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94
.
b.
.
d.
.
f.
g.
h.
i.
j.
k.
1.
m.
With which of the above are you actually «familiar»?
2. What is the topic of paragraph F (11.63-70)?
3. Why does the writer begin para. G with «But»? (1.71)
4. In general, what criticisms does the writer make of Daniel's list?
a) in para. ) in paras. D, , F
b) in para. d) in paras. ,
From:
«WRITING OF WOMEN»
by Phyllis Rose
The female style I was discovering and defining for myself seemed in many ways more attractive than
the masculine style which aimed for and so often led to achievement. Women seemed more responsive,
more expressive, more flexible, more considerate, more iconoclastic, and more irreverent than men. But
were these traits innately, inevitably, biollogically a part of women's nature? Or were they characteristic of
any group of people privileged in some way but excluded from power? In time, I came to think that much of
10 what I valued as female nature was not nature at all but a style created by cultural circumstances and
historical experience. I thought this style was valuable. If it prevailed, the world might be a better place. On
the other hand, it seemed unlikely to prevail. As women moved into positions of power on an equal basis
15 with men they would probably lose those lovable traits which were the product of powerlessness. Did that
mean that woman should renounce power in order to retain__________?
Exercise:
1. Provide a suitable ending for the last sentence in the light of the point the writer is trying to make in this
passage.
2a. Consider the connotations of the six items in the list of female traits (11.4-5). For each item
(«responsive», «expressive», etc.) decide whether it has a positive, negative, or ambiguous (more than one)
connotation.
b. Does the order in which the traits are listed seem to have some significance?
3. The writer thinks that female traits are A. inborn
B. acquired
(Choose (A) or () — and support your answer. You may paraphrase some part of the text, but do not quote
directly.)
4. Under what condition might the world «be a better place» (11.12)?
5. Does the writer believe that condition (see question 4) can be met? Answer Yes or No — and support
your answer. (You may paraphrase the text, but do not quote directly.)
«TO BE A WOMAN AND A SCHOLAR»
On a Saturday morning in June exactly three hundred years ago this year, the first woman in the world
to receive a doctoral degree mounted a pulpit in the cathedral of Padua to be examined in Aristotelian
5
dialectics. Her name was Elena Lucrezia Cornaro Piscopia. She was thirty-two years old, single, daughter of
one of the wealthiest families in Venice. Precociously brilliant, she had begun to study Aristotle at the age