問題詳情
(B)The 19th century was a period of great change in the history of the USA. After the U.S. civil war, the Southerners were not happy with the situation which they were forced to face. The slaves were liberated, even the ones that wished to continue the old way of living. The economy of the South had gone down considerably and there was little opportunity for honest work. The growing number of blacks living as free men next to their former owners nourished the anger of some Southerners. The South was a wasteland both financially and psychologically. This resulted in the formation of secret societies, the Ku Klux Klan being the most infamous of them.Six Confederate veterans, all in their twenties, founded the Klan. They also started the typical Klan clothing: a white robe and white "witches" hats with eyeholes. However, the purpose of this original form of the Ku Klux Klan was not political or even racist. The main aim of the Klan at the beginning was to play pranks and have fun. All of the Klan members had to attend the weekly gatherings, which "were held in the cellar of a deserted brick house standing on a hill ".This secret society of bored young men started gradually enlarging. Soon the pranks of the original Klan were designated mainly towards the liberated slaves. They held particularly the Negroes in terror who had gained land and prospered. The original, fairly innocent secret society turned into a blood-thirsty group. By 1870 The Ku Klux Klan and their operation had been made known all through the States, mostly in a negative way. During the late 1950s and early 1960s there were several blacks murdered, and houses bombed. The Klansmen were dedicated to cutting this "bad weed" out of the American soil. It reacted strongly against the Civil Rights movement and opposed Martin Luther King. This form of the Ku Klux Klan was extremely political.The Klan is still fairly active in the USA today. However, the times were changing and there was no point attacking blacks, as the Civil Rights movement could not be erased. It seems the violent Klan of the 1960s has changed into a society controlled by strict rules and honour codes. The members of the Klan are now dedicated to protecting the white race and the "proper Christian religion". They declare that they have the same right to preach for white power as the blacks have to being proud of their origins. The main form of action in today's Klan is protests, rallies and Internet shows. It seems that the modern Klan still fosters some of the main ideas of the Ku Klux Klan but in a more peaceful and rational way.
【題組】57. This article is mainly about _________.
(A) the origin of the Ku Klux Klan and how it has operated
(B) the honor code and strict rules of the Ku Klux Klan
(C) the U.S. Civil War and slave liberation
(D) the Klan’s political stand and the idea of equality
參考答案
答案：C[無官方正解]
難度：困難0.363636
統計：A(2),B(2),C(4),D(2),E(0)