Texans have bursting pride and love attention. They also have a thick streak of shortsighted greed and, even by American standar

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问题     Texans have bursting pride and love attention. They also have a thick streak of shortsighted greed and, even by American standards, a busted disposition to violence. When they hear this sort of criticism they usually ascribe it to the ignorance and jealousy of stuffy Yankees who have not spent enough time in the state to understand it. For such avowedly robust people they are surprisingly sensitive. They hated Edna Ferber’s novel Giant, which scourged Texan vulgarity, racism and the mores of millionaires, but they bought it in great quantities and packed cinemas to see the film. They would rather be talked about than not, and if you do not talk about them they do it for you.
    In claiming special qualifies for themselves, Texans have had to become reconciled to the fact that a large number of them are not native. In the last century "Gone to Texas" was a commonplace graffito daubed on barns in other states, and in recent years "Gone to Texas" has, figuratively, been written on the front doors of millions of Americans and also Mexicans. In the early 1980s newcomers accounted for nearly two-thirds of the state’s population increase. But Texans do not believe they are being diluted. They maintain that Texanhood, or Texianism, is a matter of attitude and that Texanic qualities exist in abundance in many Americans, regardless of their birthplace: it is when these people are planted in Texas, and nourished by its atmosphere, that they flower like true Texans. A man may not be born in Texas, which is unfortunate; but he can be born to be Texan.
    Many Alaskans are urban, young and raising families, here for a while, and trying to make money before moving to somewhere warmer. But many are staying. While most remain in Anchorage and other centers, some set out to build a cabin in the wilderness and live by hunting, trapping and fishing, learning how to skin a muskrat and moose, how to survive terrible weather, how to be truly in tune with the land, taking pleasure in great silence and unpeopled immensity. To settle the frontier the state has a homesteading program, based on the federal Homestead Act of 1864, which was a key event in the opening up of the American west. Hundreds of Alaskans are awarded parcels of wilderness land in an annual lottery and undertake to invest sweat equity, to build a home within three years and clear and cultivate the land within five. Alaskans love reading about Alaska, and two of the most popular books are a manual on log cabin building and a collection of tales about grizzly bears, of which Alaska is a stronghold. Log cabin life is for the stout-hearted few with the springs of adventure strong in them, and these wilderness Alaskans are remarkable. Some are refugees of one kind or another. Several hundred are Vietnam veterans, tortured by their experiences of war and unable to fit into normal urban life, seeking solace in the wilds.
Which of the following statements can best describe Texans?

选项 A、They are aggressively self-confident of their wisdom.
B、They are brutally crude in making a living for themselves.
C、They are blindly allergic to negative comments on their weakness.
D、They are openly and crudely thin-skinned about discriminations against them.

答案D

解析 文章第一段第一、二句叙述了(美国)得克萨斯州人的性格;随后第三句中When they hear this sort of criticism they usually ascribe(把……归因于)it to the ignorance and jealousy of stuffy Yankees who...及第四句For such avowedly robust people they are surprisingly sensitive.谈及得州人对于批评是敏感、易怒的,他们将对他们的批评之词认作是北佬的无知和妒嫉,……;因此选项D.“他们对人们给予他们的歧视十分敏感,公开且粗鲁地表示愤怒(openly and crudely thin-skinned about)”是答案。
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