阅读理解

　　“I sat-in at a restaurant for six months, and when they finally agreed to serve me, they didn’t have what I wanted”－so went a famous line．In reality, the sit-in movement was not a joke．It began in Greensboro, North Carolina, at 4∶30 PM.on the afternoon of February l, 1960．On that day, Ezell Blair Jr．Joseph McNeil, David Richmond, and Franklin McClain entered an F．W：Woolworth store．They sat down at a segregated(隔离的)lunch counter, ordered coffee, and then refused to leave when told,“We don’t sever Negroes．”

　　The four young men had expected not to be serve．What no one had expected, however, was that they w would sit there and politely, but firmly, refuse to leave．This was 1960, and throughout the South black people were not allowed to sit at the same lunch counters with whites swim at the same beaches, use the same water fountains, or worship at the same churches．Segregation was the law, and it meant separation of the races in every way．

　　The next day, the four returned to Woolworth’s－this time accompanied by sixteen other students．Again they sat at the lunch counter and requested service．Again they were refused．And again, they declined to leave．On Wednesday, February 3, seventy students filled the Woolworth’s store．This time, the group included white students as well as black．Many brought school books and studied while they waited．By this time, their protest had become known nation wide as a“sit-in”．

　　On Thursday, there was trouble．An angry group of white teenagers began shoving(推搡)and cursing them but were quickly removed by the police．By February 10, the sit-in movement had spread to five other states．

　　By September 1961, more than 70,000 people, both black and white, had participated in sit-ins at segregated restaurants and lunch counters, kneel-ins at segregated churches, read-ins at segregated libraries, and swim-ins at segregated pools and beaches．Over 3,600 people had been arrested, and more than 100 students had been driven away．But they were getting results．On June 10, 1964, the U．S Senate passed a major civil rights bill outlawing(宣布为非法)racial discrimination in all public places．President Lyndon Johnson signed it on July 2, and it begrime law．But the highest credit still goes to the four brave students from North Carolina who first sat-in and waited it out．