2004年英语一阅读理解Text2

①Over the past century, all kinds of unfairness and discrimination have been condemned or made illegal.②But one insidious form continues to thrive: alphabetism.③This,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.

unfairness  n. 不公平，不正当

discrimination  n. 歧视

condemn  v. 指责，谴责，反对

insidious  a. （危险或问题）暗中为害的，（祸害）潜伏的

thrive  v. 繁荣，兴旺

alphabetism  n. 作者创造出的新词汇，指社会上存在的按照字母将人名排序的理论

refer to  与某人/某事物有关

surname  n. 姓

在过去的一个世纪里，各种不公和歧视一直受到谴责或被视为非法。但有一种暗中为害的形式却在继续盛行：字母排序歧视。对于那些到目前为止还没有意识到这种劣势的人来说，它指的是对姓氏首字母位于字母表后半部分的人的歧视。

①It 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.②Less well known is the advantage that Adam Abbott has in life over Zoë Zysman.③English names are fairly evenly spread between the halves of the alphabet.④Yet a suspiciously large number of top people have surnames beginning with letters between A and K.  

have an advantage over  胜过，比……处于有利地位

thumb through  匆匆翻阅，浏览

evenly  ad. 均匀地，平均地，均等地

suspiciously  ad. 猜疑地，可疑地

phone directory  电话簿

evenly spread  均匀分布

the   halves of  ……的两半

人们早就知道，顾客翻查电话簿(叫出租车)时，名为AAAA的出租车公司远比名为Zodiac的出租车公司占优势。而不那么为人所知的是， 生活中名叫Adam Abbott的人比名叫Zoe Zy s man的人占优势。英语名字相当均匀地分布于字母表的前后两部分。但姓氏字母排在A到K之间的顶尖人物却多到令人难以置信。

①Thus 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.②Even more striking, six of the seven heads of government of the G7 rich countries are alphabetically advantaged (Berlusconi, Blair, Bush, Chirac, Chrétien and Koizumi).③The 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.④As are the world's five richest men (Gates, Buffett, Allen, Ellison and Albrecht).

start with... respectively  分别以……开头

predecessor  n. 前任；被接继或被取代的事物

striking  a. 显著的，惹人注目的

advantaged  a. 有利的；占有利地位的

George Bush's predecessors  乔治·布什的前任

in the first/second half of the alphabet  在字母表的前/后半部分

heads of government  政府首脑

G7 rich countries  七国集团

the world's five richest men  世界五大首富

如此说来，美国总统和副总统的姓氏分别以B和C开头，在乔治·布什的前任(包括其父)中，有26位总统的姓氏首字母在字母表的前半部分，只有16位总统的姓氏首字母在字母表的后半部分。更令人惊讶的是，七国集团的政府首脑中有六位的姓氏首字母排序靠前(贝卢斯科尼、布莱尔、布什、希拉克、克雷蒂安和小泉纯一郎)。世界三大中央银行行长(格林斯潘、德伊森贝赫和速水优)的姓氏首字母排序都很靠前，即使其中一位实际上用的是日本文字。世界首富前五名(盖茨、巴菲特、艾伦、埃利森和阿尔布雷克特)也是如此。

①Can this merely be coincidence? One theory, dreamt up in all the spare time enjoyed by the alphabetically disadvantaged, is that the rot sets in early.②At the start of the first year in infant school, teachers seat pupils alphabetically from the front, to make it easier to remember their names.③So short-sighted Zysman junior gets stuck in the back row, and is rarely asked the improving questions posed by those insensitive teachers.④At the time the alphabetically disadvantaged may think they have had a lucky escape.⑤Yet the result may be worse qualifications, because they get less individual attention, as well as less confidence in speaking publicly.

coincidence  n. （令人惊奇的，意想不到的）巧合，巧事

dream up  凭空想出，虚构

the rot sets in  情况开始出毛病，事情开始走下坡（且无可挽回）

seat  v. （使）就座，安排（某人）坐在某处

short-sighted  a. 近视的；短视的，目光短浅的

get stuck in  被卡住

pose  v. 提出（问题）

insensitive  a. 不敏感的，不顾他人感受的

a lucky escape  幸运逃脱，侥幸逃脱

qualification  n. 学历，素质，技能

spare time  闲暇时间

in the back row  位于后排

这仅仅是巧合吗?某种理论认为这种歧视很早就开始了，这种理论是那些姓氏在字母排序上处于劣势者在“享受”闲暇时设想出来的。刚上幼儿园，老师就按姓氏字母顺序给学生排座，以便更容易记住他们的名字。因此近视的小学生Zy s man就只能一直坐在后排，很少被那些不敏感的老师提问益智性的问题。此时，姓氏字母靠后的孩子可能会为自己逃脱提问暗自庆幸。然而其结果却可能是：他们不仅学业较差，而且在公众场合发言时也会缺乏自信，因为他们得到的个体关注较少。

①The humiliation continues.②At university graduation ceremonies,the ABCs proudly get their awards first; by the time they reach the Zysmans most people are literally having a ZZZ.③Shortlists 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.

