英語(yǔ)四級(jí)基礎(chǔ)閱讀訓(xùn)練 Text 15

Text 15

Over the past century, all kinds of unfairness and discrimination have been condemned or made illegal. But one insidious form continues to thrive: alphabetism. This, for those as yet unaware of such a disadvantage, refers to discrimination against those whose surnames begin with a letter in the lower half of the alphabet.

It has long been known that a taxi firm called AAAA cars has a big advantage over Zodiac cars when customers thumb through their phone directories. Less well known is the advantage that Adam Abbott has in life over Zoe Zysman. English names are fairly evenly spread between the halves of the alphabet. Yet a suspiciously large number of top people have surnames beginning with letters between A and K.

Thus the American president and vice-president have surnames starting with B and C respectively; and 26 of George Bush's predecessors (including his father) had surnames in the first half of the alphabet against just 16 in the second half. Even more striking, six of the seven heads of government of the G7 rich countries are alphabetically advantaged (Berlusconi, Blair, Bush, Chirac, Chretien and Koizumi). The world's three top central bankers (Greenspan, Duisenberg and Hayami) are all close to the top of the alphabet, even if one of them really uses Japanese characters. As are the world's five richest men (Gates, Buffett, Allen, Ellison and Albrecht).

Can this merely be coincidence? One theory, dreamt up in all the spare time enjoyed by the alphabetically disadvantaged, is that the rest sets in early. At the start of the first year in infant school, teachers seat pupils alphabetically from the front, to make it easier to remember their names. So shortsighted Zysman junior gets stuck in the back row, and is rarely asked the improving questions posed by those insensitive teachers. At the time the alphabetically disadvantaged may think they have had a lucky escape. Yet the result may be worse qualifications, because they get less individual attention, as well as less confidence in speaking publicly.

The humiliation continues. At university graduation ceremonies, the ABCs proudly get their awards first; by the time they reach the Zysmans most people are literally having a ZZZ. Shortlists for job interviews, election ballot papers, lists of conference speakers and attendees: all tend to be drawn up alphabetically, and their recipients lose interest as they plough through them.

1.What does the author intend to illustrate with AAAA cars and Zodiac cars?

A.A kind of overlooked inequality.　　B.A type of conspicuous bias.

C.A type of personal prejudice.　　　D.A kind of brand discrimination.

2.What can we infer from the first three paragraphs?

A.In both East and West, names are essential to success.

B.The alphabet is to blame for the failure of Zoe Zysman.

C.Customers often pay a lot of attention to companies' names.

D.Some form of discrimination is too subtle to recognize.

3.The 4th paragraph suggests that_______.

A.questions are often put to the more intelligent students

B.alphabetically disadvantaged students often escape from class

C.teachers should pay attention to all of their students

D.students should be seated according to their eyesight

4.What does the author mean by "most people are literally having a ZZZ" (Line 2, Para. 5)?

A.They are getting impatient.　　　B.They are noisily dozing off.

C.They are feeling humiliated.　　　D.They are busy with word puzzles.

5.Which of the following is true according to the passage?

A.People with surnames beginning with N to Z are often ill-treated.

B.VIPs in the Western word gain a great deal from alphabetism.

C.The campaign to eliminate alphabetism still has a long way to go.

D.Putting things alphabetically may lead to unintentional bias.

長(zhǎng)難例句分析

［長(zhǎng)難例句］This, for those as yet unaware of such a disadvantage, refers to discrimination against those whose surnames begin with a letter in the lower half of the alphabet.

［結(jié)構(gòu)分析］本句中，主干是this...refers to discrimination。for those as yet unaware of such a disadvantage作全句的狀語(yǔ)；as yet unaware of such a disadvantage作定語(yǔ)修飾those people。as yet的意思是“到目前為止（仍），現(xiàn)在還，至今”。against those whose surnames begin with a letter in the lower half of the alphabet是修飾discrimination的定語(yǔ)，由whose surnames引導(dǎo)的定語(yǔ)從句修飾those。

［參考譯文］對(duì)于那些至今尚未意識(shí)到這種不利因素的人來(lái)說(shuō)，它指的是一種對(duì)姓氏首字母排在字母表后半部分的人的歧視。

全文參考譯文

在過(guò)去的一個(gè)世紀(jì)，所有的不平等和歧視都受到譴責(zé)或被視為違法。但一種陰險(xiǎn)的形式繼續(xù)流行開(kāi)來(lái)：字母歧視。對(duì)于那些至今尚未意識(shí)到這種不利因素的人來(lái)說(shuō)，它指的是一種對(duì)姓氏首字母排在字母表后半部分的人的歧視。

