GMAT考试阅读资料(三)a

时间:2008-10-25 05:46:15

(单词翻译:单击)

Passage 15
  In the two decades between 1910 and 1930, overten percent to the Black population of the United Statesleft the South, where the preponderance of the Blackpopulation had been located, and migrated to northern(5) states, with the largest number moving, it is claimed,between 1916 and 1918. It has been frequently assumed,but not proved, that the majority of the migrants inwhat has come to be called the Great Migration1 camefrom rural areas and were motivated by two concurrent(10) factors: the collapse2 of the cotton industry followingthe boll weevil infestation3, which began in 1898, andincreased demand in the North for labor4 followingthe cessation of European immigration caused by theoutbreak of the First World War in 1914. This assump-(15) tion has led to the conclusion that the migrants‘ subse-quent lack of economic mobility5 in the North is tied torural background, a background that implies unfamil-  iarity with urban living and a lack of industrial skills.
  But the question of who actually left the South has(20) never been rigorously investigated. Although numerous  investigations7 document an exodus8 from rural southernareas to southern cities prior to the Great Migration.no one has considered whether the same migrants thenmoved on to northern cities. In 1910 over 600,000(25) Black workers, or ten percent of the Black work force,reported themselves to be engaged in “manufacturingand mechanical pursuits,” the federal census9 categoryroughly encompassing10 the entire industrial sector11. TheGreat Migration could easily have been made up entirely(30) of this group and their families. It is perhaps surprising to argue that an employed population could be enticedto move, but an explanation lies in the labor conditionsthen prevalent in the South.
  About thirty-five percent of the urban Black popu-(35) lation in the South was engaged in skilled trades. Some  were from the old artisan class of slavery-blacksmiths.masons, carpenters-which had had a monopoly ofcertain trades, but they were gradually being pushedout by competition, mechanization, and obsolescence12,(40) The remaining sixty-five percent, more recently urban-ized, worked in newly developed industries——tobacco.lumber13, coal and iron manufacture, and railroads.Wages in the South, however, were low, and Blackworkers were aware, through labor recruiters and the(45)Black press, that they could earn more even as unskilledworkers in the North than they could as artisans in theSouth. After the boll weevil infestation, urban Blackworkers faced competition from the continuing influxof both Black and White rural workers, who were driven(50) to undercut the wages formerly14 paid for industrial jobs.Thus, a move north would be seen as advantageousto a group that was already urbanized and steadilyemployed, and the easy conclusion tying their subse-quent economic problems in the North to their ruralbackground comes into question.

  1. The author indicates explicitly15 that which of the following records has been a source of information in her investigation6
   (A) United States Immigration Service reports from 1914 to 1930
   (B) Payrolls16 of southern manufacturing firms between 1910 and 1930
   (C) The volume of cotton exports between 1898 and 1910
   (D) The federal census of 1910
   (E) Advertisements of labor recruiters appearing in southern newspapers after 1910

  2. In the passage, the author anticipates which of the following as a possible objection to her argument?
   (A) It is uncertain how many people actually migrated during the Great Migration.
   (B) The eventual17 economic status of the Great Migration migrants has not been adequately traced.
   (C) It is not likely that people with steady jobs would have reason to move to another area of the country.
   (D) It is not true that the term “manufacturing and mechanical pursuits” actually encompasses18 the entire industrial sector.
   (E) Of the Black workers living in southern cities, only those in a small number of trades were threatened by obsolescence.

  3. According to the passage, which of the following is true of wages in southern cities in 1910?
   (A) They were being pushed lower as a result of increased competition.
   (B) They had begun t to rise so that southern industry could attract rural workers.
   (C) They had increased for skilled workers but decreased for unskilled workers.
   (D) They had increased in large southern cities butdecreased in small southern cities.
   (E) They had increased in newly developed industries but decreased in the older trades.

