GMAT阅读 ——（3）_GMAT
passage 15
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-牐
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-
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
爁ollowing records has been a source of information in
爃er investigation?
(a) united states immigration service reports from
牐 1914 to 1930
(b) payrolls of southern manufacturing firms between
牐 1910 and 1930
(c) the volume of cotton exports between 1898 and
牐 1910
(d) the federal census of 1910
(e) advertisements of labor recruiters appearing in
牐 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
牐 during the great migration.
(b) the eventual economic status of the great migration
牐 migrants has not been a
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 adequately traced.
(c) it is not likely that people with steady jobs would
牐 have reason to move to another area of the country.
(d) it is not true that the term “manufacturing and
牐 mechanical pursuits” actually encompasses the
牐 entire industrial sector.
(e) of the black workers living in southern cities, only
牐 those in a small number of trades were threatened by
牐 obsolescence.
3. according to the passage, which of the following is true
牐 of wages in southern cities in 1910?
(a) they were being pushed lower as a result of
牐牐爄ncreased competition.
(b) they had begun t to rise so that southern industry
牐 could attract rural workers.
(c) they had increased for skilled workers but
牐 dec
reased 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
牐 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
燾onclusion” mentioned in line 53 is based on which
爋f the following assumptions?
(a) people who migrate from rural areas to large
牐 cities usually do so for economic reasons.
(b) most people who leave rural areas to take jobs in
牐 cities return to rural areas as soon as it is financially
牐 possible for them to do so.
(c) people with rural backgrounds are less likely to
牐 succeed economically in cities than are those with
牐 urban backgrounds.
(d) most people who were once skilled workers are
牐 not willing to work as unskilled workers.
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 a
(e) people who migrate from their birthplaces to other
牐 regions of country seldom undertake a second
牐 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
牐 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;
牐 unskilled workers in the north; unskilled workers in
牐 the south
(b) artisans in the north and south; unskilled workers
牐 in the north; unskilled workers in the south
(c) artisans in the north; unskilled workers in the
牐 north; artisans in the south
(d) artisans in the north and south; unskilled urban
牐 workers in the north; unskilled rural workers in the
牐 south
(e) artisans in the north and south, unskilled rural
牐 workers in the north and south; unskilled urban
牐 workers in the north and south
8. the material in the passage would be most relevant to a
爈ong discussion of which of the following topics?
(a) the reasons for the subsequent economic difficulties
牐 of those who participated in the great migration
(b) the effect of migration on the regional economies of
牐 the united states following the first world war
(c) the transition from a rural to an urban existence for
牐 those who migrated in the great migration
(d) the transformation of the agricultural south
牐 following the boll weevil infestation
(e) the disappearance of the artisan class in the united
牐 states as a consequence of mechanization in the
牐 early t
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 awentieth century
passage 16
in 1896 a georgia couple suing for damages in the
accidental death of their two year old was told that since
the child had made no real economic contribution to the
family, there was no liability for damages. in contrast,
(5) less than a century later, in 1979, the parents of a three
year old sued in new york for accidental-death damages
and won an award of $750,000.
燭he transformation in social values implicit in juxta-
posing these two incidents is the subject of viviana
(10) zelizer’s excellent book, pricing the priceless child.
during the nineteenth century, she argues, the concept
of the “useful” child who contributed to the family
economy gave way gradually to the present-day notion
of the “useless” child who, though producing no income
(15) for, and indeed extremely costly to, its parents, is yet
considered emotionally “priceless.” well established
among segments of the middle and upper classes by the
mid-1800’s, this new view of childhood spread through-
out society in the iate-nineteenth and early-twentieth
(20) centuries as reformers introduced child-labor regulations
and compulsory education laws predicated in part on the
assumption that a child’s emotional value made child
labor taboo.
for zelizer the origins of this transformation were
(25) many and complex. the gradual erosion of children’s
productive value in a maturing industrial economy,
the decline in birth and death rates, especially in child
morta
lity, and the development of the companionate
family (a family in which members were united by
(30) explicit bonds of love rather than duty) were all factors
critical in changing the assessment of children’s worth.
yet “expulsion of children from the ‘cash nexus,’...
although clearly shaped by profound changes in the
economic, occupational, and family structures,” zelizer
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 a(35) maintains. “was also part of a cultural process ‘of sacral-
ization’ of children’s lives. ” protecting children from the
crass business world became enormously important for
late-nineteenth-century middle-class americans, she
suggests; this sacralization was a way of resisting what
(40) they perceived as the relentless corruption of human
values by the marketplace.
in stressing the cultural determinants of a child’s
worth. zelizer takes issue with practitioners of the new
“sociological economics,” who have analyzed such tradi-
(45) tionally sociological topics as crime, marriage, educa-
tion, and health solely in terms of their economic deter-
minants. allowing only a small role for cultural forces
in the form of individual “preferences,” these sociologists
tend to view all human behavior as directed primarily by
(50) the principle of maximizing economic gain. zelizer is
highly critical of this approach, and emphasizes instead
the opposite phenomenon: the power of social values to
transform price. as children became more valuable in
emotional terms, she argues, their “exchange” or “ sur-
(55) render” value on the market, that is, the conversion of
their intangible worth into cash terms, became much
greater.
