歷年考研英語閱讀理解2006年01

[00:06.07]2006 Text1 [00:11.21]In spite of "endless talk of difference," [00:14.54]American society is an amazing machine [00:17.56]for homogenizing people. [00:20.18]There is "the democratizing uniformity of dress [00:23.72]and discourse, [00:25.16]and the casualness and absence of deference" [00:28.28]characteristic of popular culture. [00:31.60]People are absorbed into "a culture of consumption" [00:35.31]launched by the 19th-century department stores [00:38.63]that offered "vast arrays of goods in an elegant atmosphere. [00:43.48]Instead of intimate shops catering to a knowledgeable elite" [00:47.81]these were stores "anyone could enter, [00:50.59]regardless of class or background. [00:54.34]This turned shopping into a public and democratic act." [00:59.17]The mass media, advertising and sports are [01:02.40]other forces for homogenization. [01:05.33]Immigrants are quickly fitting into this common culture, [01:08.88]which may not be altogether elevating [01:11.89]but is hardly poisonous. [01:14.73]Writing for the National Immigration Forum, [01:17.44]Gregory Rodriguez reports that today's immigration is [01:21.29]neither at unprecedented level [01:23.51]nor resistant to assimilation. [01:26.74]In 1998 immigrants were 9.8 percent of population; [01:32.42]in 1900, 13.6 percent. [01:36.63]In the 10 years prior to 1990, [01:39.75]3.1 immigrants arrived for every 1,000 residents; [01:44.69]in the 10 years prior to 1890, [01:47.81]9.2 for every 1,000. [01:51.45]Now, consider three indices of assimilation-- [01:55.46]language, home ownership and intermarriage. [02:00.01]The 1990 Census revealed [02:02.83]that "a majority of immigrants [02:04.24]from each of the fifteen most common countries of [02:06.98]origin spoke English 'well' or 'very well' [02:10.50]after ten years of residence." [02:13.42]The children of immigrants tend to be bilingual [02:16.66]and proficient in English. [02:19.18]"By the third generation, [02:20.80]the original language is lost [02:22.70]in the majority of immigrant families." [02:26.34]Hence the description of America as a "graveyard" for languages. [02:31.17]By 1996 foreign-born immigrants [02:34.60]who had arrived before 1970 [02:37.23]had a home ownership rate of 75.6 percent, [02:41.56]higher than the 69.8 percent rate [02:44.69]among native-born Americans. [02:47.52]Foreign-born Asians and Hispanics [02:50.05]"have higher rates of intermarriage [02:51.90]than do U.S.-born whites and blacks." [02:55.93]By the third generation, [02:57.95]one third of Hispanic women are married to non-Hispanics, [03:02.10]and 41 percent of Asian-American women [03:04.90]are married to non-Asians. [03:07.53]Rodriguez notes that children in remote villages [03:10.44]around the world [03:11.65]are fans of superstars like Arnold Schwarzenegger [03:15.00]and Garth Brooks, [03:17.22]yet "some Americans fear [03:19.12]that immigrant living within the United States [03:21.43]remain somehow immune to the nation's assimilative power." [03:27.04]Are there divisive issues and pockets of seething [03:29.95]anger in America? Indeed. [03:32.87]It is big enough to have a bit of everything. [03:35.40]But particularly when viewed against America's turbulent past, [03:39.73]today's social indices hardly suggest a dark [03:43.09]and deteriorating social environment.

00:00

00:00

MP3下載 文本下載