GMAT考试阅读辅导——(30)
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Passage 30

  Since the early 1970’s, historians have begun to devote serious attention to the working class in the United States. Yet while we now have studies of working-class communities and culture, we know(5) remarkably2 little of workless ness. When historians have paid any attention at all to unemployment, they have focused on the Great Depression of the 1930’s. The narrowness of this perspective ignores the pervasive3 recessions and joblessness of the previous decades, as(10)Alexander Keyssar shows in his recent book. Examining the period 1870-1920, Keyssar concentrates on Massachusetts, where the historical materials are particularly rich, and the findings applicable to other industrial areas.(15 )
  The unemployment rates that Keyssar calculates appear to be relatively4 modest, at least by Great Depression standards: during the worst years, in the 1870’s and 1890’s, unemployment was around 15 percent. Yet Keyssar rightly understands that a better way to (20) measure the impact of unemployment is to calculate unemployment frequencies—measuring the percentage of workers who experience any unemployment in the course of a year. Given this perspective, joblessness looms5 much larger.(25)Keyssar also scrutinizes6 unemployment patterns according to skill level, ethnicity, race, age, class, and gender7. He finds that rates of joblessness differed primarily according to class: those in middle-class and white-collar occupations were far less likely to be unem-(30)ployed. Yet the impact of unemployment on a specific class was not always the same. Even when dependent onthe same trade, adjoining communities could have dramatically different unemployment rates. Keyssar uses these differential rates to help explain a phenomenon(35)that has puzzled historians—the startlingly high rate of geographical8 mobility9 in the nineteenth-century United States. But mobility was not the dominant10 working-class strategy for coping with unemployment, nor was assistance from private charities or state agencies. Self-help(40) and the help of kin1 got most workers through jobless spells.
  While Keyssar might have spent more time developing the implications of his findings on joblessness for contemporary public policy, his study, in its thorough(45) research and creative use of quantitative11 and qualitative12 evidence, is a model of historical analysis.

1. The passage is primarily concerned with
 (A) recommending a new course of investigation13
 (B) summarizing and assessing a study
 (C) making distinctions among categories
 (D) criticizing the current state of a field
 (E) comparing and contrasting two methods for calculating data

2. The passage suggests that before the early 1970’s, which of the following was true of the study by historians of the working class in the United States?
 (A) The study was infrequent or superficial, or both.
 (B) The study was repeatedly criticized for its allegedly narrow focus.
 (C) The study relied more on qualitative than quantitative evidence.
 (D) The study focused more on the working-class community than on working-class culture.
 (E) The study ignored working-class joblessness during the Great Depression.

3. According to the passage, which of the following is true of Keyssar’s findings concerning unemployment in Massachusetts?
 (A) They tend to contradict earlier findings about such unemployment.
 (B) They are possible because Massachusetts has the most easily accessible historical records.
 (C) They are the first to mention the existence of high rates of geographical mobility in the nineteenth century.
 (D) They are relevant to a historical understanding of the nature of unemployment in other states.
 (E) They have caused historians to reconsider the role of the working class during the Great Depression.

4. According to the passage, which of the following is true of the unemployment rates mentioned in line 15
 (A) They hovered14, on average, around 15 percent during the period 1870-1920.
 (B) They give less than a full sense of the impact of unemployment on working-class people.
 (C) They overestimate15 the importance of middle class and white-collar unemployment.
 (D) They have been considered by many historians to underestimate the extent of working-class unemployment.
 (E) They are more open to question when calculated for years other than those of peak recession.

5. Which of the following statements about the unemployment rate during the Great Depression can be inferred from the passage?
 (A) It was sometimes higher than 15 percent.
 (B) It has been analyzed16 seriously only since the early 1970’s.
 (C) It can be calculated more easily than can unemployment frequency.
 (D) It was never as high as the rate during the 1870’s.
 (E) It has been shown by Keyssar to be lower than previously17 thought.

