A century ago, the immigrants from across the Atlantic included settlers and sojourners. Along with the many folks looking to make a permanent home in the United States came those who had no intention to stay, and who would make some money and then go home. Between 1908 and 1915, about 7 million people arrived while about 2 million departed. ①About a quarter of all Italian immigrants, for example, eventually returned to Italy for good. They even had an affectionate nickname, "uccelli di passaggio,"birds of passage.
Today, we are much more rigid about immigrants. ③We divide newcomers into two categories: legal or illegal, good or bad. We hail them as Americans in the making, or brand them as aliens fit for deportation (驱逐出境). That framework has contributed mightily to our broken immigration system and the long political paralysis over how to fix it. ① We don’t need more categories, but we need to change the way we think about categories. ② We need to look beyond strict definitions of legal and illegal. To start, we can recognize the new birds of passage, those living and thriving in the gray areas. We might then begin to solve our immigration challenges.
Crop pickers, violinists, construction workers, entrepreneurs, engineers, home health-care aides and particle physicists are among today’s birds of passage. They are energetic participants in a global economy driven by the flow of work, money and ideas.They prefer to come and go as opportunity calls them. They can manage to have a job in one place and a family in another.
With or without permission, they straddle(叉开腿;跨坐;不表明态度) laws, jurisdictions and identities with ease. We need them to imagine the United States as a place where they can be productive for a while without committing themselves to staying forever. We need them to feel that home can be both here and there and that they can belong to two nations honorably.
Accommodating this new world of people in motion will require new attitudes on both sides of the immigration battle. Looking beyond the culture war logic of right or wrong means opening up the middle ground and understanding that managing immigration today requires multiple paths and multiple outcomes, including some that are not easy to accomplish legally in the existing system.
6. “Birds of passage” refers to those who____________
[A] immigrate across the Atlantic
[B]leave their home countries for good
[C] stay in a foreign country temporarily
[D] find permanent jobs overseas
【分析】
答案为C.词义句意题。根据题干,首先定位到首段末句。在这句中,birds of passage是前面一句中①提到的意大利移民的昵称,他们只在美国居住了一段时间,但最终还是返回意大利。
A项的内容在首段首句有提及,但是它突出强调的是横跨大西洋的移民,这也是一世纪前的情况,而如今birds of passage可能来自世界各个角落,并非局限于大西洋两岸。B项、D项与段意不符。
7. It is implied in paragraph 2 that the current immigration system in the US ________
[A] needs new immigrant categories
[B]has loosened control over immigrants
[C]should be adopted to meet challenges
[D]has been fixed via political means
【分析】
答案为C. 推理判断题。根据题干,直接定位到第二段。解题关键可定位到划线部分②“We need to look beyond stick definitions of legal and illegal. To start, we can recognize the new birds of passage, …We might then begin to solve our immigration challenges.”大意是“我们需要突破合法和非法的严格限制。首先承认短暂移民者的存在,然后开始解决移民问题面临的挑战。”C项高度总结了以上几点。
A项与原文意思不符,第二段① 很明显的与A相反。B、D项在文中未提及。
8. According to the author, today’s birds of passage want ________
[A] financial incentives
[B] a global recognition
[C] opportunities to get regular jobs
[D] the freedom to stay and leave
【分析】
答案为D。 事实细节题。根据题干,可定位到第三段。解题关键在于对“They prefer to come and go as opportunity calls them .They can manage to have a job in one place and a family in another.”大意是“他们跟着机会走,来去自如。他们可以在一个地方立业,在另一个地方成家”。强调的根据工作机会而自由的来去。D项是这句意思的高度概括。
A项是对原文的片面理解,吸引短暂移民者的不仅仅是来自金钱的激励(financial incentives),还有工作机会和工作理念。
B项在文中未提及。
C项中的regular jobs(有规律的工作)在文中未提及,也是对文意的曲解,文章显示的是job opportunities。
9. The author suggests that the birds of passage today should be treated __________
[A] as faithful partners
[B]with economic favors
[C]with legal tolerance
[D] as mighty rivals
【分析】
答案为C. 推理判断题。根据题干,可定位到第五段。在本段中,作者写道我们应该“Looking beyond the culture war logic of right or wrong means opening up the middle ground and understanding that managing immigration today requires multiple paths and multiple outcomes. Including some that are not easy to accomplish legally in the existing system”,大意是“我们应该超越移民合法性方面的文化之争,重现看待中间地段,充分意识到当今的移民管理体系需要各种途径,从而取得多样化的结果,来解决现今移民体系下用法律手段很难解决的问题”,暗含了C项中的tolerance也就是对multiple paths and multiple outcomes的改写。A、B和D项在文中未提及。
10. Choose the best title
[A] come and go: big mistake
[B] living and thriving: great risk
[C]with or without: great risk
[D]legal or illegal: big mistake
【分析】
答案为D 主旨大意题。文章第二段③提到“我们把新移民分成两类:合法移民和不合法移民”,同时作者认为“我们不需要局限于合法与不合法这样严格的定义”,这说明了从合法和不合法角度对于移民的分类是错误的。另外,文章最后一段最后一句“包括在现行的移民体系中不容易合法的实现的一些事情”也反映了文章的中心。即,从合法和不合法角度对于移民的分类是错误的。故选D(合法或非法:大错误)。 A项谈到短暂移民者的移动是个错误,偏离了文章主旨。B和C项说的是risk(风险),文中并未提及,偏离文章主旨。
