I first became aware of the unemployment problem in 1928. At that time I had just come back from Burman, where unemployment was only a word, and I had gone to Burma when I was still a boy and the post-war boom was not quite over. When I first saw unemployed men at close quarters, the thing that horrified and amazed me was to find that many of them were ashamed of being unemployed. I was very ignorant, but not so ignorant as to imagine that when the loss of foreign markets pushes two million men out of work, those two million are to blame. But at that time nobody cared to admit that unemployment was inevitable, because this meant admitting that it would probably continue. The middle classes were still talking about "lazy idle loafers on the dole(接受救济的二流子)" and saying that "these men could all find work if they wanted to," and naturally these opinions affected the working class themselves. I remember the shock of astonishment it gave me, when I first met with tramps and beggars, to find that a fair proportion, perhaps a quarter, of these beings whom I had been taught to regard as cynical parasites(寄生虫), were decent young miners and cotton workers gazing at their destiny with the same sort of dumb amazement as an animal in trap. They simply could not understand what was happening to them. They had been brought up to work, but it seemed as if they were never going to have the chance of working again. In their circumstance it was inevitable, at first, that they should be filled with a feeling of personal degradation. That was the attitude towards unemployment in those days: it was a disaster which happened to you as an individual and for which you were to blame.

16.The author did not learn of the unemployment problem until 1928 because ________.

A. he had spent his childhood in Burma

B. people in Burma hardly talked about unemployment

C. the English economy collapsed after he had gone abroad

D. England had been enjoying economic prosperity while he was in Burma

答案：C

解析：答案C。在原文中作者谈到他从小便去了缅甸，在那儿失业问题并不真正存在。而在他离开英格兰之前，英格兰战后的经营繁荣仍然盛势不减，因此在他1928年回国之前，他并没有真正接触失业问题。选项C项的内容(英国经济是在作者离国之后才崩溃的)符合原文，为正确答案。在文中作者只提到他少年时便去了缅甸，至于他是否在缅甸渡过童年，缅甸人是否谈论失业，以及在此时期英国经济繁荣了多久，文中均未涉及，因此不是正确答案。

17.Many of the unemployed felt ashamed of their condition because ________.

A. they imagined they were to blame for being out of work

B. nobody wanted to admit that unemployment was inevitable

C. they had to admit that unemployment would probably continue

D. they felt the middle classes were right to say they could find work if they wanted to

答案：D

解析：答案D。在文中作者论及中产阶级对失业者不公正的评价，而劳工阶层自然而然地也受了这种论调的影响，因而对失业产生了不应有的自责和负疚感。显然D项正确解释了题中之义，为正确答案。

18.About a quarter of the tramps and beggars the author met were ________.

A. cynical parasites

B. once quite good at mining and making cotton

C. like animals in trap

D. young workers bewildered by what had happened to them

答案：D

解析：答案D。本题的解题依据主要是：I remember the shock of astonishment it gave me, when I first met with tramps and beggars, to find that…, were decent young miners and cotton workers gazing at their destiny with the same sort of dumb amazement as an animal in a trap一句。显然作者所遇到的流浪汉和乞丐本是一些体面的矿工和棉纺工人，他们对自己处境的惊讶不异于落入陷阱的野兽，也即处于困惑绝望的境地，选择D项符合这一原文内容，为正确答案。

19. The reason why their unemployment so confused the young miners and cotton workers is that _______.

A. they had been brought up on the assumption that they had work to do

B. they had not previously realized how degrading it would feel to be out of work

C. they were definitely not going to be able to work again

D. they did not expect to be the objects of middle-class criticism

答案：A

解析：答案A.本题根据原文中They had been brought up to work, but it seemed as if they were never going to have the chance of working again这一句。据此容易看出A项为正确答案。

20.In the passage as a whole, the author's attitude to unemployment is _________.

A. that it was a disaster for which the individuals were to blame

B. the shock that it should have so degrading an effect on decent people

C. the astonishment that the unemployed cannot understand what had happened to them

D. the amazement that the loss of overseas trade can have such severe effects on the mining and cotton industries.

答案：B

解析：答案B。作者显然并不认为失业问题应由个人承担责任，因此A项不对;从原文来看，不但失业者不能理解所发生的一切，就是中产阶级也在大谈“接受救济的二流子”的理论，显然，不能正确理解失业问题的不止是失业者，而是一个普遍的现象，所以作者没有必要为失业者的无知而感到震惊，C项不对;在文中作者显示他已认识到海外市场的丧失是失业的真正根源，这已不能给他以amazement，所以D项也不对;作者真正感到惊骇的是本不该由个人负责的失业问题却被人们盲目地全部归咎于失业的工人本身，而这种不公正的评价又使得失业者本身产生了负疚的耻辱感，以至于产生了so degrading an effect，显然B项是答案。

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