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1、Growing Up ColoredA You wouldnt know Piedmont anymoremy Piedmont, I meanthe town in West Virginia where I learned to be a colored boy.B The 1950s in Piedmont was a time to remember, or at least to me. People were always proud to be from Piedmontlying at the foot of a mountain, on the banks of the mi
2、ghty Potomac. We knew God gave America no more beautiful location. I never knew colored people anywhere who were crazier about mountains and water, flowers and trees, fishing and hunting. For as long as anyone could remember, we could outhunt, outshoot, and outswim the white boys in the valley.C The
3、 social structure of Piedmont was something we knew like the back of our hands. It was an immigrant town; white Piedmont was Italian and Irish, with a handful of wealthy WASPs (盎格鲁撒克逊裔旳白人新教徒) on East Hampshire Street, and ethnic neighborhoods of working-class people everywhere else, colored and whit
4、e.D For as long as anyone can remember, Piedmonts character has been completely bound up with the Westvaco paper mill: its prosperous past and doubtful future. At first glance, the town is a typical dying mill center. Many once beautiful buildings stand empty, evidencing a bygone time of spirit and
5、pride. The big houses on East Hampshire Street are no longer proud, as they were when I E Like the Italians and the Irish, most of the colored people migrated to Piedmont at the turn of the 20th century to work at the paper mill, which opened in 1888. All the colored men at the paper mill worked on
6、the platformloading paper into trucks until the craft unions were finally integrated in 1968. Loading is what Daddy did every working day of his life. Thats what almost every colored grown-up I knew did.F Colored people lived in three neighborhoods that were clearly separated. Welcome to the Colored
7、 Zone, a large stretched banner could have said. And it felt good in there, like walking around your house in bare feet and underwear, or snoring right out loud on the couch in front of the TVenveloped by the comforts of home, the warmth of those you love.G Of course, the colored world was not so mu
8、ch a neighborhood as a condition of existence. And though our own world was seemingly self-contained, it impacted on the white world of Piedmont in almost every direction. Certainly, the borders of our world seemed to be impacted on when some white man or woman showed up where he or she did not belo
9、ng, such as at the black Legion Hall. Our space was violated when one of them showed up at a dance or a party. The rhythms would be off. The music would sound not quite right: attempts to pat the beat off just so. Everybody would leave early.H Before 1955, most white people were just shadowy presenc
10、es in our world, vague figures of power like remote bosses at the mill or tellers at the bank. There were exceptions, of course, the white people who would come into our world in ritualized, everyday ways we all understood. Mr. Mail Man, Mr. Insurance Man, Mr. White-and-Chocolate Milk Man, Mr. Landl
11、ord Man, Mr. Police Man: we called white people by their trade, like characters in a mystery play. Mr. Insurance Man would come by every other week to collect premiums on college or death policies, sometimes 50 cents or less.I Its no disgrace to be colored, the black entertainer Bert Williams famous
12、ly observed early in the century, but it is awfully inconvenient. For most of my childhood, we couldnt cat in restaurants or sleep in hotels, we couldnt use certain bathrooms or try on clothes in stores. Mama insisted that we dress up when we went to shop. She was carefully dressed when she went to
13、clothing stores, and wore white pads called shields under her arms so her dress or blouse would show no sweat. Wed like to try this on, shed say carefully, uttering her words precisely and properly. We dont buy clothes we cant try on, shed say when they declined, and wed walk out in Mamas dignified
14、(有尊严旳) manner. She preferred to shop where we had an account and where everyone knew who she was.J At the Cut-Rate Drug Store, no one colored was allowed to sit down at the counter or tables, with one exception: my father. I dont know for certain why Carl Dadisman, the owner, wouldnt stop Daddy from
15、 sitting down. But I believe it was in part because Daddy was so light-colored, and in part because, during his shift at the phone company, he picked up orders for food and coffee for the operators. Colored people were supposed to stand at the counter, get their food to go, and leave. Even when Youn
16、g Doc Bess would set up the basketball team with free Cokes after one of many victories, the colored players had to stand around and drink out of paper cups while the white players and cheerleaders sat down in comfortable chairs and drank out of glasses.K I couldnt have been much older than five or
17、six as I sat with my father at the Cut-Rate one afternoon, enjoying two scoops of caramel ice cream. Mr. Wilson, a stony-faced, brooding Irishman, walked by.Hello, Mr. Wilson, my father said.Hello, George.L I was genuinely puzzled. Mr. Wilson must have confused my father with somebody else, but who?
