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

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

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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.
The primary purpose of the passage is to
选项 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.
答案D
解析 主题题型：A．对一方法给出替代法。文章议论的是观点的差异，而不是研究方法差异。B．为解决一矛盾现象提供证据。“resolves a contradiction”文中没有。C．介绍一新近发现的信息源。显然这不是主要内容。D．挑战已被接受的解释。正确。原文作者不同意对黑人迁移的解释，做了一番论证后，提出了自己的观点。E．指出一个已被抛弃的理论值得重新关注。无。
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