Part A: Reading Comprehension

Text 2

A century ago, the immigrants from across the Atlantic included settlers and sojourners. Along with the many folks looking to make a permanent home in the United States came those who had no intention to stay, and who would make some money and then go home. Between 1908 and 1915, about 7 million people arrived while about 2 million departed. About a quarter of all Italian immigrants, for example, eventually returned to Italy for good. They even had an affectionate nickname, “uccelli di passaggio,” birds of passage.

Today, we are much more rigid about immigrants. We divide newcomers into two categories: legal or illegal, good or bad. We hail them as Americans in the making, or brand them as aliens to be kicked out. That framework has contributed mightily to our broken immigration system and the long political paralysis over how to fix it. We don’t need more categories, but we need to change the way we think about categories. We need to look beyond strict definitions of legal and illegal. To start, we can recognize the new birds of passage, those living and thriving in the gray areas. We might then begin to solve our immigration challenges.

Crop pickers, violinists, construction workers, entrepreneurs, engineers, home health-care aides and physicists are among today’s birds of passage. They are energetic participants in a global economy driven by the flow of work, money and ideas. They prefer to come and go as opportunity calls them. They can manage to have a job in one place and a family in another.

With or without permission, they straddle laws, jurisdictions and identities with ease. We need them to imagine the United States as a place where they can be productive for a while without committing themselves to staying forever. We need them to feel that home can be both here and there and that they can belong to two nations honorably.

Accommodating this new world of people in motion will require new attitudes on both sides of the immigration battle. Looking beyond the culture war logic of right or wrong means opening up the middle ground and understanding that managing immigration today requires multiple paths and multiple outcomes, including some that are not easy to accomplish legally in the existing system.

26. “Birds of passage” refers to those who

[A]

stay in a foreign country temporarily. 

[B]

leave their home countries for good. 

[C]

immigrate across the Atlantic. 

[D]

find permanent jobs overseas. 

27. It is implied in Paragraph 2 that the current immigration system in the U. S.

[A]

needs new immigrant categories. 

[B]

has loosened control over immigrants. 

[C]

should be adapted to meet challenges. 

[D]

has been fixed via political means. 

28. According to the author, today’s birds of passage want

[A]

financial incentives. 

[B]

a global recognition. 

[C]

the freedom to stay and leave. 

[D]

opportunities to get regular jobs. 

29. The author suggests that the birds of passage today should be treated

[A]

as faithful partners. 

[B]

with legal tolerance. 

[C]

with economic favors. 

[D]

as mighty rivals. 

30. The most appropriate title for the text would be

[A]

Come and Go: Big Mistake. 

[B]

Living and Thriving: Great Risk. 

[C]

With or Without: Great Risk. 

[D]

Legal or Illegal: Big Mistake. 

答案解析 (Answers & Explanations)

26. [A] stay in a foreign country temporarily.
解析：第一段指出，“候鸟（birds of passage）”是指那些与定居者（settlers）不同的“旅居者（sojourners）”。他们“无意留下（had no intention to stay），挣了点钱就回家”，并且“最终永远地回到了意大利（eventually returned to Italy for good）”。这说明他们只是在异国他乡“暂时停留（stay in a foreign country temporarily）”，选A。

27. [C] should be adapted to meet challenges.
解析：第二段提到，当今我们对移民的分类非黑即白（Legal or illegal, good or bad），这种僵化的框架“极大地导致了我们破碎的移民系统（contributed mightily to our broken immigration system）”。接着作者提出我们“需要改变（we need to change）”思维方式，这样“我们才可能开始解决移民挑战（begin to solve our immigration challenges）”。这暗示现行系统“应该做出调整以应对挑战（should be adapted to meet challenges）”，选C。

28. [C] the freedom to stay and leave.
解析：第三段第三句明确指出：“只要有机会，他们就喜欢来去自由（They prefer to come and go as opportunity calls them）”。这里的“come and go”直接对应选项C中的“留下和离开的自由（the freedom to stay and leave）”。

29. [B] with legal tolerance.
解析：第四段和第五段作者呼吁：“我们**需要**他们（We need them）”在这个地方产出一段时间，而不是承诺永远留下。最后一段更指出，要理解今天的移民管理需要多种结果，“包括一些在现有法律体系中难以实现的结果（including some that are not easy to accomplish legally in the existing system）”。这表明作者建议我们应该打破非黑即白的法律界限，以“法律上的宽容（legal tolerance）”来对待这些候鸟，选B。选项A、C、D均无原文支持。

30. [D] Legal or Illegal: Big Mistake.
解析：主旨题。文章第二段点明了核心问题：我们把移民分为“合法或非法（legal or illegal）”的框架是一个大错误，它导致了系统的破裂和政治瘫痪。后文则通过对“候鸟”群体的分析，呼吁超越这种僵化的“合法与非法”的二元对立逻辑。因此，标题“合法还是非法：大错特错（Legal or Illegal: Big Mistake）”最能概括文章的主旨和作者的批判态度，选D。

核心长难句精解 (High-Light)

1. 完全倒装与定语从句嵌套：
"Along with the many folks looking to make a permanent home in the United States came those who had no intention to stay, and who would make some money and then go home."
【解析】这是一个完全倒装句。表示伴随状态的介词短语 `Along with...` 放在句首，谓语动词 `came` 提前，真正的主语是 `those`。在主语 `those` 后面，跟着两个由 `who` 引导的并列定语从句，清晰地描绘了早期“候鸟”移民的目的。

2. 并列的宾语从句与不定式复合结构：
"We need them to imagine the United States as a place where they can be productive for a while without committing themselves to staying forever. We need them to feel that home can be both here and there and that they can belong to two nations honorably."
【解析】这两句话使用了相同的祈使/期望结构：`We need them to...`。第一句中，`where` 引导定语从句修饰 place；`without committing...` 是介词加动名词作方式状语。第二句中，`feel` 后面跟了两个由 `that` 引导的并列宾语从句，表达了作者对移民拥有双重归属感的美好愿景。

3. 动名词作主语与宾语从句：
"Looking beyond the culture war logic of right or wrong means opening up the middle ground and understanding that managing immigration today requires multiple paths and multiple outcomes, including some that are not easy to accomplish legally in the existing system."
【解析】句子的主语是动名词短语 `Looking beyond... right or wrong`。谓语动词是 `means`。`means` 后面跟着两个并列的动名词作宾语：`opening up...` 和 `understanding...`。在 `understanding` 之后，`that` 引导了一个宾语从句，进一步指出移民管理需要多样化的包容。