单选题 It's easy to blame a backward-moving culture that's hostile to women, but rapid transformation is also part of the story. Enjoying the freedoms of the new India, many of its citizens have left traditional village life, but they have not found a new set of ethics in urban areas. When the accused go unpunished or justice takes forever to be delivered, it makes rape a way of life for Indian men.
I am one of those Westerners amused by India's rapid growth and expanding social mobility. I lived in New Delhi while reposing on the country from 2002 to 2007, when there were hundreds of documented incidents of sexual violence in the capital. Delhi accounted for one-quarter of all rapes recorded in India in 2011. When I lived there, Indian women regularly urged me to move elsewhere—anywhere!—calling Delhi "India's rape capital" and telling me terrifying stories of how unsafe the city was.
Of course, most Delhi residents don't have the option to leave, nor do they want to. The city's population has swelled with migrants from India's poor rural areas. For them, Delhi represents opportunity. About 350 million Indians now live in cities, and an additional 250 million are expected to move to urban areas in the next two decades. Call centers and the hospitality sector in the capital have created jobs for even the slightly educated, making the middle-class dream seem more attainable than ever. However, India's rural migrants do not find the education and work opportunities they expect in cities. Poverty, low social status and gender still prevent many from advancing.
The parents of the 23-year-old rape victim, who died a week ago, had moved the family to a middle-class New Delhi neighborhood from a poor village. This family, having sold land to help send her to college, had placed hopes in her, who had urged her two younger brothers to follow her to college. Having recently qualified as a trainee physiotherapist in a private Delhi hospital, she landed herself in a solidly middle-class profession.
It makes sense that this attack happened in Delhi, which appears to welcome modern women who go to college and work outside the home. They are vulnerable to sexual harassment or violence. But the city is not nearly as open as advertised. Because it is filled with rural migrants who speak dozens of languages and represent every class and religion, the city seems conflicted about what is acceptable.
单选题 Sexual violence is flourishing in New Delhi for the following reasons EXCEPT ______.
  • A. traditional inferiority of women
  • B. fast changes and transformation
  • C. inefficient and time-consuming rape trials
  • D. the high rate of unemployment in this city
【正确答案】 D
【答案解析】第一段列举了印度城市强奸案频发的社会、文化和司法背景,例如:落后的文化对女性不利,快速的社会变化和执法不力,但作者没提到高失业率是诱发犯罪因素之一。
单选题 It can be inferred from the second paragraph that the author of this passage ______.
  • A. is a female Westerner
  • B. has been living in New Delhi
  • C. used to be a policewoman
  • D. is a migrant from rural India
【正确答案】 A
【答案解析】第二段开头有I am one of those Westerners,说明作者是西方人。作者还说,不少印度妇女劝我离开新德里,搬到任何其他地方都行,原因是女性在新德里太缺乏安全感了。如果作者是男性,就不可能有许多印度妇女建议其搬家。
单选题 Which of the following statements is true according to Paragraph 3?
  • A. About 250 million Indians will move to New Delhi in twenty years.
  • B. It is easy for these migrants to find jobs in the service industry.
  • C. There is no gender discrimination in terms of employment in India.
  • D. New Delhi actually offers few opportunities of employment.
【正确答案】 B
【答案解析】第三段的内容与此题有关。文中说,在未来的20年里,还有2.5亿人将举家搬迁到城市,但并不是新德里这一个城市。本段第五句讲,只要有点文化,就可以到服务行业找到工作,如做接线员或旅馆、饭店的服务员,这表明就业并不难。最后一句的内容是,贫穷、出身贫贱和性别歧视使很多人无法继续改变自己的命运。
单选题 What we can learn about this rape victim is that she ______.
  • A. worked as a fitness coach
  • B. came from a middle-class family
  • C. was finally able to change her fate
  • D. had quite wealthy parents
【正确答案】 C
【答案解析】第四段介绍这位受害者的家庭背景。她全家人曾生活在一个贫穷的村子里,出售土地后供她上大学,后来搬到新德里一个中产阶层居住的小区。她最终来到一家医院实习,成为理疗师,步人中产阶层的行列。a trainee physiotherapist的意义不是“健身教练”,而是“见习理疗师”。
单选题 The last paragraph implies that ______.
  • A. New Delhi has the highest rate of crime in India
  • B. crime against women is common in New Delhi
  • C. migrants in New Delhi are of the same social class
  • D. the urban life is a nightmare for each migrant
【正确答案】 B
【答案解析】最后一段并未提到新德里是印度犯罪率最高的城市,但是明确说明来自农村的移民属于不同的种族。本段开头两句话的大意是:这种事发生在新德里就不足为奇了,因为这个城市有大量的女性离开家工作,正是罪犯求之不得的,而且人们对于此类犯罪观点不一。
单选题 This passage is mainly concerned with ______.
  • A. how India's rapid changes are putting women at risk
  • B. why the rape victim's family moved to New Delhi
  • C. what has resulted in racial discrimination in India
  • D. whether sexual violence can be prevented in India
【正确答案】 A
【答案解析】通读全篇后就会发现,文章并没有探讨种族歧视的原因或遏制犯罪的手段,而是集中于论述犯罪背后的社会变迁。