ten percent to the Black population of the United States

left the South, where the preponderance of the Black

population had been located, and migrated to northern

(5) states, with the largest number moving, it is claimed,

between 1916 and 1918. It has been frequently assumed,

but not proved, that the majority of the migrants in

what has come to be called the Great Migration came

from rural areas and were motivated by two concurrent

(10) factors: the collapse of the cotton industry following

the boll weevil infestation, which began in 1898, and

increased demand in the North for labor following

the cessation of European immigration caused by the

outbreak of the First World War in 1914. This assump-

(15) tion has led to the conclusion that the migrants’ subse-

quent lack of economic mobility in the North is tied to

rural background, a background that implies unfamil-

iarity with urban living and a lack of industrial skills.

But the question of who actually left the South has

(20) never been rigorously investigated. Although numerous

investigations document an exodus from rural southern

areas to southern cities prior to the Great Migration.

no one has considered whether the same migrants then

moved on to northern cities. In 1910 over 600,000

(25) Black workers, or ten percent of the Black work force,

reported themselves to be engaged in “manufacturing

and mechanical pursuits,” the federal census category

roughly encompassing the entire industrial sector. The

Great Migration could easily have been made up entirely

(30) of this group and their families. It is perhaps surprising

to argue that an employed population could be enticed

to move, but an explanation lies in the labor conditions

then prevalent in the South.

About thirty-five percent of the urban Black popu-

(35) lation in the South was engaged in skilled trades. Some

were from the old artisan class of slavery-blacksmiths.

masons, carpenters-which had had a monopoly of

certain trades, but they were gradually being pushed

out by competition, mechanization, and obsolescence,

(40) The remaining sixty-five percent, more recently urban-

ized, worked in newly developed industries---tobacco.

lumber, coal and iron manufacture, and railroads.

Wages in the South, however, were low, and Black

workers were aware, through labor recruiters and the

(45)Black press, that they could earn more even as unskilled

workers in the North than they could as artisans in the

South. After the boll weevil infestation, urban Black

workers faced competition from the continuing influx

of both Black and White rural workers, who were driven

(50) to undercut the wages formerly paid for industrial jobs.

Thus, a move north would be seen as advantageous

to a group that was already urbanized and steadily

employed, and the easy conclusion tying their subse-

quent economic problems in the North to their rural

background comes into question.

(A) It is uncertain how many people actually migrated during the Great Migration.

(B) The eventual economic status of the Great Migration migrants has not been adequately traced.

(C) It is not likely that people with steady jobs would have reason to move to another area of the country.

(D) It is not true that the term “manufacturing and mechanical pursuits” actually encompasses the entire industrial sector.

(E) Of the Black workers living in southern cities, only those in a small number of trades were threatened by obsolescence.

C is the best answer. To answer this question, you must first identify the author’s argument. The author argues that it is possible that Black migrants to the North were living and working in urban areas of the South rather in rural areas, as researchers had previously assumed. In lines 44-48, the author states that it may be “surprising” that an employed population would relocate. Thus, the

author anticipates an objection to her argument on the grounds that Black urban workers in the South would have been unlikely to leave an economically secure existence. She meets that objection by stating that “an explanation lies in the labor conditions then prevalent in the South” (lines 46-48), and discusses the low wages that may have motivated Black workers to migrate north for higher pay.

答案是C，没看懂og的解释

og的意思是：你应该先定位，possible objection 是和原文的 perhaps surprising对应的。然后og又解释了一下：作者认为有工作的兄弟们还迁移是可能的，低工资是已经有工作的人还迁移的原因。

btw：我觉得og阅读部分的解释价值一般。我要是看不明白文章，读了解释还是可能糊涂。

先说题型：这道题是典型的possible objection型：也就是问作者预料道他的哪个观点可能有人反对？在读文章的时候看到It is perhaps surprising to argue that这种话，100％会出题，而且考的就是possible objection题。“也许令人惊讶”，就是说这个观点是和常人思路不一样的，所以是可能被人反对的。同样的题在og第十版的第二篇阅读－考古学困境－这篇也有。

再看本题：作者说：It is perhaps surprising to argue that an employed population could be enticed to move。C选项就是这句话的改写。employed population改称people with a steady job， be enticed to move改成have reasons to move。