Historically, the plight of migrant farm workers, who labor in the vast agricultural fields of America’s southern states, has been a difficult one. With no permanent home or income, these laborers often endure abysmal working conditions for extremely low wages, sometimes just a few dollars per day. In 1962, one of these migrant workers, a young man named Cesura Astride Chive, decided to do something to improve the treatment that he and others like him received.
         Born in 1927, Cesura Chive spent his early childhood on his family’s small Arizona farm, until the economic climate of the Great Depression forced them off their land. By age 10, Chive was working alongside his parents as an agricultural laborer, living in a series of migrant worker camps. The young Chive would attend 65 different schools before finishing high school, so frequently did his family move.
       After a brief stint serving his country in the Navy in World War II, Chavez returned briefly to agricultural work. In 1962, he quit field labor to form the National Farm Workers Association, which later became the United Farm Workers of America. His goal was to create a migrant workers’ union large enough to give its members the power to demand fair wages and better working conditions from their employers.
       Chavez grabbed the attention of the entire nation in 1965, when he led his union and its 1,700 member families on a boycott against California’s grape growers. His efforts paid off five years later. With 17 million American consumers refusing to buy California grapes, the growers signed a collective agreement with Chavez’s union in 1970.

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20 (282 words)

1. The passage mainly discusses
   A. events of Cesar Chavez’s early childhood
   B. the plight of migrant farm workers
   C. working conditions of agricultural laborers
   D. Cesar Chavez’s life and accomplishments
2. The work one in line 2 refers to
   A. a farm worker
   B. the state of the South
   C. a permanent income
   D. a plight
3. The word climate in line 8 is closest in meaning to which of the following?
   A. weather
   B. conditions
   C. improvement
   D. changes
4. It can be inferred from the passage that the Chavez family lost their farm
   A. sometime during the mid-thirties
   B. before the Great Depression
   C. when Cesar Chavez was in his teens
   D. because of economic improvements

5. The word stint in line 12 is closest in meaning to which of the following?
   A. crisis
   B. year
   C. failure
   D. period
6. According to the passage, Chavez’s boycott of the California grape industry
   A. resulted in payments to union members
   B. can be considered successful
   C. resulted in improvements in growing techniques
   E. resulted in the creation of the United Farm Workers of   
       America
7. The expression paid off in line 18 is closest in meaning to
   A. were successful
   B. produced money
   C. created attention
   D. were resolved
8. It can be inferred from the passage that a boycott may involve
   A. refusal to purchase a particular product
   B. payment to agricultural unions
   C. agreeing to collect union dues
   D. the attendance of member families

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Last updated: Aug 11, 2001