Texans have bursting pride and love attention. They also have a thick streak

游客2024-01-01  32

问题     Texans have bursting pride and love attention. They also have a thick streak of short- sighted greed and, even by American standards, a busted disposition to violence. When they hear this sort of criticism they usually ascribe it to the ignorance and jealousy of stuffy Yankees who have not spent enough time in the state to understand it. For such avowedly robust people they are surprisingly sensitive. They hated Edna Ferber’s novel Giant, which scourged Texan vulgarity, racism and the mores of millionaires, but they bought it in great quantities and packed cinemas to see the film. They would rather be talked about than not, and if you do not talk about them they do it for you.
    In claiming special qualities for themselves, Texans have had to become reconciled to the fact that a large number of them are not native. In the last century "Gone to Texas" was a commonplace graffito daubed on barns in other states, and in recent years "Gone to Texas" has, figuratively, been written on the front doors of millions of Americans and also Mexicans. In the early 1980s newcomers accounted for nearly two-thirds of the state’s population increase. But Texans do not believe they are being diluted. They maintain that Texanhood, or Texianism, is a matter of attitude and that Texanic qualities exist in abundance in many Americans, regardless of their birthplace: it is when these people are planted in Texas, and nourished by its atmosphere, that they flower like true Texans. A man may not be born in Texas, which is unfortunate; but he can be born to be Texan.
    Many Alaskans are urban, young and raising families, here for a while, and trying to make money before moving to somewhere warmer. But many are staying. While most remain in Anchorage and other centers, some set out to build a cabin in the wilderness and live by hunting, trapping and fishing, learning how to skin a muskrat and moose, how to survive terrible weather, how to be truly in tune with the land, taking pleasure in great silence and unpeopled immensity. To settle the frontier the state has a homesteading program, based on the federal Homestead Act of 1864, which was a key event in the opening up of the American west. Hundreds of Alaskans are awarded parcels of wilderness land in an annual lottery and undertake to invest sweat equity, to build a home within three years and clear and cultivate the land within five. Alaskans love reading about Alaska, and two of the most popular books are a manual on log cabin building and a collection of tales about grizzly bears, of which Alaska is a stronghold. Log cabin life is for the stout-hearted few with the springs of adventure strong in them, and these wilderness Alaskans are remarkable. Some are refugees of one kind or another. Several hundred are Vietnam veterans, tortured by their experiences of war and unable to fit into normal urban life, seeking solace in the wilds. [br] Which of the following statements can best summarize the implications of Paragraph 2?

选项 A、Texans are so conceited that they blindly and subjectively consider everything Texan to be inclusively Texan.
B、Texans pride themselves on being superior to other Americans who are not as rich as Texans.
C、Texans thumb down on all non-natives and regard them as being less educated and resourceful.
D、Texans are crude in nature, savage in behavior, and conceited in personality.

答案 D

解析 推断题型。从第二段第一句和倒数一、二句可看出得州人很为自己所拥有的特殊品性而自豪,但大部分的得州人并不是土生土长的;可他们将“得州身份”或“得州主义”看成是存在于许多美国人品质中的一种态度;不论他们的出生地在那儿,只要来到得州,他们就像真正的得州人一样在这儿开花结果。他们认为自己没生在得州是不幸的,但能生就成为一个得州人。因此选项A、B、C都与“得州人并不都是土生土长之人”有抵触,只有D.“得州人天性纯朴,行为粗鲁,个性自以为是”是答案。
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