18、 There werent any Georges among the colored people in Piedmont. Why dont you tell him your name, Daddy? I asked loudly. Your name isnt George.He knows my name, boy, my father said after a long pause. He calls all colored people George.M I knew we wouldnt talk about it again; even at that age, 1 was
19、given to understand that there were some subjects it didnt do to worry to death about. Now that I have children, I realize that what distressed my father wasnt so much the Mr. Wilsons of the world as the painful obligation to explain the racial facts of life to someone who hadnt quite learned them y
20、et. Maybe Mr. Wilson couldnt hurt my father by calling him George; but I hurt him by asking to know why.注意：此部分试题请在答题卡2上作答。46. The author felt as a boy that his life in a separated neighborhood was casual and cozy.47. There is every sign of decline at the paper mill now.48. One reason the authors fat
21、her could sit and eat at the drug store was that he didnt look that dark.49. Piedmont was a town of immigrants from different parts of the world.50. In spite of the awful inconveniences caused by racial prejudice, the authors family managed to live a life of dignity.51. The author later realized he
22、had caused great distress to his father by asking why he was wrongly addressed.52. The author took pride in being from Piedmont because of its natural beauty.53. Colored people called white people by the business they did.54. Colored people who lived in Piedmont did heavy manual jobs at the paper mi
23、ll.55. The colored people felt uneasy at the presence of the whites in their neighborhood.【参照答案】46-55：FDJCI MBHEGPassage OneQuestions 56 to 60 are based on the following passage.Children are a delight. They are our future. But sadly, hiring someone to take care of them while you go to work is gettin
24、g more expensive by the year.Earlier this month, it was reported that the cost of enrolling an infant or small kid at a childcare center rose 3% in 2023, faster than the overall cost of living. There are now large strips of the country where daycare for an infant costs more than a tenth of the avera
25、ge married couples income.This is not necessarily a new trend, but it is a somewhat puzzling one. The price of professional childcare has been rising since the 1980s. Yet during that time, pay for professional childcare workers has stood still. Actually caregivers make less today, in real terms, tha
26、n they did in 1990. Considering that labor costs are responsible for up to 80% of a daycare centers expenses, one would expect flat wages to have meant flat prices.So whos to blame for higher childcare costs?Childcare is a carefully regulated industry. States lay down rules about how many children e
27、ach employee is allowed to watch over, the space care centers need per child, and other minute details. And the stricter the regulations, the higher the costs. If it has to hire a caregiver for every two children, it cant really achieve any economies of scale on labor to save money when other expens
28、es go up. In Massachusetts, where childcare centers must hire one teacher for every three infants, the price of care averaged more than $16,000 per year. In Mississippi, where centers must hire one teacher for every five infants, the price of care averaged less than $5,000.Unfortunately, I dont have
29、 all the daycare-center regulations handy. But I wouldnt be surprised if as the rules have become more elaborate, prices have risen. The tradeoff (互换) might be worth it in some cases; after all, the health and safety of children should probably come before cheap service. But certainly, it doesnt see
30、m to be an accident that some of the cheapest daycare available is in the least .56. What problem do parents of small kids have to face?A) The ever-rising childcare prices. B) The budgeting of family expenses.C) The balance between work and family. D) The selection of a good daycare center.57. What
31、does the author feel puzzled about?A) Why the prices of childcare vary greatly from state to state.B) Why increased childcare prices have not led to better service.C) Why childcare workers pay has not increased with the rising childcare costs.D) Why there is a severe shortage of childcare profession
32、al in a number of states.58. What prevent childcare centers from saving money?A) Steady increase in labor costs. B) Strict government regulations.C) Lack of support from the state. D) High administrative expenses.59. Why is the average cost of childcare in Mississippi much lower than in Massachusett
33、s?A) The overall quality of service is not as good.B) Payments for caregivers there are not as high.C) Living expenses there are comparatively low.D) Each teacher is allowed to care for more kids.60. What is the authors view on daycare service?A) Caregivers should receive regular professional traini
34、ng.B) Less elaborate rules about childcare might lower costs.C) It is crucial to strike a balance between quality and costs.D) It is better for different states to learn from each other.Passage TwoQuestions 61 to 65 are based on the following passage.Alex Pangs amusing new book The Distraction Addic
35、tion addresses those of us who feel panic without a cellphone or computer. And that, he claims, is pretty much all of us. When were not online, where we spend four months annually, were engaged in the stressful work of trying to get online.The Distraction Addiction is not framed as a self-help book.
36、 Its a thoughtful examination of the danger of our computing overdose and a historical overview of how technological advances change consciousness. A professional futurist, Pang urges an approach which he calls contemplative (沉思旳) computing. He asks that you pay full attention to how your mind and b
37、ody interact with computers and how your attention and creativity are influenced by technology.Pangs first job is to free you from common misconception that doing two things at once allows you to get more done. What is commonly called multitasking is, in fact, switch-tasking, and its harmful effects
38、 on productivity are well documented. Pang doesnt advocate returning to a preinternet world. Instead, he asks you to take a more ecological (生态旳) view of your relationships with technologies and look for ways devices or media may be making specific tasks easier or faster but at the same time making
39、your work and life harder.The Distraction Addiction is particularly fascinating on how technologies have changed certain field of laboroften for the worse. For architects, computer-aided design has become essential but in some ways has cheapened the design process. As one architect puts it, Architec
40、ture is first and foremost about thinking. and drawing is a more productive way of thinking than computer-aided design. Somewhat less amusing are Pangs solutions for kicking the Internet habit. He recommends the usual behavior-modification approaches, familiar to anyone who has completed a quit-smok
41、ing program. Keep logs to study your online profile and decide what you can knock out, download a program like Freedom that locks you out of your browser, or take a digital Sabbath (安息日) ; Unless youre a reporter or emergency-department doctor, youll discover that your world doesnt fall apart when y
42、ou go offline.61. Alex Pangs new book is aimed for readers who _.A) find their work online too stressfulB) go online mainly for entertainmentC) are fearful about using the cellphone or computerD) can hardly tear themselves away from the Internet62. What does Alex Pang try to do in his new book?A) Of
43、fer advice on how to use the Internet effectively.B) Warn people of the possible dangers of Internet use.C) Predict the trend of future technological development.D) Examine the influence of technology on the human mind.63. What is the common view on multitasking?A) It enables people to work more eff
44、iciently.B) It is in a way quite similar to switch-tasking.C) It makes peoples work and life even harder.D) It distracts peoples attention from useful work.64. What does the author think of computer-aided design?A) It considerably cuts down the cost of building design.B) It somewhat restrains archit
45、ects productive thinking.C) It is indispensable in architects work process.D) It can free architects from laborious drawing.65. What is Ales Pangs recommendation for Internet users?A) They use the Internet as little as possible.B) They keep a record of their time.C) They exercise self-control over their time online.D) They entertain themselves online on off-days only.