  4. The author cites each of the following as possible influences in a Black worker‘s decision to migrate north in the Great Migration EXCEPT
   (A) wage levels in northern cities
   (B) labor recruiters
   (C) competition from rural workers
   (D) voting rights in northern states
   (E) the Black press

  5. It can be inferred from the passage that the “easy conclusion” mentioned in line 53 is based on which of the following assumptions?
   (A) People who migrate from rural areas to large cities usually do so for economic reasons.
   (B) Most people who leave rural areas to take jobs in  cities return to rural areas as soon as it is financially possible for them to do so.
   (C) People with rural backgrounds are less likely to succeed economically in cities than are those with urban backgrounds.
   (D) Most people who were once skilled workers are not willing to work as unskilled workers.
   (E) People who migrate from their birthplaces to other regions of country seldom undertake a second migration.

  6. The primary purpose of the passage is to
   (A) support an alternative to an accepted methodology
   (B) present evidence that resolves a contradiction
   (C) introduce a recently discovered source of information
   (D) challenge a widely accepted explanation
   (E) argue that a discarded theory deserves new attention

  7. According to information in the passage, which of the  following is a correct sequence of groups of workers,from highest paid to lowest paid, in the period between  1910 and 1930?
   (A) Artisans in the North; artisans in the South; unskilled workers in the North; unskilled workers in the South
   (B) Artisans in the North and South; unskilled workers in the North; unskilled workers in the South
   (C) Artisans in the North; unskilled workers in the North; artisans in the South
   (D) Artisans in the North and South; unskilled urban workers in the North; unskilled rural workers in the South
   (E) Artisans in the North and South, unskilled rural workers in the North and South; unskilled urban workers in the North and South

  8. The material in the passage would be most relevant to a long discussion of which of the following topics?
   (A) The reasons for the subsequent economic difficulties of those who participated in the Great Migration
   (B) The effect of migration on the regional economies of the United States following the First World War
   (C) The transition from a rural to an urban existence for those who migrated in the Great Migration
   (D) The transformation of the agricultural South following the boll weevil infestation
   (E) The disappearance of the artisan class in the United States as a consequence of mechanization in the early twentieth century