1. it can be inferred from the passage that accidental-death
燿amage awards in america during the nineteenth
燾entury tended to be based principally on the
(a) earnings of the person at time of death
(b) wealth of the party causing the death
(c) degree of culpability of the party causing the death
(d) amount of money that had been spent on the person
牐 killed
(e) amount of suffering endured by the family of the
牐 person killed
2. it can be inferred from the passage that in the early
1800’s children were generally regarded by their
families as individuals who
(a) needed enormous amounts of securi
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 aty and affection
(b) required constant supervision while working
(c) were important to the economic well-being of a
牐 family
(d) were unsuited to spending long hours in school
(e) were financial burdens assumed for the good of
牐 society
3. which of the following alternative explanations of the
change in the cash value of children would be most
likely to be put forward by sociological economists as
they are described in the passage?
(a) the cash value of children rose during the
牐 nineteenth century because parents began to increase
牐 their emotional investment in the upbringing of
牐 their children.
(b) the cash value of children rose during the
牐 nineteenth century because their expected earnings
牐 over the course of a lifetime increased greatly.
(c) the cash value of children rose during the
牐 nineteenth century because the spread of
牐 humanitarian ideals resulted in a wholesale
牐 reappraisal of the worth of an individual
(d) the cash value of children rose during the
牐 nineteenth century because compulsory education
牐 laws reduced the supply, and thus raised the costs,
牐 of available child labor.
(e) the cash value of children rose during the
牐 nineteenth century because of changes in the way
牐 negligence law assessed damages in accidental-
牐 death cases.
4. the primary purpose of the passage is to
(a) review the literature in a new academic subfield
(b) present the central thesis of a recent book
(c) contrast two approaches to analyzing historical
牐 change
(d) refute a traditional explanation of a social
牐 phenomenon
(e) encourage further work on a neglected historical
牐 topic
5. it can be inferred from the passage that which of the
爁ollowing statements was true of american families over
爐he course of the nineteenth century?
(a) the average size
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 aof families grew considerably
(b) the percentage of families involved in industrial
牐 work declined dramatically.
(c) family members became more emotionally bonded
牐 to one another.
(d) family members spent an increasing amount of time
牐 working with each other.
(e) family members becam
e more economically
牐 dependent on each other.
6. zelizer refers to all of the following as important
爄nfluences in changing the assessment of children’s
爓orth except changes in
(a) the mortality rate
(b) the nature of industry
(c) the nature of the family
(d) attitudes toward reform movements
(e) attitudes toward the marketplace
7.which of the following would be most consistent with
爐he practices of sociological economics as these
爌ractices are described in the passage?
(a) arguing that most health-care professionals enter
牐 the field because they believe it to be the most
牐 socially useful of any occupation
(b) arguing that most college students choose majors
牐 that they believe will lead to the most highly paid
牐 jobs available to them
(c) arguing that most decisions about marriage and
牐 divorce are based on rational assessments of the
牐 likelihood that each partner will remain committed
牐 to the relationship
(d) analyzing changes in the number of people enrolled
牐 in colleges and universities as a function of changes
牐 in the economic health of these institutions
(e) analyzing changes in the ages at which people get
牐 married as a function of a change in the average
牐 number of years that young people have lived away
牐 from their parents
passage 17
prior to 1975, union efforts to organize public-sector
clerical workers, most of whom are women, were some-
what limited. the factors favoring unionization drives
seem to have been either the presence of large numbers
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 a
(5) of workers, as in new york city, to make it worth the
effort, or the concentration of small numbers in one or
two locations, such as a hospital, to make it relatively
easy, receptivity to unionization on the workers, part
was also a consideration, but when there were large
(10) numbers involved or the clerical workers were the only
unorganized group in a jurisdiction, the multioccupa-
tional unions would often try to organize them regard-
less of the workers’ initial receptivity. the strategic
reasoning was based, first, on the concern that politi-
(15) cians and administrators might play off unionized
against nonunionized workers, and, second, on the
conviction that a fully unionized public work force
meant power, both at the bargaining table and in the
legislature. in localities where clerical workers were few
(20) in number, were scattered in several workplaces, and
expressed no interest in being organized, unions more
often than not ignored them in the pre-1975 period.
牐牐燘ut since the mid-1970’s, a different strategy has
emerged. in 1977, 34 percent of government clerical
(25) workers were represented by a labor organization,
compared with 46 percent of government professionals,
44 percent of government blue-collar workers, and
41 percent of government service workers, since then,
however, the biggest increases in public-sector unioniza-
(30) tion have been among clerical workers. between 1977
and 1980, the number of unionized government workers
in blue-collar and service occupations increased only
about 1.5 percent, while in the white-collar occupations
the increase was 20 percent and among clerical workers
(35) in particular, the increase was 22 percent.
