When A. Philip Randolph assumed the leadership of the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car (sleeping car: 卧车) Porters, he began a ten-year battle to win recognition from the Pullman (Pullman: n.卧车, 普式火车(19世纪美国发明家George M.Pullman设计的豪华型列车车厢,常用为特等客车)) Company, the largest private employer of Black people in the United States and the company that controlled the railroad industry’s sleeping car (sleeping car: 卧车) and parlor (a room used primarily for conversation or the reception of guests: parlor car: n.特等豪华铁路客车) service. In 1935 the Brotherhood became the first Black union recognized by a major corporation. Randolph’s efforts in the battle helped transform the attitude of Black workers toward unions and toward themselves as an identifiable group; eventually, Randolph helped to weaken organized labor’s antagonism toward Black workers.
In the Pullman contest Randolph faced formidable obstacles. The first was Black workers’ understandable skepticism toward unions, which had historically barred Black workers from membership. An additional obstacle was the union that Pullman itself had formed, which weakened support among Black workers for an independent entity.
The Brotherhood possessed a number of advantages, however, including Randolph’s own tactical abilities. In 1928 he took the bold step of threatening a strike against Pullman. Such a threat, on a national scale, under Black leadership, helped replace the stereotype of the Black worker as servant with the image of the Black worker as wage earner (wage earner: n.靠工资为生的人, 雇佣劳动者). In addition, the porters’ very isolation aided the Brotherhood. Porters were scattered throughout the country, sleeping in dormitories in Black communities; their segregated life protected the union’s internal communications from interception. That the porters were a homogeneous group working for a single employer with single labor policy, thus sharing the same grievances from city to city, also strengthened the Brotherhood and encouraged racial identity and solidarity as well. But it was only in the early 1930’s that federal legislation prohibiting a company from maintaining its own unions with company money eventually allowed the Brotherhood to become recognized as the porters’ representative.
Not content with this triumph, Randolph brought the Brotherhood into the American Federation of Labor, where it became the equal of the Federation’s 105 other unions. He reasoned that as a member union, the Brotherhood would be in a better position to exert pressure on member unions that practiced race restrictions. Such restrictions were eventually found unconstitutional in 1944.
2. In using the word “understandable” (line 14), the author most clearly conveys
(A) sympathy with attempts by the Brotherhood between 1925 and 1935 to establish an independent union
(B) concern that the obstacles faced by Randolph between 1925 and 1935 were indeed formidable
(C) ambivalence about the significance of unions to most Black workers in the 1920’s
(D) appreciation of the attitude of many Black workers in the 1920’s toward unions（D）
(E) regret at the historical attitude of unions toward Black workers
这里得appreciation到底解释为什么？总不会是欣赏吧？我觉得是理解得意思，但又没查到appreciation有这个意思
4. The passage suggests that if the grievances of porters in one part of the United States had been different from those of porters in another part of the country, which of the following would have been the case?
(A) It would have been more difficult for the Pullman Company to have had a single labor policy.
(B) It would have been more difficult for the Brotherhood to control its channels of communication.
(C) It would have been more difficult for the Brotherhood to build its membership.
(D) It would have been easier for the Pullman Company’s union to attract membership.（C）
(E) It would have been easier for the Brotherhood to threaten strikes.
这题有点抓狂，来回看了几遍没看出OG讲得所谓得build its membership.得意思，这段信息肯定来自于 That the porters were a homogeneous group working for a single employer with single labor policy, thus sharing the same grievances from city to city, also strengthened the Brotherhood and encouraged racial identity and solidarity as well.但对这句结构不是很清楚，到底是the porters strengthened 还是sharing the same grievances from city to city strengthened ？我觉得thus sharing the same grievances from city to city只是一句插入语，跟后面得strengthen因果关系，但后来由答案回推，估计这里得 build its membership.是strengthen得改写，不知道对不对这么理解？
还有发觉第2遍精读有时居然比第一遍快速看错得多，真是郁闷啊，不知道是再进步还是退步，欲哭无泪得感觉很不好受   | 
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发表于 2005-7-31 22:07:00
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