And the statesmen’s political lives depended on slavery. The three-fifths formula handed Jefferson his narrow victory in the presidential election of 1800 by inflating the votes of the southern states in the Electoral College. Once in office, Jefferson extended slavery with the Louisiana Purchase in 1803; the new land was carved into 13 states, including three slave states.

　　Still, Jefferson freed Hemings’s children- though not Hemings herself or his approximately 150 other slaves. Washington, who had begun to believe that all men were created equal after observing the bravery of the black soldiers during the Revolutionary War, overcame the strong opposition of his relatives to grant his slaves their freedom in his will. Only a decade earlier, such an act would have required legislative approval in Virginia.

　　37. We may infer from the second paragraph that

　　[A] DNA technology has been widely applied to history research.

　　[B] in its early days the U.S. was confronted with delicate situations.

　　[C] historians deliberately made up some stories of Jefferson’s life.

　　[D] political compromises are easily found throughout the U.S. history.

　　[答案] D

　　[解题思路]

　　本题可以采取排除法。关于A选项，文章第二段谈到了DNA技术，但是只提到了一个例子，至于该技术是否已经在历史研究中广泛利用则不得而知，因此可以首先排除A选项。B选项对应于该段倒数第二句的“the fragile nature of the country’s infancy”(最不稳固的建国初期)，delicate situation与原文的意思有所出入。C选项则完全错误，不符合原文。而最后一段对应于最后两句话“Works of several historians reveal the moral compromises made by the nation’s early leaders and the fragile nature of the country’s infancy. More significantly, they argue that many of the Founding Fathers knew slavery was wrong and yet most did little to fight it”(一些历史学家的著作揭示了美国的早期领导人在最不稳固的建国初期作出的道德妥协。更加重要的是，他们认为很多开国元勋们知道奴隶制是错误的——但是他们很少用实际行动来进行反抗)，因此D选项符合原文。

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