Passage 6
(六錯一)
In the two decades between 1910 and 1930, over ten percent to the Black population of the United States left the South, where the preponderance(有優勢) of the Black population had been located, and migrated to northern( states, with the largest number moving, it is claimed, between 1916 and 1918. It has been frequently assumed, but not proved(外界的看法,而不是作者的看法), that the majority of the migrants in what has come to be called the Great Migration came from rural areas and were motivated by two concurrent(同時存在的) factors: the collapse of the cotton industry following the boll weevil infestation(大批侵擾), which began in 1898, and increased demand in the North for labor following the cessation of European immigration caused by the outbreak of the First World War in 1914. This assumption has led to the conclusion that the migrants’ subsequent(後來的) lack of economic mobility in the North is tied to rural background, a background that implies unfamiliarity with urban living and a lack of industrial skills.
第一段總結:介紹1910-30期間,美國南方大舉往北遷徒的故事,作者引述外界一般有兩種看法,一是棉花產業的collapse,另一則是北方在一次大戰後對勞工的需求。外界認為,後來這些移民在經濟上欠缺動力,就是起因為這些不熟悉城市及產業技術
But(老規短,轉折) the question of who actually left the South has never been rigorously investigated. Although numerous investigations document an exodus(也就是離開) from rural southern areas to southern cities prior to the Great Migration, no one has considered whether the same migrants then moved on to northern cities(有記錄南方有人離開,但就沒說是否是去北方的那票人). (根據語意,可以合理期待作者準備公布他的研究結果)In 1910 over 600,000 Black workers, or ten percent of the Black work force, reported themselves to be engaged in “manufacturing and mechanical pursuits,”(引號必讀前後內容) the federal census(聯邦人口普查) category roughly encompassing(包括) the entire industrial sector. The Great Migration could easily have been made up entirely of this group and their families. It is perhaps surprising to argue that an employed population could be enticed(誘使) to move, but an explanation lies in the labor conditions then prevalent in the South.(這種句型一旦出現,小心考possible objection)
第二段結論:認為有工作的人還會被迫遷徒的說法可能會讓大家驚訝,但事實上,這樣的解釋lies in當時南方普遍存在的工作條件上,第二段的文章略為難讀,請小心
About thirty-five percent of the urban Black population 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 of certain trades, but they were gradually being pushed out by competition, mechanization, and obsolescence(過時), The remaining(前後對比) sixty-five percent, more recently urbanized, worked in newly developed industries---tobacco lumber, coal and iron manufacture, and railroads. Wages in the South, however, were low, and Black workers were aware, through labor recruiters and the Black press, that they could earn more even as unskilled workers in the North than they could as artisans in the South. After the boll weevil infestation, urban Black workers faced competition from the continuing influx of both Black and White rural workers, who were driven to undercut(削價競爭,可稱之為因) the wages formerly paid for industrial jobs. Thus(引導一段結果出來), a move north would be seen as advantageous to a group that was already urbanized and steadily employed, and the easy conclusion tying their subsequent economic problems in the North to their rural background comes into question(作者最終也最想表達的態度).
第三段總結:其實就是最後一句話,表示大家都認為缺乏經濟能力是因為這些人的農村背景,事實上,是南方農村的人往南方都市集中,而南方都市人又再被迫往北方城市移動
*31. The author indicates explicitly(明確地) that which of the following records has been a source of information in her investigation?
(A) United States Immigration Service reports from 1914 to 1930
(B) Payrolls 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
答案D
32. 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 eventual 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 encompasses 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.
答案C,去找it is perhaps surprising to argue....就對了
33. According to the passage, which of the following is true of wages in southern cities in 1910? (細節題)
(A) They were being pushed lower as a result of increased competition.
(B) They had begun 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 but decreased in small southern cities.
(E) They had increased in newly developed industries but decreased in the older trades.
答案A,對照第三段中段
34. The author cites each of the following as possible influences in a Black worker’s decision to migrate north in the Great Migration EXCEPT (細節題取非)
(A) wage levels in northern cities
(B) labor recruiters
(C) competition from rural workers
(D) voting rights in northern states
(E) the Black press
35. It can be inferred from the passage that the “easy conclusion” mentioned in line 53 is based on which of the following assumptions? (推論題)
(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.
答案C,既然說是easy conclusion,就代表作者的負面態度,往前找,就能找到第一段的論點符合C選項
36. The primary purpose of the passage is to (主題類型題)
(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一個被忽略方觀點值得重新被關注
答案D
結論:
好讀的文章就是好讀,正確率自然高
類似像這種簡單文章,很難明確說出哪裡會考哪裡不會考,可能直接讀完是上上策
越是簡單文章,通常重要性是越後面越重要,如果是分析性類型文章,作者甚至在最後才會把真正的看法表達出來