很久之前人們就知道，當(dāng)客戶(hù)在翻看他們的電話(huà)簿時(shí)，叫做AAAA汽車(chē)的出租車(chē)公司比Zodiac汽車(chē)公司有更大的優(yōu)勢(shì)。不那么為人所知的是Adam Abbott 比Zoe Zysman在生活中所具有的優(yōu)勢(shì)。英語(yǔ)名字按字母表相當(dāng)均勻地分布。但難以置信的是有很大數(shù)量的上層人士，其姓氏是以A到K的字母開(kāi)頭的。

同樣美國(guó)的總統(tǒng)和副總統(tǒng)的姓氏分別以B和C開(kāi)頭，并且在喬治·布什的前任總統(tǒng)中（包括他父親），有26人其姓氏是以字母表前半部分開(kāi)頭的，姓氏以字母表后半部分開(kāi)頭的僅有16人。更驚人的是，七國(guó)集團(tuán)富裕國(guó)的政府首腦有6位的姓氏有字母表順序優(yōu)勢(shì)（Berlusconi，Blair，Bush，Chirac，Chretien和Koizumi）。世界的3個(gè)頂級(jí)中央銀行家（Greenspan，Duisenberg和Hayami）的姓氏都以字母表最前面的字母開(kāi)頭，即使他們中有一人實(shí)際上用的是日本字符。世界上最富有的5個(gè)人（Gates，Buffett，Allen，Ellison和Albrecht）的姓氏也是如此。

這僅是巧合嗎？一種由處于字母表不利位置的人在空閑時(shí)間構(gòu)思出的理論認(rèn)為，這種情況早就存在。在幼兒園第一年的開(kāi)始階段，老師按學(xué)生姓氏的字母表順序由前往后安排座位，這樣比較容易記住學(xué)生的名字。所以眼睛近視的Zysman只能坐在后排，并且很少被那些感覺(jué)遲鈍的老師問(wèn)一些有質(zhì)量的問(wèn)題。那時(shí)處于字母表不利位置的學(xué)生可能覺(jué)得他們很幸運(yùn)，可以逃避老師的提問(wèn)。但結(jié)果可能更糟，因?yàn)樗麄兒茈y得到個(gè)人關(guān)注，同時(shí)在公共場(chǎng)合講話(huà)時(shí)也缺乏自信。

這種恥辱繼續(xù)著。在大學(xué)畢業(yè)典禮上，姓氏以A、B、C等前面字母開(kāi)頭的學(xué)生可以首先自豪地得到獎(jiǎng)勵(lì)，輪到Zysman時(shí)，大多數(shù)人都在打瞌睡了。求職者面試的順序、投票選舉名單，會(huì)議演講者和出席者的名單列表，都會(huì)按字母順序列出，隨著他們的收件人按字母順序查看這些名單，他們就會(huì)慢慢失去興趣。

題目答案與解析

1.作者用AAAA cars和Zodiac cars汽車(chē)公司為例，意欲說(shuō)明什么？

A.一種被人們忽視的不平等?！　.一種顯而易見(jiàn)的偏見(jiàn)。

C.一種個(gè)人偏見(jiàn)。　　　　　　　D.一種少見(jiàn)的歧視。

【答案】A

【解析】本題可參照文章的第一段和第二段。從文章的第一段可知，一種隱秘的不公平和歧視繼續(xù)盛行——按字母排序；第二段接著講到，人們?cè)缇椭?，?dāng)乘客通過(guò)電話(huà)本叫出租車(chē)時(shí)，一家名為“AAAA”的出租車(chē)公司所具有的優(yōu)勢(shì)就比一家名為“Zodiac”的汽車(chē)公司大；人們不太知曉的是這樣的有利條件——在生活中，Adam Abbott比Zoe Zysman有優(yōu)勢(shì)。據(jù)此可知，作者舉“AAAA cars”和“Zodiac cars”汽車(chē)公司為例是為了說(shuō)明——人們忽視了一種隱秘的不公平和歧視。因此A項(xiàng)為正確答案。

2.我們從文章的前三段中可以推知什么？

A.不管是在東方還是在西方，姓名對(duì)于成功至關(guān)重要。

B.人們指責(zé)字母表導(dǎo)致姓氏靠后者的失敗。

C.消費(fèi)者通常非常注重公司的名字。

D.某種歧視太細(xì)微因而難以辨別。

【答案】D

【解析】從文章的第一、第二、第三段的內(nèi)容可知，過(guò)去，各種各樣的不公平和歧視受到人們的譴責(zé)或是被視為違法；但是，一種隱秘的不公平和歧視繼續(xù)盛行；人們?cè)缇椭溃?dāng)乘客通過(guò)電話(huà)本叫出租車(chē)時(shí)，名為“AAAA”的出租車(chē)公司所具有的優(yōu)勢(shì)就比名為“Zodiac”的汽車(chē)公司大；人們不太知曉的是這樣的有利條件——在生活中，Adam Abbott比Zoe Zysman有優(yōu)勢(shì)；然后舉例說(shuō)明，指出有些人有字母方面的優(yōu)勢(shì)。據(jù)此可知，由于某些隱秘的不公平和歧視太細(xì)微，所以難以被人們關(guān)注。因此D項(xiàng)為正確答案。

