The History of Chinese Americans
Chinese have been in the United States for almost two hundred years. In fact. the Chinese had business relations with Hawaii prior to relations with the mainland when Hawaii was not yet part of the United States. But United States investments controlled the capital of Hawaii at that time. In 1788,a ship sailed from Guangzhou to Hawaii. Most of the crewmen were Chinese. They were considered the pioneers of Hawaii. The Immigration Commission reported that the first Chinese arrived in the United States in 1820. eight in 1830 and seven hundred and eighty in 1850. The Chinese population gradually increased and reached 64,199 in 1870.
For many years it was common in the United States to associate Chinese Americans with restaurants and laundries. People did not realize that the Chinese had been driven into these occupations by the prejudice and discrimination that faced them in this country.
The First Chinese to reach the mainland United States came during the California Gold Rush of 1849. Like most of the other people there, they had come to search for gold. In that largely unoccupied land,the men staked a claim for themselves by placing markers in the ground. However. either because the Chinese were so different from the others or because they worked so patiently that they sometimes succeeded in turning a seemingly worthless mining claim into a profitable one, they became che scapegoats of their envious competitors. They were harassed in many ways. Often they were prevented from working their claims; some localities even passed regulations forbidding them to own claims. The Chinese therefore started to seek out other ways of earning a living. Some of them began to do che laundry for the white miners; others set up small restaurants. (There were almost no women in California in those days,and the Chinese filled a real need by doing this“woman's work”.) Some went to work as farmhands or as fishermen.
In the early 1860's many more Chincse arrived in California.This time the men were imported as work crews to construct the first transcontinental railroad.They were sorely needed because the work was so strenuous and dangerous, and it was carried on in such a remote part of the country that the railroad company could not find other laborers for the job. As in the case of their predecessors,these Chinese were almost all males; and like them, too, they encountered a great deal of prejudice. The hostility grew especially strong afrer the railroad project was complete, and the imported laborers returned to California-thousands of them, all out of work. Because there were so many more of them this time,these Chinese drew even more attention than the earlier group did. They were so very different in every respect: in their physical appearance, including a long“pigtail”at the back of their otherwise shaved heads; in the strange, non-Western clothes they wore; in their speech (few had learned English since they planned to go back to China); and in their religion. They were contemptuously called “heathen Chinese” because there were many sacred images in their houses of worship.
When times were hard. they were blamed for working for lower wages and taking jobs away from white men. who were in many cases recent immigrants themselves. Anti-Chinese riots broke out in several cities. culminating in arson and bloodshed. Chinese were barred from using the courts and also from becoming American citizens. Californians began to demand that no more Chinese be permitted to enter their state. Finally. in 1882. they persuaded Congress to pass the Chinese Exclusion Act, which stopped the immigration of Chinese laborers. Many Chinese rerurned to their homeland, and their numbers declined sharply in the early part of this century. However. during the World War II,when China was an ally of the United States. the Exclusion laws were ended; a small number of Chinese were allowed to immigrate each year, and Chinese could become American citizens. In 1965, in a general revision of our immigration laws,may more Chinese were permitted to settle here,as discrimination against Asian immigration was abolished.
From the start,the Chinese had lived apart in their own separate neighborhoods, which came to be known as “Chinatowns”. In each of them the residents organized an unofficial government to make rules for the community and to settle disputes. Unable to find jobs on the outside, many went into business for themselves-primarily to serve their own neighborhood. As for laundries and restaurants. some of them soon spread to other parts of the city,since such services continued to be in demand among non-Chinese, too. To this day. certain Chinatowns. especially those of San Francisco and New York. are busy. thriving communities, which have become great attractions for tourists and for those who enjoy Chinese food.
Most of today's Chincse Americans are the descendants of some of the early miners and railroad workers. Those immigrants had come from the vicinity of Canton in Southeast China. where they had been uneducated farm laborers.The same kind of young men,from the same area and from similar humble origins,migrated to Hawaii in those days. There they fared far better, mainly because they did not encounter hostility. Some married native Hawaiians, and other brought their wives and children over. They were not restricted to Chinatown and many of them soon became successful merchants and active participants in general community affairs.
Chinese Americans retain many aspects of their ancient culture. even after having lived here for several generations. For Example, their family ties continue to be remarkably scrong (encompassing grandparents. uncles, aunts, cousins. and others). Members of the family lend each other moral support and also practical help when necessary. From a very young age children are imbued with the old values and attitudes. including respect for their elders and a feeling of responsibility to the family. This helps co explain why there is so little juvenile delinquency (少年犯罪 ) among them.
The high regard for education which is deeply imbedded in Chinese culture.and the willingness to work very hard to gain advancement, are other noteworthy characteristics of theirs. This explains why so many descendants of uneducated laborers have succeeded in becoming doctors. lawyers, and other professionals.(Many of the most outstanding Chinese American scholars,scientists, and artists are more recent arrivals, who come from China's former upper class and who represent its high cultural traditions.)
