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More than a hundred years ago, before the Civil War, a crew of cowboys stood outside a large horse corral, With them was their boss Bradford Grimes, a cattleman, who owned a large South Texas ranch near the Gulf of Mexico.
Just then, Mrs. Grimes, the cattleman’s wife, came to the ranch house door and cried out, "Bradford! Bradford! Those Blacks are worth a thousand dollars apiece. One might get killed." The cowboys laughed, but they knew she was telling the truth. For they were all Black slaves. Bradford Grimes was their owner.
Most of the first Black cowboys were slaves, brought by their masters from the old South. On the plantations in the South, the slaves cut cotton. On the ranches in Texas they had to learn a new trade—breaking horses and handling long-horns. Some were taught by Mexican vaqueros, some by Indiana who knew the ways of horses and cattle.
Grimes was only one of hundreds of slaveowning ranchers who ran cattle in Texas. The ranchers had brought their families and slaves from Mississippi, Georgia, and other southern states. They came on horseback, on foot, and in wagons.
Some ranchers settled near the Mexican border, but there they found that it was too easy for their slaves to escape. Even slaves as far north as Austin, the capital of Texas, came to think of Mexico as the promised land. As early as 1845, the year that Texas became a state, a Texas newspaper reported the escape of twenty-five Blacks. "They were mounted on some of the best horses that could be found, "the story said, "and several of them were well armed." Thousands of other Black slaves escaped in the same way.
All-Black cattle crews were common throughout central and eastern Texas. There were even a few free Blacks who owned ranches before the Civil War. Aaron Ashworth was one of them, and he owned 2500 cattle, as well as some slaves of his own. He employed a White schoolmaster to tutor his children. Black cowboys helped to tame and settle a wild country.
What do you think most slaves thought about living and working on ranches
A:They liked it so much they were going to find others to bring back. B:They were unhappy and wanted to leave. C:They wanted to buy slaves and start ranches of their own. D:They were happy to work there.
When Newsweek recently asked 1,000 U. S. citizens to take America’s official citizenship test, 29 percent couldn’t name the vice president. Seventy-three percent couldn’t correctly say why we fought the Cold War. Forty-four percent were unable to define the Bill of Rights. And 6 percent couldn’t even circle Independence Day on a calendar.
Don’t get us wrong: civic ignorance is nothing new. For as long as they’ve existed, Americans have been misunderstanding checks and balances and misidentifying their senators. And they’ve been lamenting the ignorance of their peers ever since pollsters started publishing these dispiriting surveys back in Harry Truman’s day. According to a study by Michael X. Delli Carpini, dean of the Annenberg School for Communication, the yearly shifts in civic knowledge since World War II have averaged out to "slightly under 1 percent. "
But the world has changed. And unfortunately, it’s becoming more and more inhospitable to incurious know-nothings—like us. To appreciate the risks involved, it’s important to understand where American ignorance comes from. In March 2009, the European Journal of Communication asked citizens of Britain, Denmark, Finland, and the U.S. to answer questions on international affairs. The Europeans outdid us. It was only the latest in a series of polls that have shown us lagging behind our First World peers.
Most experts agree that the relative complexity of the U. S. political system makes it hard for Americans to keep up. In many European countries, parliaments have proportional representation, and the majority party rules without having to "share power with a lot of subnational governments," notes Yale political scientist Jacob Hacker. In contrast, we’re saddled with a nonproportional Senate; a tangle of state, local, and federal bureaucracies; and near-constant elections for every imaginable office (judge, sheriff, school-board member, and so on). "Nobody is competent to understand it all, which you realize every time you vote," says Michael Schudson, author of The Good Citizen. "You know you’re going to come up short, and that discourages you from learning more. "
It doesn’t help that the United States has one of the highest levels of income inequality in the developed world, with the top 400 households raking in more money than the bottom 60 percent combined. As Dalton Conley, an NYU sociologist, explains, "it’s like comparing apples and oranges. Unlike Denmark, we have a lot of very poor people without access to good education, and a huge immigrant population that doesn’t even speak English. " When surveys focus on well-off, native-born respondents, the U. S. actually holds its own against Europe.
For more than two centuries, Americans have gotten away with not knowing much about the world around them. But times have changed—and they’ve changed in ways that make civic ignorance a big problem going forward. We suffer from a lack of information rather than a lack of ability. Whether that’s a treatable affliction or a terminal illness remains to be seen. But now’s the time to start searching for a cure.
Back in Truman’s day, Americans
A:were well aware of what was going on around them. B:already showed much ignorance about public affairs. C:did not know as much about civil rights as they do now. D:lamented the ignorance of the pollsters involved in surveys.
