单选题 Over the past century, all kinds of unfairness and discrimination have been condemned or made illegal. But one insidious(不知不觉间恶化的,潜伏的) 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 rot 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 short-sighted 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 rewards first; by the time they reach the Zysmans most people are literally having a ZZZ. Shortlists(谋职者名单) for job interviews, election ballot(投票,选票)papers, lists of conference speakers and attendees: all tend to be drawn alphabetically, and their recipient lose interest as they plough through them.
单选题 What does the author intend to illustrate with AAAA cars and Zodiac cars?
【正确答案】 A
【答案解析】解析:推断题。题目问的是作者提到AAAA Cars汽车公司和Zodiac Cars汽车公司是什么原因。定位到第二段第一句,可知众所周知,当顾客翻阅电话号码簿时,AAAA Cars的汽车出租车相对Zodiac Cars汽车公司的优势是显而易见的。再定位到第一段第二句:但是有一种隐蔽的形式还在持续:字母顺序歧视。所以作者是为了说明一种隐蔽的歧视,故选A。
单选题 What can we infer from the first three paragraphs?
【正确答案】 B
【答案解析】解析:推断题。题目问的是由前三段推断出哪一项是正确的。定位到第二段第二句,但鲜为人知的是,在生活方面,Adarn Abbott比Zoe Zysman更有优势。再结合上下文,Zoe Zysman的劣势是由于潜在的字母歧视造成的,故选B。
单选题 The 4th paragraph suggests that______.
【正确答案】 C
【答案解析】解析:细节题。题目问的是第四段表明什么。定位到第四段第二句和最后一句可知,在幼儿学校第一年开始,老师按字母顺序给学生排座位,为的是更容易记住他们的名字。然而,结果却是他们各方面的不合格,因为他们得到的个人关注较少,以及在公开演讲的信心不足。所以推断应该对所有的学生都平等对待,故选C。
单选题 What does the author mean by " most people are literally having a ZZZ" (Sentence 2, Para. 5) ?
【正确答案】 B
【答案解析】解析:细节题。题目问的是第五段作者提到“most people are literally having a ZZZ”是什么意思。定位到第五段第二句,可知而Zysmans这样的人要等到大多数人差不多都在打鼾的时候才能拿奖。ZZZ为象声词,意为“打鼾声”,故选B。
单选题 Which of the following is true according to the text?
【正确答案】 D
【答案解析】解析:主旨题。题目问的是哪一项是正确的。根据全文内容可知,姓名字母排前的人有优势,而排后的人不容易得到关注,可知姓名字母排序会造成不公平,故选D。