牐牐 what accounts for this upsurge in unionization
among clerical workers? first, more women have entered
the work force in the past few years, and more of them
plan
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 ato remain working until retirement age. conse-
(40) quently, they are probably more concerned than their
predecessors were about job security and economic bene-
fits. also, the women’s movement has succeeded in legit-
imizing the economic and political activism of women on
their own behalf, thereby producing a more positive atti-
(45) tude toward unions. the absence of any comparable
increase in unionization among private-sector clerical
workers, however, identifies the primary catalyst-the
structural change in the multioccupational public-sector
unions themselves. over the past twenty years, the occu-
(50) pational distribution in these unions has been steadily
shifting from predominantly blue-collar to predomi-
nantly white-collar. because there are far more women
in white-collar jobs, an increase in the proportion of
female members has accompanied the occupational shift
(55) and has altered union policy-making in favor of orga-
nizing women and addressing women’s issues.
1. according to the passage, the public-sector workers who
were most likely
to belong to unions in 1977 were
(a) professionals
(b) managers
(c) clerical workers
(d) service workers
(e) blue-collar workers
2. the author cites union efforts to achieve a fully
爑nionized work force (line 13-19) in order to account
爁or why
(a) politicians might try to oppose public-sector union
牐 organizing
(b) public-sector unions have recently focused on
牐 organizing women
(c) early organizing efforts often focused on areas
牐 where there were large numbers of workers
(d) union efforts with regard to public-sector clerical
牐 workers increased dramatically after 1975
(e) unions sometimes tried to organize workers
牐 regardless of the workers’ initial interest in
牐 unionization
3. the author’s claim that, since the mid-1970’s, a new
s
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 atrategy has emerged in the unionization of public-
sector clerical workers (line 23 ) would be
strengthened if the author
(a) described more fully the attitudes of clerical workers
牐 toward labor unions
(b) compared the organizing strategies employed by
牐 private-sector unions with those of public-sector
牐 unions
(c) explained why politicians and administrators
牐 sometimes oppose unionization of clerical workers
(d) indicated that the number of unionized public-sector
牐 clerical workers was increasing even before the mid-
牐 1970’s
(e) showed that the factors that favored unionization
牐 drives among these workers prior to 1975 have
牐 decreased in importance
4. according to the passage, in the period prior to 1975,
爀ach of the following considerations helped determine
爓hether a union would attempt to organize a certain
爂roup of clerical workers except
(a) the number of clerical workers in that group (b) the number of women among the clerical workers
牐 in that group
(c) whether the clerical workers in that area were
牐 concentrated in one workplace or scattered over
牐 several workplaces (d) the degree to which the clerical workers in that
牐 group were interested in unionization
(e) whether all the other workers in the same juris-
牐 diction as that group of clerical workers were
牐 unionized
5. the author states that which of the following is a
燾onsequence of the women’s movement of recent
爕ears?牐
(a) an increase in the number of women entering the
牐 work force
(b) a structural change in multioccupational public-
牐 sector unions
(c) a more positive attitude on the part of women
牐 toward unions(d) an increase in the proportion of clerical workers
牐 that are women
(e) an increase in the number of women in
牐 administrative positions
6. the main concern of the passag
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 ae is to
(a) advocate particular strategies for future efforts to
牐 organize certain workers into labor unions
(b) explain differences in the unionized proportions of
牐 various groups of public-sector workers
(c) evaluate the effectiveness of certain kinds of labor
牐 unions that represent public-sector workers
(d) analyzed and explain an increase in unionization
牐 among a certain category of workers
(e) describe and distinguish strategies appropriate to
牐 organizing different categories of workers
7. the author implies that if the increase in the number of
爓omen in the work force and the impact of the women’s
爉ovement were the main causes of the rise in
爑nionization of public-sector clerical workers, then
(a) more women would hold administrative positions in
牐 unions
(b) more women who hold political offices would have
牐 positive attitudes toward labor unions
(c) there would be an equivalent rise in unionization of
牐 private-sector clerical workers
(d) unions would have shown more interest than they
牐 have in organizing women
(e) the increase in the number of unionized public-
牐 sector clerical workers would have been greater than
牐 it has been
8. the author suggests that it would be disadvantageous to
燼 union if
(a) many workers in the locality were not unionized
(b) the union contributed to political campaigns
(c) the union included only public-sector workers
(d) the union included workers from several
牐 jurisdictions
(e) the union included members from only a few
牐 occupations
9. the author implies that, in comparison with working
爓omen today, women working in the years prior to the
爉id-1970’s showed a greater tendency to
(a) prefer smaller workplaces
(b) express a positive attitude toward labor unions
(c) maximize job secur
ity and economic benefits
(d
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 a) side with administrators in labor disputes
(e) quit working prior of retirement age
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13