6. According to the passage, Keyssar considers which of the following to be among the important predictors of the likelihood that a particular person would be unemployed18 in late nineteenth-century Massachusetts?
Ⅰ. The person’s class
Ⅱ. Where the person lived or worked
Ⅲ. The person’s age
 (A) Ⅰonly
 (B) Ⅱonly
 (C) Ⅰand Ⅱ only
 (D) Ⅰand Ⅲ only
 (E) Ⅰ,Ⅱ, and Ⅲ

7. The author views Keyssar’s study with
 (A) impatient disapproval19
 (B) wary20 concern
 (C) polite skepticism
 (D) scrupulous21 neutrality
 (E) qualified22 admiration

8. Which of the following, if true, would most strongly support Keyssar’s findings as they are described by the author?
 (A) Boston, Massachusetts, and Quincy, Massachusetts, adjoining communities, had a higher rate of unemployment for working-class people in 1870 than in 1890.
 (B) White-collar professionals such as attorneys had as much trouble as day laborers23 in maintaining a steady level of employment throughout the period 1870-1920.
 (C) Working-class women living in Cambridge, Massachusetts, were more likely than working-class men living in Cambridge to be unemployed for some period of time during the year 1873.
 (D) In the 1890’s, shoe-factory workers moved away in large numbers from Chelmsford, Massachusetts, where shoe factories were being replaced by other industries, to adjoining West Chelmsford, where the shoe industry flourished.
 (E) In the late nineteenth century, workers of all classes in Massachusetts were more likely than workers of all classes in other states to move their place of residence from one location to another within the state.



