22. Which one of the following best expresses the main idea of the passage?

　(A) An earlier theory about the status of middle-class women in the nineteenth century has been supported by recent scholarship
　(B) Recent studies of middle-class nineteenth-century women have altered an earlier theory about the status of colonial women
　(C) Recent scholarship has exposed an earlier theory about the status of colonial women as too narrowly based and oversimplified
　(D) An earlier theory about colonial women has greatly influenced recent studies on middle-class women in the nineteenth century
　(E) An earlier study of middle-class women was based on insufficient research on the status of women in the nineteenth century

23. The author discusses Hoff-Wilson primarily in order to
　
　(A) describe how Dexter's theory was refuted by historians of nineteenth-century North America
　(B) describe how the theory of middle-class women's nineteenth-century decline in siatus was developed
　(C) describe an important influence on recent scholarship about the colonial period
　(D) demonstrate the persistent influence of the "golden age" theory
　(E) provide an example of current research one the colonial period

24. It can be inferred from the passage that the author would be most likely to describe the views of the scholars mentioned in line 32 as
　
　(A) unassailable
　(B) innovative
　(C) paradoxical
　(D) overly sophisticated
　(E) without merit

25. It can be inferred from the passage that in proposing the "three-part chronological division" (lines 60-61), scholars recognized which one of the following?

　(A) The circumstances of colonial women's lives were defined by a broad variety of social and economic factors
　(B) Women's lives in the English colonies of North America were similar to women's lives in seventeenth-and eighteenth-century England
　(C) Colonial women's status was adversely affected when patterns of family and community were established in the late seventeenth century
　(D) Colonial women's status should be assessed primarily on the basis of their economic function in society
　(E) Colonial women's status was low when the colonies were settled but changed significantly during the era of revolution
　
26. According to the author the publications about colonial women mentioned in the third paragraph had which one of the following effects?

　(A) They undermined Dexter's argument on the status of women colonists during the colonial period.
　(B) They revealed the tenacity of the "golden age" theory in American history
　(C) They provided support for historians, such as Hoff-Wilson. Who study the nineteenth century
　(D) They established that women's status did not change significantly from the colonial period to the nineteenth century
　(E) They provided support for earlier theories about women colonists in the English colonies of North America
　
27. Practitioners of the new scholarship discussed in the last paragraph would be most likely to agree with which one of the following statements about Dexter's argument?

　(A) It makes the assumption that women's status is determined primarily by their political power in society
　(B) It makes the assumption that a less complex social system necessarily confers higher status on women
　(C) It is based on inadequate research on women's economic role in the colonies
　(D) It places too much emphasis on the way definitions of gender roles affected women colonists in the colonial period
　(E) It accurately describes the way women's status declined in the nineteenth century