In the two decades between 1910 and 1930, over ten percent to the Black population of the United States left the South, where th

admin2014-09-18  33

问题     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 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 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 assumption has led to the conclusion that the migrants ’ subsequent 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.
    But the question of who actually left the South has never been rigorously investigated. Although numerous inves- tigations 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 Black workers, or ten percent of the Black work force, reported themselves to he engaged in "manufacturing and mechanical pursuits," the federal census category roughly encom- passing 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 to move, but an explanation lies in the labor conditions then prevalent in the South.
    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. The remaining sixty-five percent, more recently urbanized, worked in newly developed industries— tobacco,lumber, coal and iron manufac- ture, 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 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 lying their subsequent economic problems in the North to their rural background comes into question.
It can be inferred from the passage that the "easy conclusion" mentioned in lines 74 - 75 is based on which of the following assumptions?

选项 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

解析 L74~75所说的轻率结论是建立在哪个前提条件基础之上的?assumption型的逻辑题。“easy conclusion”虽然在原文L74—75,但实际上具体内容在原文第一段L20—26。推理过程为:这群人有农村背景——这些人随后在经济上的不灵活是农村背景引起的。看哪个选项挑出了这个推理过程中的差异。∴C正确。有农村背景的人比有城市背景的人较少可能在经济上成功。此选项取非后,全文的结论必然推不出来。A、B、D、E四选项所论述内容全和这个推理过程无关。
转载请注明原文地址:https://kaotiyun.com/show/C0tO777K
本试题收录于: GMAT VERBAL题库GMAT分类
0

最新回复(0)