GMAT综合阅读精解之十三

2022-06-04 13:49:42

  

  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 of the Black

  population 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 in

  what has come to be called the Great Migration came

  from rural areas and were motivated by two concurrent

  (10) factors: the collapse of the cotton industry following

  the boll weevil infestation, 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 assump-

  (15) tion has led to the conclusion that the migrants’ subse-

  quent lack of economic mobility in the North is tied to

  rural 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

  investigations document an exodus 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. In 1910 over 600,000

  (25) Black workers, or ten percent of the Black work force,

  reported themselves to be engaged in “manufacturing

  and mechanical pursuits,” the federal census category

  roughly encompassing the entire industrial sector. The

  Great 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 enticed

  to move, but an explanation lies in the labor conditions

  then 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 of

  certain trades, but they were gradually being pushed

  out by competition, mechanization, and obsolescence,

  (40) The remaining sixty-five percent, more recently urban-

  ized, 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

  (45)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

  (50) to undercut the wages formerly paid for industrial jobs.

  Thus, a move north would be seen as advantageous

  to a group that was already urbanized and steadily

  employed, and the easy conclusion tying their subse-

  quent economic problems in the North to their rural

  background comes into question.

  1. The author indicates explicitly 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

  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 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.

  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 but

  decreased 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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