3.第四段暗示_________。

A.更聰明的學(xué)生經(jīng)常被提問(wèn)　　B.不具備字母優(yōu)勢(shì)的學(xué)生經(jīng)常逃課

C.老師應(yīng)該關(guān)注所有學(xué)生　　　D.應(yīng)該根據(jù)學(xué)生的視力來(lái)給他們排座位

【答案】C

【解析】文章第四段講道，這只能算是巧合嗎？一種理論認(rèn)為，這種情況早就存在；在幼兒園的起始階段，老師根據(jù)字母順序從前到后給學(xué)生排座位，一些近視的、姓氏靠后的幼兒不得不坐在后排，那些不敏感的老師很少向這些幼兒提一些有助于提高的問(wèn)題；那時(shí)，那些不具備字母優(yōu)勢(shì)的人可能認(rèn)為他們有幸躲過(guò)了提問(wèn)；結(jié)果可能會(huì)造成更嚴(yán)重的后果。據(jù)此可知，老師不應(yīng)該忽視那些沒(méi)有字母優(yōu)勢(shì)的學(xué)生。C項(xiàng)的“老師應(yīng)該關(guān)注所有學(xué)生”與文章的意思相符，因此C項(xiàng)為正確答案。

4.作者講“most people are literally having a ZZZ”（第五段第二至三行）的含義是什么？

A.他們變得不耐煩?！　.他們已是鼾聲大作。

C.他們覺(jué)得丟臉?！　　.他們忙于做字謎游戲。

【答案】B

【解析】從文章第五段的內(nèi)容可知，在大學(xué)的畢業(yè)典禮上，那些姓氏靠前者首先獲得獎(jiǎng)品；等到該姓氏靠后者獲獎(jiǎng)時(shí)，大多數(shù)人都在打瞌睡了；求職面試的最后名單、投票選舉單、會(huì)議發(fā)言以及參加者名單往往都是根據(jù)字母先后順序制作的，等人們費(fèi)勁地觀看時(shí)，他們的興趣也隨之消失了。據(jù)此可知，該句話(huà)的意思應(yīng)該是——大多數(shù)人都在打鼾。B項(xiàng)與文章的意思相符，因此為正確答案。

5.依照本文的觀點(diǎn)，以下選項(xiàng)中正確的是哪項(xiàng)？

A.以N到Z為姓氏的人經(jīng)常受到虐待。

B.西方世界的重要人物從以字母先后排序的做法中獲得極大的好處。

C.消除以字母先后排序的運(yùn)動(dòng)仍然任重道遠(yuǎn)。

D.以字母先后排序的做法可能會(huì)導(dǎo)致無(wú)心的偏見(jiàn)。

【答案】D

【解析】從文章第一段的內(nèi)容可知，過(guò)去，各種各樣的不公平和歧視受到人們的譴責(zé)或是被視為違法；但是，有一種隱秘的不公平和歧視繼續(xù)盛行——按字母排序；從第二段的內(nèi)容可知，人們?cè)缇椭?，?dāng)乘客通過(guò)電話(huà)本叫出租車(chē)時(shí)，名為“AAAA”的出租車(chē)公司所具有的優(yōu)勢(shì)就比名為“Zodiac”的汽車(chē)公司大；但是，人們不太知曉的是：在生活中，Adam Abbott比Zoe Zysman有優(yōu)勢(shì)；第三段舉例說(shuō)明；第四段接著講到，這只能算是巧合嗎？跟著舉例指出：在幼兒園，老師根據(jù)字母順序從前到后給學(xué)生排座位，結(jié)果可能會(huì)造成更嚴(yán)重的后果，因?yàn)檫@些人受到的關(guān)注更少，他們也更缺乏公開(kāi)表達(dá)自己信心的機(jī)會(huì)；從文章的最后一段內(nèi)容可知，這種使人蒙羞的情況還在繼續(xù)。據(jù)此可知，根據(jù)字母的先后排序的做法可能無(wú)意中導(dǎo)致偏見(jiàn)。因此D項(xiàng)為正確答案。