Text 1
| More than a hundred years ago, before
the Civil War, a crew of cowboys stood outside a large horse corral, With them
was their boss Bradford Grimes, a cattleman, who owned a large South Texas ranch
near the Gulf of Mexico. Just then, Mrs. Grimes, the cattleman’s wife, came to the ranch house door and cried out, "Bradford! Bradford! Those Blacks are worth a thousand dollars apiece. One might get killed." The cowboys laughed, but they knew she was telling the truth. For they were all Black slaves. Bradford Grimes was their owner. Most of the first Black cowboys were slaves, brought by their masters from the old South. On the plantations in the South, the slaves cut cotton. On the ranches in Texas they had to learn a new trade—breaking horses and handling long-horns. Some were taught by Mexican vaqueros, some by Indiana who knew the ways of horses and cattle. Grimes was only one of hundreds of slaveowning ranchers who ran cattle in Texas. The ranchers had brought their families and slaves from Mississippi, Georgia, and other southern states. They came on horseback, on foot, and in wagons. Some ranchers settled near the Mexican border, but there they found that it was too easy for their slaves to escape. Even slaves as far north as Austin, the capital of Texas, came to think of Mexico as the promised land. As early as 1845, the year that Texas became a state, a Texas newspaper reported the escape of twenty-five Blacks. "They were mounted on some of the best horses that could be found, "the story said, "and several of them were well armed." Thousands of other Black slaves escaped in the same way. All-Black cattle crews were common throughout central and eastern Texas. There were even a few free Blacks who owned ranches before the Civil War. Aaron Ashworth was one of them, and he owned 2500 cattle, as well as some slaves of his own. He employed a White schoolmaster to tutor his children. Black cowboys helped to tame and settle a wild country. |
A:They liked it so much they were going to find others to bring back. B:They were unhappy and wanted to leave. C:They wanted to buy slaves and start ranches of their own. D:They were happy to work there.
Jim was intelligent, but he hated hard work. He said, "You work hard, and make a lot of money, and then the government takes most of it. I want easy work that gives me lots of money and that the government doesn’t know about".
So he became a thief--but he did not do the stealing himself. He got others to do it. They were much less intelligent than he was, so he arranged everything and told them what to do.
One day they were looking for rich families to rob, and Jim sent one of them to a large beautiful house just outside the town.
It was evening, and when the man looked through one of the windows, he saw a young man and a girl playing on a piano.
When he went back to Jim, he said, "That family can’t have much money. Two people were playing on the same piano there./
It can be concluded from the story that______.
A:Jim and his men didn’t rob the family B:the family they were going to rob was not rich in fact C:the thief who was sent to the beautiful house was foolish D:the young man and the girl were husband and wife
W: Ray, aren't you going straight home after school today
M:______
A:Yes, I won' t be going home until Friday. B:No. I have a class until one o' clock, and after that I' m going to spend a couple of hours at the library before going home. C:Yes. But I am afraid I have to stay for a few hours in the city library before going home. D:Yes. If I were you, I wouldn' t go home directly.
Passage Five
Jim was intelligent, but he hated hard work. He said, "You work hard, and make a lot of money, and then the government takes most of it. I want easy work that gives me lots of money and that the government doesn’t know about."
So he became a thief--but he did not do the stealing. He got others to do it. They were much less intelligent than he was, so he arranged everything and told them what to do.
One day they were looking for rich families to rob, and Jim sent one of them to a large beautiful house just outside the town.
It was evening, and when the man looked through one of the windows, he saw a young man and a girl playing on a piano.
When he went back to Jim, he said, "That family can’t have much money. Two people were playing on the same piano there."
A:Jim and his men didn't rob the family B:the family they were going to rob was not rich in fact C:the thief sent to the beautiful house was foolish enough D:the young man and the girl were husband and wife
W: Ray, aren’t you going straight home after school today
M:（）
A:Yes, I won’ t be going home until Friday. B:No. I have a class until one o’ clock, and after that I’ m going to spend a couple of hours at the library before going home. C:Yes. But I am afraid I have to stay for a few hours in the city library before going home. D:Yes. If I were you, I wouldn’ t go home directly.
W: Ray, aren't you going straight home after school todayM:______
A:Yes, I won' t be going home until Friday. B:No. I have a class until one o' clock, and after that I' m going to spend a couple of hours at the library before going home. C:Yes. But I am afraid I have to stay for a few hours in the city library before going home. D:Yes. If I were you, I wouldn' t go home directly.
A:It will not cause any damage to babies’ health. B:Most Americans had been contaminated before they were born. C:This is going to be a very serious environmental problem. D:It is also a problem in many other countries, too.