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1 kin 22Zxv     
n.家族,亲属,血缘关系;adj.亲属关系的,同类的
参考例句:
  • He comes of good kin.他出身好。
  • She has gone to live with her husband's kin.她住到丈夫的亲戚家里去了。
2 remarkably EkPzTW     
ad.不同寻常地,相当地
参考例句:
  • I thought she was remarkably restrained in the circumstances. 我认为她在那种情况下非常克制。
  • He made a remarkably swift recovery. 他康复得相当快。
3 pervasive T3zzH     
adj.普遍的;遍布的,(到处)弥漫的;渗透性的
参考例句:
  • It is the most pervasive compound on earth.它是地球上最普遍的化合物。
  • The adverse health effects of car exhaust are pervasive and difficult to measure.汽车尾气对人类健康所构成的有害影响是普遍的,并且难以估算。
4 relatively bkqzS3     
adv.比较...地,相对地
参考例句:
  • The rabbit is a relatively recent introduction in Australia.兔子是相对较新引入澳大利亚的物种。
  • The operation was relatively painless.手术相对来说不痛。
5 looms 802b73dd60a3cebff17088fed01c2705     
n.织布机( loom的名词复数 )v.隐约出现,阴森地逼近( loom的第三人称单数 );隐约出现,阴森地逼近
参考例句:
  • All were busily engaged,men at their ploughs,women at their looms. 大家都很忙,男的耕田,女的织布。 来自《简明英汉词典》
  • The factory has twenty-five looms. 那家工厂有25台织布机。 来自《简明英汉词典》
6 scrutinizes 3720fcbd2a441b08f6660d37ec2e430a     
v.仔细检查,详审( scrutinize的第三人称单数 )
参考例句:
  • They fear the ear that hears their orders, and the eye that scrutinizes their actions. 从前,国王都相信他们是天神的儿子,或至少如此自以为是,而且多少还带着点他们父亲天神的风度。 来自互联网
7 gender slSyD     
n.(生理上的)性,(名词、代词等的)性
参考例句:
  • French differs from English in having gender for all nouns.法语不同于英语,所有的名词都有性。
  • Women are sometimes denied opportunities solely because of their gender.妇女有时仅仅因为性别而无法获得种种机会。
8 geographical Cgjxb     
adj.地理的;地区(性)的
参考例句:
  • The current survey will have a wider geographical spread.当前的调查将在更广泛的地域范围內进行。
  • These birds have a wide geographical distribution.这些鸟的地理分布很广。
9 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。
10 dominant usAxG     
adj.支配的,统治的;占优势的;显性的;n.主因,要素,主要的人(或物);显性基因
参考例句:
  • The British were formerly dominant in India.英国人从前统治印度。
  • She was a dominant figure in the French film industry.她在法国电影界是个举足轻重的人物。
11 quantitative TCpyg     
adj.数量的,定量的
参考例句:
  • He said it was only a quantitative difference.他说这仅仅是数量上的差别。
  • We need to do some quantitative analysis of the drugs.我们对药物要进行定量分析。
12 qualitative JC4yi     
adj.性质上的,质的,定性的
参考例句:
  • There are qualitative differences in the way children and adults think.孩子和成年人的思维方式有质的不同。
  • Arms races have a quantitative and a qualitative aspects.军备竞赛具有数量和质量两个方面。
13 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。
14 hovered d194b7e43467f867f4b4380809ba6b19     
鸟( hover的过去式和过去分词 ); 靠近(某事物); (人)徘徊; 犹豫
参考例句:
  • A hawk hovered over the hill. 一只鹰在小山的上空翱翔。
  • A hawk hovered in the blue sky. 一只老鹰在蓝色的天空中翱翔。
15 overestimate Nmsz5Y     
v.估计过高,过高评价
参考例句:
  • Don't overestimate seriousness of the problem.别把问题看重了。
  • We overestimate our influence and our nuisance value.我们过高地估计了自己的影响力和破坏作用。
16 analyzed 483f1acae53789fbee273a644fdcda80     
v.分析( analyze的过去式和过去分词 );分解;解释;对…进行心理分析
参考例句:
  • The doctors analyzed the blood sample for anemia. 医生们分析了贫血的血样。 来自《简明英汉词典》
  • The young man did not analyze the process of his captivation and enrapturement, for love to him was a mystery and could not be analyzed. 这年轻人没有分析自己蛊惑著迷的过程,因为对他来说,爱是个不可分析的迷。 来自《简明英汉词典》
17 previously bkzzzC     
adv.以前,先前(地)
参考例句:
  • The bicycle tyre blew out at a previously damaged point.自行车胎在以前损坏过的地方又爆开了。
  • Let me digress for a moment and explain what had happened previously.让我岔开一会儿,解释原先发生了什么。
18 unemployed lfIz5Q     
adj.失业的,没有工作的;未动用的,闲置的
参考例句:
  • There are now over four million unemployed workers in this country.这个国家现有四百万失业人员。
  • The unemployed hunger for jobs.失业者渴望得到工作。
19 disapproval VuTx4     
n.反对,不赞成
参考例句:
  • The teacher made an outward show of disapproval.老师表面上表示不同意。
  • They shouted their disapproval.他们喊叫表示反对。
20 wary JMEzk     
adj.谨慎的,机警的,小心的
参考例句:
  • He is wary of telling secrets to others.他谨防向他人泄露秘密。
  • Paula frowned,suddenly wary.宝拉皱了皱眉头,突然警惕起来。
21 scrupulous 6sayH     
adj.审慎的,小心翼翼的,完全的,纯粹的
参考例句:
  • She is scrupulous to a degree.她非常谨慎。
  • Poets are not so scrupulous as you are.诗人并不像你那样顾虑多。
22 qualified DCPyj     
adj.合格的,有资格的,胜任的,有限制的
参考例句:
  • He is qualified as a complete man of letters.他有资格当真正的文学家。
  • We must note that we still lack qualified specialists.我们必须看到我们还缺乏有资质的专家。
23 laborers c8c6422086151d6c0ae2a95777108e3c     
n.体力劳动者,工人( laborer的名词复数 );(熟练工人的)辅助工
参考例句:
  • Laborers were trained to handle 50-ton compactors and giant cranes. 工人们接受操作五十吨压土机和巨型起重机的训练。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》
  • Wage-labour rests exclusively on competition between the laborers. 雇佣劳动完全是建立在工人的自相竞争之上的。 来自英汉非文学 - 共产党宣言
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