humiliation  n. 羞辱，屈辱

literally  ad. 确实地（强调某事虽然令人惊讶但却是真实的）

shortlist  n. 供最后考虑的候选人的名单，决选名单（如颁发奖项或填补空缺职位时）/ v. 列入最后的名单

ballot  n./v. 投票

attendee  n. 参加者，出席者

draw up  起草，拟定

recipient  n. 接受者，接收者

university graduation ceremonies  大学毕业典礼

by the time  到……时

have a ZZZ  呼呼大睡

job interview  求职面试

lists of conference speakers and attendees  与会发言人和与会者名单

tend to  趋于，往往发生

draw up a list  编写，拟定列表

lose interest  失去兴趣

plough (your way) through sth.  费劲地阅读，吃力地钻研

这种羞辱会一直持续。大学毕业典礼上，姓氏以ABC开头的学生会很自豪地先领到毕业证书， 等轮到那些Zy s man们时， 大多数人真的已经鼾声大作了。求职面试名单、投票选举名单、与会发言人和与会者名单，它们往往都是按照字母先后顺序拟定的，当拿到名单的人们费劲儿地从头看到尾时，其兴趣也渐趋寥寥了。

26. 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.

27. 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 Zoë Zysman.

[C] Customers often pay a lot of attention to companies’ names.

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

28. 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

29. What does the author mean by “most people are literally having a ZZZ” (Lines 2, Paragraph 5)?

[A] They are getting impatient.  

[B] They are noisily dozing off.

[C] They are feeling humiliated.

[D] They are busy with word puzzles.

30. Which of the following is true according to the text?

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

[B] VIPs in the Western world 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.

overlook  v. 忽视，漏掉

conspicuous  a. 显眼的，惹人注目的

be to blame for  （27题）应受责备，应负责任

subtle  a. （27题）难以察觉或描述的；细微的；微妙的

ill-treat  v. （30题）虐待，折磨

have a long way to go  （30题）（为达到目的）仍有很多事要做

unintentional  a. （30题）非故意的，无心的

ADCBD

26、【定位】第一段指出“按照姓氏首字母排序是一种隐蔽的不公和歧视”，随后第二段①句举例指出“人们早已熟知名称为AAAA cars的出租车公司比名称为Zodiac cars的公司占有很大优势”， ②句则转折回归姓氏首字母， 指出“生活中Adam Abbott比Zoe Zy s man享有优势却鲜为人知”。综上可推知，作者意在用“名称首字母排序靠前的出租车公司比首字母排序靠后的公司享有优势”这一显而易见的现象来反衬“姓氏首字母排序靠前者比靠后者享有优势是一种隐秘的、容易被人们忽视的歧视现象”。[A]正确。

27、【定位】第一段以对比开篇、提出主题：姓氏字母排序是一种隐性的不公和歧视，第二段通过举例“公司名称首字母靠前者比靠后者有明显优势”来反衬“姓氏首字母靠后者处于不利地位的隐蔽性”，随后指出事实“顶尖人物姓氏首字母多居于字母表前半部分”，第三段列举大量姓氏排序靠前的顶尖人物证实姓氏靠前确有优势。综合可知，第一段提出的主题即为该三段的论述核心。[D]符合文义。

28、【定位】第四段给出关于姓氏字母排序歧视现象的根源的一种理论。该理论指出：这种歧视很早就开始了，幼儿学校老师按姓氏字母顺序给学生排座位，造成姓氏首字母靠后的学生很少被提问，久而久之，这些孩子成绩糟糕，公开发言时缺乏信心。显然，这种理论认为是老师对姓氏首字母靠后的学生的忽视才导致了这些学生表现欠佳，暗示老师应该关注所有学生，选项[C]符合逻辑。

29、【定位】第五段②句指出：大学毕业典礼上， 姓氏以ABC开头的学生先领到毕业证， 当轮到那些姓氏以Z开头的学生时，大多数参会者已经在ZZZ了。结合本段主旨“这种羞辱，即姓氏字母排序歧视，还在继续”(①句)，可知②句意在举例描述大学毕业典礼上姓氏字母排序靠后者如何尴尬受辱的情形， 也即most people are literally having a ZZZ对姓氏字母排序靠后者来说是一种尴尬和羞辱。可以设想，当Z学生上台领毕业证时，观众在经过漫长等待和重复场景之后，已然觉得无聊乏味，昏昏欲睡，见此情形，Z学生不免感觉尴尬受辱。另外，漫画或动画中经常出现ZZZ的符号，它是英文拟声词，表示打鼾声，通常用以表示睡觉。因此[B]为最佳选项。

30、【定位】纵观全文，首段提出主题：姓氏字母排序是一种隐蔽的歧视现象，第二、三段举例说明现象“大多数杰出人物姓氏字母排序靠前”，也即姓氏字母排序歧视确实存在，第四段分析根源“这种歧视始于幼儿时期教师按姓氏字母顺序排座的行为”，第五段例证说明姓氏字母排序靠后者在很多情况下都受到他人无意识地不平等对待。综上可知，本文论述主旨是“按照姓氏字母排序在无意中使得靠前者占有优势，而靠后者受到不公平对待，即按照字母排序可能会导致无意识的偏见”，[D]正确。