Chinese Americans make up only a tiny fraction of our population; there are fewer than half a miilion, living chiefly in California. New York. and Hawaii. As American attitudes toward minorities and toward ethnic differences have changed in recent years, the long-reviled Chinese have gained wide acceptance. Today, they are generally admired for their many remarkable characteristics, and are often held up as an example worth following. And their numerous contributions to their adopted land are much appreciated.
1.Most Chinese Americans worked in restaurants and laundries because of______________.
A)the skills they acquired at the motherland
B)local people's discrimination against them
C)their high employment rates
D)their comparatively high pay
2. During the California Gold Rush.restaurant and laundry were regarded as________________.
A)unprofitable work B)comfortable work
C)woman's work D)Chinese work
3. In the early l860's, more Chinese were shipped to California to work as________________.
A)gold miners B)railroad builders C)steelworkers D)farmhands
4.Few Chinese learned English at that time because_________________.
A)they seldom used Engiish in Chinatown
B)they were too old to learn a new tongue
C)they couldn't find good English teachers
D)they wouldn't stay in America for long
5.The Chinese Exclusion Act came to an end_________________.
A)by the California governor then B)after a massive bloodshed
C)during WWII D)in 1965
6.One of the Chinatowns as a busy and thriving community now is located in________________.
A)Florida B)Hawaii C)New Jersey D)New York
7. Chinese immigrants to Hawaii found that they________________.
A)were treated without discrimination
B)were provided with fewer job choices
C)couldn't travel to mainland America
D)could only live or work in Chinatown
8.The old values and attitudes imparted into the young Chinese Americans effectively help prevent_______________.
9.China's high cultural traditions are represented by the Chinese American_____________.
10.The contributions made by Chinese to America had gained much_____________.
【答案详解】
1.[B][定位]根据题干中的restaurants and laundries定位到第2段。
解析：第2段首句提到了中国移民被迫到餐厅和洗衣房打工，第2句则揭示了个中的原因，B的内容在第2句中提及，为本题答案。
2.[C][定位]根据题干中的California Gold Rush，restaurant和laundry定位到第3段倒数第2、3句。
解析：原文该句中的this“woman's work”指的就是前一句提到的laundry和restaurant的工作，可见本题应选C。
3.[B][定位]根据题干中的In the early 1860's定位到第4段开头两句。
解析：原文该段第2句中的work crews to construct the first transcontinental railroad表明那时候华人到美国是为了修建铁路，可见本题应选B。
4.[D][定位]根据题干中的Few和learned English定位到第4段倒数第2句。
解析：原文该句中括号里的内容明确表明很少华人学习英语的原因是他们都计划要回中国，也就是他们没想过要长久留在美国，因此本题应选D。
5.[C][定位]根据题干中的The Chinese Exclusion Act定位到第5段倒数第2句。
解析：原文该句中的during the World War II... the Exclusion laws were ended明确表明本题应选C。干扰项D中的1965在原文该段末句提及，但与Chinese Exclusion Act无关，故不能选。
6.[D][定位]根据题干中的Chinatowns和busy and thriving community定位到第6段末句。
解析：原文该段提到繁荣的Chinatown时，只提到了San Francisco和New York，D正是其中一个，其他选项均未提及。
7.[A][定位]根据题干中的immigrants和Hawaii定位到第7段第3、4句。
解析：原文该段第4句中because引出的原因从句表明华人在夏威夷“没有遭到敌视”，A“没有受到歧视”与原文该句意思一致。所以本题应选A。
8.[juvenile delinquency]
[定位]根据题干中的old values and attitudes定位到第8段最后两句。
解析：空白处应为名词(词组)。原文该段最后两句表明孩子们从小就被灌输古代的价值观与看问题的方法，这使他们在青少年时期很少犯罪，也就是说，这些价值观与看问题的方法可有助于减少“青少年犯罪”，即juvenile delinquency。
9.[scholars,scientists,and artists]
[定位]根据题干中的high cultural traditions和represented定位到第9段末句。
解析：空白处应为名词(词组)。原文该段末尾的who represent its high cultural traditions中的who指的是末句开头提到的Many of the most outstanding Chinese American scholars，scientists，and artists。题目将段末的定语从句改写为被动语态，所以who所指的内容就是本题答案，即scholars，scientists and artists。
10.[appreciation]
[定位]根据题干中的contributions定位到末段末句。
解析：空白处应为不可数名词。题目是对原文该句的同义改写，所不同的是，原文的谓语部分是are much appreciated.而题目的是had gained much...，作答时要将appreciated改为其名词形式appreciation，才可作题目中gained的宾语。
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