The quick adoption of the scheme may have indicated less about the state lawmakers' respect for working people than about a fear of risking their anger. In the 1880s the United States was a land sharply divided between the immensely wealthy and the very poor. Henry George was accurate in describing the era as one of "progress and poverty." In a society in which factory, owners rode in private Pullmans while ten-year-olds slaved in the mines, strong anti-capitalist feeling ran high. Demands for fundamental change were common throughout the labor press. With socialists demanding an end to "wage slavery" and anarchists(无政府主义)singing the praises of the virtues of dynamite(炸药), middle-of-the-roaders like Samuel Gompers and McGuire seemed attractively mild by comparison. One can imagine practical capitalists seeing Labor Day as a bargain: A one-day party certainly cost them less than paying their workers decent wages.
56. Judging from the passage, McGuire was ____________.
A) a moderate labor leader
B) an extreme-anarchist in the labor movement
C) a devoted socialist fighting against exploitation of man by man
D) a firm anti-capitalist demanding the elimination of wage slavery
57. We can see from the first paragraph that the first Labor Day march _________.
A) immediately won nationwide support
B) involved workers from 30 states
C) was opposed by many factory owners
D) was organized by the UBCJ
58. Which of the following is the key factor in the immediate approval of Labor Day as a national holiday?
A) The lawmakers' respect for the workers
B) The worker's determination to have a holiday of their own.
C) The socialists' demands for thorough reform
D) The politicians' fear of the workers' anger.
59. We lean from the passage that the establishment of Labor Day ____________.
A) was accepted by most bosses as a compromise
B) marked a turning point in the workers' struggle for more rights
C) indicated the improvement of the workers' welfare
D) signaled the end of "wage slavery"
60. McGuire proposed Labor Day in order to ___________.
A) draw people's attention to the striking contrast between the rich and the poor
B) make prominent the important role of the working class in society
C) win for the workers the right to shorter working hours
D) expose the exploitation of the workers by their bosses
Passage Three
Questions 61 to 65 are based on the following passage:
In the old day, children were familiar with birth and death as part of life. This is perhaps the first generation of American youngsters(年轻人)who have never been close by during the birth of a baby and have never experienced the death of a family member.
Nowadays when people grow old, we often send them to nursing homes. When they get sick, we transfer them to a hospital, where children are forbidden to visit terminally ill patients-even when those patients are their parents. This deprives(剥夺)the dying patient of significant family members during the last few days of his life and it deprives the children of an experience of death, which is an important learning experience.
Some of my colleagues and I once interviewed and followed approximately 500 terminally ill patients in order to find out what they could teach us and how we could be of more benefit, not just to them but to the members of their families as well. We are most impressed by the fact that even those patients who were not told of their serious illness were quite aware of its potential outcome.
It is important for family members, and doctors and nurses to understand these patients' communications in order to truly understand their needs, fears, and fantasies(幻想). Most of our patients welcomed another human being with whom they could talk openly, honestly, and frankly about their trouble. Many of them shared with us their tremendous need to be informed, to be kept up-to-date on their medical condition and to be told when the end was near. We found out that patients who had been dealt with openly and frankly were better able to cope with the approach of death and finally to reach a true stage of acceptance prior to death.
61. The elders of contemporary Americ
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