When the history of women
began to receive focused attention
in the 1970’, Eleanor Roosevelt
Line was one of a handful of female
(5) Americans who were well known
to both historians and the general
public. Despite the evidence that
she had been important in socialreform
circles before her husband
(10) was elected President and that
she continued to advocate different
causes than he did, she held
a place in the public imagination
largely because she was the wife
(15) of a particularly influential President.
Her own activities were
seen as preparing the way for her
husband’s election or as a complement
to his programs. Even
(20) Joseph Lash’s two volumes of
Sympathetic biography, Eleanor and
Franklin (1971) and Eleanor: The
Years Alone (1972), reflected this
assumption.
(25) Lash’s biography revealed a
Complicated woman who sought
Through political activity both to
flee inner misery and to promote
causes in which she passionately
(30) believed. However, she still
appeared to be an idiosyncratic
figure, somehow self-generated
not amenable to any generalized
explanation. She emerged from
(35) the biography as a mother to the
entire nation, or as a busybody.
but hardly as a social type, a
figure comprehensible in terms
of broader social developments.
(40) But more recent work on the
feminism of the post-suffrage
years (following 1920) allows us
to see Roosevelt in a different
light and to bring her life into a
(45) more richly detailed context. Lois
Scharf’s Eleanor Roosevelt, written
In 1987, depicts a generation of
Privileged women, born in the late
Nineteenth century and maturing
(50) in the twentieth, who made the
transition from old patterns of
female association to new ones.
Their views and their lives were full
Of contradictions. They maintained
(55) female social networks but began
to integrate women into mainstream
politics; they demanded equal
treatment but also argued that
women’s maternal responsibilities
(60) made them both wards and representatives
of the public interest.
Thanks to Scharf and others,
Roosevelt’s activities—for example,
her support both for labor laws
(65) protecting women and for appointments
of women to high public
office—have become intelligible in
terms of this social context rather
than as the idiosyncratic career of
a famous man’s wife.
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Q 23:
The passage as a whole is primarily concerned
with which of the following?
A. Changes in the way in which Eleanor
Roosevelt’s life is understood
B. Social changes that made possible the role
Played by Eleanor Roosevelt in social reform
C. Changes in the ways in which historians have
viewed the lives of American women
D. Social changes that resulted from the activities
of Eleanor Roosevelt
E. Changes in the social roles that American
women have played
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Q 25:
Which of the following studies would proceed in a
way most similar to the way in which, according to
the passage. Scharf’s book interprets Eleanor
Roosevelt’s career?
A. An exploration of the activities of a wealthy
social reformer in terms of the ideals held
by the reformer
B. A history of the leaders of a political party
which explained how the conflicting aims
of its individual leaders thwarted and
diverted the activities of each leader
C. An account of the legislative career of a conservative
senator which showed his goals to
have been derived from a national conservative
movement of which the senator was
a part
D. A biography of a famous athlete which
explained her high level of motivation in terms
of the kind of family in which she grew up
E. A history of the individuals who led the movement
to end slavery in the United States which
attributed the movement’s success to the
efforts of those exceptional individuals
Answer:
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Q 26:
The author cites which of the following as evidence
against the public view of Eleanor Roosevelt held
in the 1970’s?
A. She had been born into a wealthy family.
B. Her political career predated the adoption
of women’s suffrage.
C. She continued her career in politics even
After her husband’s death.
D. She was one of a few female historical
Figures who were well known to historians
By the 1970’s.
E. Her activism predated her husband’s presidency
and her projects differed from his.

I agree ... Can anyone explain the OA for this?

Thank you for your explanation. I have a problem with social sciences passages too.. I miss too many questions. Where can we find more such reading materiel.