阅读理解
The picnics, speeches, and parades of today''s Labor Day were all part of the first celebration, held in New York City in 1882. Its promoter was an Irish-American labor leader named Peter J. McGuire. A carpenter by trade, McGuire had worked since the age of eleven, and in 1882 was president of the United Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners (UBCJ). Approaching the City''s Central Labor Union that summer, he proposed a holiday that would applaud (赞许) "the industrial spirit-the great vital force of every nation." On September 5 his suggestion bore fruit, as an estimated 10,000 workers, many of them ignoring their bosses'' warnings, left work to march from Union square up Fifth Avenue to 42nd Street. The event gained national attention, and by 1893 thirty states had made Labor Day an annual holiday.
The quick adoption of the scheme may have indicated less about the state lawmakers'' respect for working people than about a fear of risking their anger. In the 1880s the United States was a land sharply divided between the immensely wealthy and the very poor. Henry George was accurate in describing the era as one of "progress and poverty." In a society in which factory, owners rode in private Pullmans while ten-year-olds slaved in the mines, strong anti-capitalist feeling ran high. Demands for fundamental change were common throughout the labor press. With socialists demanding an end to "wage slavery " and anarchists (无政府主义者) singing the praises of the virtues of dynamite (炸药), middle-of-roaders like Samuel Gompers and McGuire seemed attractively mild by comparison. One can imagine practical capitalists seeing Labor day as a bargain: A one-day party certainly cost them less than paying their workers decent wages.
单选题
Judging from the passage, Mcguire was_____.
【正确答案】
A
【答案解析】选择依据是文章第2段倒数第2句话。
单选题
We can see from the first paragraph that the first Labor Day march_____.
【正确答案】
C
【答案解析】误选A、B两项的原因是误解了第1段最后一句话,该句意思是“这次事件(指游行)引起了全国的关注(而非支持)。到1893年,有30个州建立了劳动节(而并非指30个州的工人都卷入了the first Labor Day march)。”另外,文章只是说劳动节的发起者J.Macjuire是UBCJ主席,并没有说这次大游行是由UBCJ组织的。根据第1段倒数第2句的意思可知C正确:“许多工人不顾其老板的警告、威胁举行了罢工游行。”
单选题
Which of the following is the key factor in the immediate approval of labor Day as a national holiday?