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1 migration mDpxj     
n.迁移,移居,(鸟类等的)迁徙
参考例句:
  • Swallows begin their migration south in autumn.燕子在秋季开始向南方迁移。
  • He described the vernal migration of birds in detail.他详细地描述了鸟的春季移居。
2 collapse aWvyE     
vi.累倒;昏倒;倒塌;塌陷
参考例句:
  • The country's economy is on the verge of collapse.国家的经济已到了崩溃的边缘。
  • The engineer made a complete diagnosis of the bridge's collapse.工程师对桥的倒塌做了一次彻底的调查分析。
3 infestation infestation     
n.侵扰,蔓延
参考例句:
  • The premises were treated for cockroach infestation.因蟑螂成灾,这些房屋集中进行了灭蟑活动。
  • Parts of California are suffering from an infestation of oriental fruit flies.加利福尼亚的部分地区正遭受东方果蝇的大肆侵袭。
4 labor P9Tzs     
n.劳动,努力,工作,劳工;分娩;vi.劳动,努力,苦干;vt.详细分析;麻烦
参考例句:
  • We are never late in satisfying him for his labor.我们从不延误付给他劳动报酬。
  • He was completely spent after two weeks of hard labor.艰苦劳动两周后,他已经疲惫不堪了。
5 mobility H6rzu     
n.可动性,变动性,情感不定
参考例句:
  • The difference in regional house prices acts as an obstacle to mobility of labour.不同地区房价的差异阻碍了劳动力的流动。
  • Mobility is very important in guerrilla warfare.机动性在游击战中至关重要。
6 investigation MRKzq     
n.调查,调查研究
参考例句:
  • In an investigation,a new fact became known, which told against him.在调查中新发现了一件对他不利的事实。
  • He drew the conclusion by building on his own investigation.他根据自己的调查研究作出结论。
7 investigations 02de25420938593f7db7bd4052010b32     
(正式的)调查( investigation的名词复数 ); 侦查; 科学研究; 学术研究
参考例句:
  • His investigations were intensive and thorough but revealed nothing. 他进行了深入彻底的调查,但没有发现什么。
  • He often sent them out to make investigations. 他常常派他们出去作调查。
8 exodus khnzj     
v.大批离去,成群外出
参考例句:
  • The medical system is facing collapse because of an exodus of doctors.由于医生大批离去,医疗系统面临崩溃。
  • Man's great challenge at this moment is to prevent his exodus from this planet.人在当前所遇到的最大挑战,就是要防止人从这个星球上消失。
9 census arnz5     
n.(官方的)人口调查,人口普查
参考例句:
  • A census of population is taken every ten years.人口普查每10年进行一次。
  • The census is taken one time every four years in our country.我国每四年一次人口普查。
10 encompassing d3e1478f9dbf972fd2599732510b1379     
v.围绕( encompass的现在分词 );包围;包含;包括
参考例句:
  • Being too large and all-encompassing is a common defect among state-owned enterprises. 过分追求大而全,是国企的一大通病。 来自互联网
  • Our services are: all-encompassing, love justice and high quality. 我们的服务目标是:全方位、真情义、高质量。 来自互联网
11 sector yjczYn     
n.部门,部分;防御地段,防区;扇形
参考例句:
  • The export sector will aid the economic recovery. 出口产业将促进经济复苏。
  • The enemy have attacked the British sector.敌人已进攻英国防区。
12 obsolescence bIjxr     
n.过时,陈旧,废弃
参考例句:
  • For some small unproductive mills,the reality is not merger but obsolescence and bankruptcy.对一些效率低下的小厂而言,现实不是合并,而是可能被淘汰和破产。
  • Finally,the cost approach can provide a basis for allocating penalties,specifically economic obsolescence.最后,成本法可作为一个分配因陈旧特别是因经济
13 lumber a8Jz6     
n.木材,木料;v.以破旧东西堆满;伐木;笨重移动
参考例句:
  • The truck was sent to carry lumber.卡车被派出去运木材。
  • They slapped together a cabin out of old lumber.他们利用旧木料草草地盖起了一间小屋。
14 formerly ni3x9     
adv.从前,以前
参考例句:
  • We now enjoy these comforts of which formerly we had only heard.我们现在享受到了过去只是听说过的那些舒适条件。
  • This boat was formerly used on the rivers of China.这船从前航行在中国内河里。
15 explicitly JtZz2H     
ad.明确地,显然地
参考例句:
  • The plan does not explicitly endorse the private ownership of land. 该计划没有明确地支持土地私有制。
  • SARA amended section 113 to provide explicitly for a right to contribution. 《最高基金修正与再授权法案》修正了第123条,清楚地规定了分配权。 来自英汉非文学 - 环境法 - 环境法
16 payrolls 6c9c6a79f750b129f50f4617a38144a8     
n.(公司员工的)工资名单( payroll的名词复数 );(公司的)工资总支出,工薪总额
参考例句:
  • Indices of employment, payrolls, and production steadied in February 1931931年2月,就业、工资额和生产指数稳定。 来自辞典例句
  • Wall Street responded to the payrolls figures with gusto. 华尔街对就业数据作出了积极的反应。 来自互联网
17 eventual AnLx8     
adj.最后的,结局的,最终的
参考例句:
  • Several schools face eventual closure.几所学校面临最终关闭。
  • Both parties expressed optimism about an eventual solution.双方对问题的最终解决都表示乐观。
18 encompasses cba8673f835839b92e7b81ba5bccacfb     
v.围绕( encompass的第三人称单数 );包围;包含;包括
参考例句:
  • The job encompasses a wide range of responsibilities. 这项工作涉及的职责范围很广。
  • Its conservation law encompasses both its magnitude and its direction. 它的守恒定律包括大小和方向两方面。 来自辞典例句

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