Practice test jiaodong8
Section B
Directions: In this ction, decideyou are going to read a passage with ten statements attached to it.
Each statement contains information given in one of the paragraphs. Identify the paragraph from which the information is derived. You may choo a paragraph more than once. Each paragraph is marked with a letter. Answer the questions by marking the corresponding letter on Answer Sheet 2.
Isn’t It Time to Right the Wrong?
by Tom Seligson
A)In the summer of 1944, Port Chicago — a Navy ba 30 miles northeast of San Francisco — was the scene of a devastating explosion. Hundreds of lives were lost in what’
s considered the deadliest home-front disaster of the war. Most of the dead and injured were African- Americans, put in harm’s way by a gregated military little concerned for their safety. Wor, racism lay at the heart of the disaster and later of an event that has been called one of the biggest miscarriages of justice in our history.
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B)At the time, Port Chicago was the busiest ammunition depot on the West Coast. The sailors worked around the clock, loading bombs, depth charges and torpedoes onto ships headed for the Pacific theater. In the gregated U.S. Navy, the job of loading the deadly ammunition was performed only by black sailors. “To find yourlf loading ammunition was a disappointment, ” recalls Robert Routh, an African-American sailor from Memphis who was 19 at the time. “We all wanted to be actually fighting. But we knew that what we did was esntial to the war. ”
很好的英文C)Esntial but risky. “Loading ammunition was extremely dangerous,” explains Robert L. Allen, author of The Port Chicago Mutiny and the foremost authority on the events. “The sailors were given no training for it. On top of that, it was common practice for the officers
洒脱的英文to pit the men against each other, betting to e who could load their boat the fastest. ” A Coast Guard working at the port warned the Navy that the unsafe conditions could lead to a disaster. The Navy refud to change its procedures, and the Coast Guard withdrew its men.
D)On the evening of July 17, 1944, two cargo ships were tied up at the pier. The E. A. Bryan was almost fully loaded with 4,600 tons of cluster bombs, depth charges and 40 millimeter shells. The Quinalt Victory had just docked. Robert Routh and fellow sailor Percy Robinson, 18, from Chicago, were in their barracks. At 10: 19, the night calm was shattered. “I was in my bunk when the explosion occurred,” recalls Robinson. “I was looking out the window, and all of a sudden everything turned to sunlight. 1 jumped up to e what was happening, and then I felt the concussion. I instinctively covered my face with my arms. Then a cond explosion lifted me up and knocked me to the floor. ” Robert Routh also turned toward the window at the first explosion. “It was the greatest fireworks you ever wanted to e,” he recalls. It also was the last thing he ever saw. “With the cond explosion, glass went everywhere. It was a combination of the glass and the c
oncussion that destroyed my eyes. ”
E) The cond explosion was so powerful that ismographsabstract是什么意思 (地震仪)headphonesat Berkeley recorded it as an earthquake. The E. Arelief是什么意思. Bryan was blown into tiny pieces. The Quinalt Victory was ripped apart, and Port Chicago’s wooden pier was completely destroyed. The human cost was even wor. Everyone on the pier and aboard the two ships was killed. Of the 320 fatalities, 202 were black. And of the 390 injured, 233 were black. As bad as it was, though, the disaster might not have made history if it weren’t for what followed.
F) A Navy court of inquiry ruled out sabotage. It heard testimony about the unsafe conditions at the port, but its final report absolved the white officers of any responsibility and blamed the tragedy on “rough handling” of the explosives by the black sailors. Then the white officers were granted 30-day leaves. “None of the black sailors were granted leaves,” says Robinson, who suffered lacerations (裂伤) to his face, head and arms. “I requested 30 days of leave, which you’re entitled to if you’re wounded. I was turned down. ” Instead, they were given the grim task of collecting the remains of their fellow sail
2014英语四级ors. “You can imagine the psychological impact this had,” says Routh. “My loss of sight was traumatic, but everyone had traumatic needs, physical or mental. And no help was given. ”
G) Instead, three weeks after the explosion, the black sailors were ordered back to work. But the men had had enough. Of the 328 ordered to resume loading ammunition, 258 refud. Routh’s blindness had ended his military rvice, but Robinson — just relead from the hospital — was among tho who balked. “We all had our reasons for not going back to work,” he explains. “Some were afraid of another explosion. I was angry that they wouldn’t let me go home. ” All 258 black sailors were locked up on a barge. “A few days later, we were led out and addresd by the admiral,” recalls Robinson. “He told us that if we didn’t go back to work, we would be charged with mutiny (哗变) p r cAnd mutiny is punishable by death by a firing squad. I believed he meant it, so I was one of 208 men who stepped forward. I was put in prison anyway. I was charged with disobeying an order. ” The 50 sailors who still refud to go back to work were, in fact, charged with mutiny.
