For generations here in the deepest South, there had been a great taboo（禁忌）: publicly crossing the color line for love. Less than 45 years ago, marriage between blacks and whites was illegal, and it has been forbidden for much of the time since.
So when a great job about an hour’s drive north of the Gulf Coast attracted him, Jeffrey Norwood, a black college basketball coach, had reservations. He was in a serious relationship with a woman who was white and Asian.
“You’re thinking about a life in South Mississippi?” his father said in a skeptical voice, recalling days when a black man could face mortal（致命的） danger just being seen with a woman of another race, regardless of intentions. Are you sure?
But on visits to Hattiesburg, the younger Mr. Norwood said he liked what he saw: growing diversity. So he moved, married, and, with his wife, had a baby girl, who was counted on the last census（人口普查） as black, white and Asian. Taylor Rae Norwood, three, is one of thousands of mixed-race children who have made this state home to one of the nation's most rapidly expanding multiracial populations, up 70 percent between 2000 and 2010, according to new data from the Census Bureau.
In the first prehensive accounting of multiracial Americans since statistics were first collected about them in 2000, reporting from the 2010 census, made public in recent days, shows that the nation’s mixed-race population is growing far more quickly than many researchers had estimated, particularly in the South and parts of the Midwest. That conclusion is based on the bureau’s analysis of 42 states; the data from the remaining eight states will be released soon.
In North Carolina, the mixed-race population doubled. In Georgia, it grew by more than 80 percent, and by nearly as much in Kentucky and Tennessee. In Indiana, Iowa and South Dakota, the multiracial population increased by about 70percent.
Census officials estimated the national multiracial growth rate was about 35 percent since2000 according to the known result, when seven million people ----- 2.4 percent of the population chose more than one race.
【小题1】If a black man married a white woman 50years ago, the worst result was that .A．he was sentenced to deathB．he was considered to be immoralC．he was criticized by the publicD．he was treated as a lawbreaker【小题2】The underlined word “serious” in Paragraph 2 can be replaced by “ ”.A．stableB．badC．mixedD．dangerous【小题3】What can we infer from Paragraph 4?A．Jeffrey Norwood was born in Hattiesburg and grew up there.B．Taylor Rae Norwood’s mother is a white-Asian.C．70 percent of the people in Mississippi are multiracial.D．Mississippi has the largest multiracial population in the US.【小题4】Which of the following states had the fastest growth rate of mixed-race population?A．Georgia.B．Tennessee.C．North Carolina.D．South Dakota.A
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(答案→)A
解析：本文叙述了几十年间，随着世界各地不断高涨的移民潮，跨种族通婚和多种族混血儿童数量的激增，21世纪的美国比历史上任何时刻更加多元化，这不但意味着种族间的隔阂正在逐渐减少，同时也昭示着美国社会正面临更多挑战。
【小题1】细节理解题。根据第二段的句子：a black man could face mortal（致命的） danger just being seen with a woman of another race，可知在50年前，如果一个黑人男子和白人女子结婚，最坏的结果是被判处死刑，故选A。
【小题2】细节理解题。根据第二段的句子：He was in a serious relationship with a woman who was white and Asian. “You’re thinking about a life in South Mississippi?” his father said in a skeptical voice, recalling days when a black man could face mortal（致命的） danger just being seen with a woman of another race, regardless of intentions. 可知“serious”是“稳定的”故选A。
【小题3】推理判断题。根据第四段的句子：So he moved, married, and, with his wife, had a baby girl, who was counted on the last census（人口普查） as black, white and Asian. 可知Taylor Rae Norwood的妈妈是一个白种亚裔人，故选B。
【小题4】细节理解题。根据倒数第二段的句子：In North Carolina, the mixed-race population doubled. 可知在North Carolina混合种族的人口发展最快，故选C。