobilization, spatial concentration, favorable districts, and coalitions.
Why does the author start talking about the political situation of blacks in the third paragraph?
- A To illustrate the condition of "responsive pluralism"
- B To indicate the progress in advancing racial minorities' democratic rights of citizenship
- C To advocate blacks' capacities in competing as players in the electoral arena
- D To demonstrate the importance of achieving "stratified pluralism"
- E To give an example of the denial of full citizenship for minority groups in U.S. history
思路引導 VIP
當作者在第三段開頭用「Blacks in particular（尤其是黑人）」作為起手式時，通常是在延續前文。請你回頭看看第二段的最後一句話，作者對少數群體下了什麼結論？第三段黑人的例子又是如何呼應這個結論的呢？
🤖
AI 詳解
AI 專屬家教
段落銜接與修辭目的分析
太棒了，你的選擇完全正確！能夠精準抓出作者在第三段開頭提及黑人政治處境的用意，代表你對英文論說文的跨段落邏輯銜接掌握得非常透徹。 在閱讀測驗中，要判斷某個段落開頭的寫作目的，最關鍵的技巧就是回頭檢視前一段的結尾句。第二段最後提到，少數群體在民主制度中經常被排除在「完整公民權（full citizenship）」的範疇之外，形成了「階層化多元主義（stratified pluralism）」。緊接著第三段一開頭就用「Blacks in particular（尤其是黑人）」切入，說明他們長期沒有投票權且受種族主義阻礙，這正是為了具體舉例說明上一段所說「少數群體被剝奪完整公民權」的歷史事實，因此 (E) 完全切中要害。
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