34.  A new study suggests that the conversational pace of everyday life may be so brisk it hampers the ability of some children for distinguishing discrete sounds and words and, the result is, to make sense of speech.
【正确答案】 B
【答案解析】 Rhetorical Construction; Parallelism; Diction
   The sentence describes a hypothesized causal series: The fast conversational pace impairs children's ability to distinguish individual sounds and words, and this, in turn, impairs their ability to make sense of speech. These two consequences, both impaired abilities, are most clearly and efficiently expressed in parallel infinitive phrases (to distinguish and to make). The explanatory phrase as a result before the second infinitive clarifies the sequence. The term ability should be followed by the preposition to, not for.
   A   For is the wrong preposition to follow ability; the phrase and, the result is, introduces a new clause which indicates that children's inability to distinguish sounds enables them to make sense of speech.
   B   Correct. The two abilities hampered by the fast pace of conversation are described with the parallel infinitive phrases to distinguish and to make.
   C   The result of this is a new subject that grammatically requires a new verb; the phrase is wordy and unclear.
   D   This version of the sentence nonsensically suggests that the pace of speech results in not making sense of speech, removing the children from the picture as the ones who are affected.
   E   The phrase is awkward, wordy, and unclear; for is the incorrect preposition to follow ability.
   The correct answer is B.