Reading to oneself is a modern activity which was almost unknown to the scholars of the classical and【C1】______worlds, while during the fifteenth century the term "reading" 【C2】______ meant reading aloud. Only during the nineteenth century did silent reading become commonplace. One should be wary, however, of 【C3】______that silent reading came about simply because reading aloud is a(n) 【C4】______to others. Examination of factors related to the 【C5】______development of silent reading reveals that it became the usual mode of reading for most adult reading tasks mainly because the tasks themselves changed in【C6】______. The last century saw a steady gradual increase in【C7】______, and thus in the number of readers. As readers increased, the number of potential listeners 【C8】______, and thus there was some【C9】______in the need to read aloud. As reading for the benefit of listeners grew less common, so came the flourishing of reading as a【C10】______activity in such public places as libraries, railway carriages and offices, where reading aloud would 【C11】______distraction to other readers. Towards the end of the century there was still【C12】______argument over whether books should be used for information or treated【C13】______, and over whether the reading of material such as newspapers was in some way【C14】______weakening. Indeed this argument remains with us still in education. However, 【C15】______ its advantages, the old shared literacy culture had gone and was 【C16】______ by the printed mass media on the one hand and by books and periodicals for a【C17】______ readership on the other. By the end of the century students were being recommended to adopt attitudes to books and to use skills in reading them which were inappropriate, 【C18】______not impossible, for the oral reader. The social, cultural, and technological changes in the century had greatly 【C19】______what the term "reading"【C20】______.
单选题
【C1】
【正确答案】
C
【答案解析】解析：考查上下文语义。本题要求填入一个形容词，可以利用上义词复现这一技巧。during the fifteenth century就是所填词的下义词，即“在15世纪”。它既不属于contemporary，也不属于modern world，而western与本文主题无关。因此只有C．medieval“中世纪的”符合文意，指14到1 6世纪之间，包括了1 5世纪，故C项为正确答案。
【答案解析】解析：考查形近词辨析。四个选项都是同根词，literate是形容词，表示“能读会写的，识字的”，如果表达的是会读写的人越来越多，则应用increase in the literate，the后面接形容词表示某类人。illiterate“文盲”或“不识字的，没受教育的”，与文中意思相反；literacy是名词，指的是“有读写能力，有文化”，该句要表达的意思是提高文化素质，因此是increase in literacy；故答案为C．literacy。literature“文学，作品”，不符合题意。
单选题
【C8】
【正确答案】
B
【答案解析】解析：考查上下文语义及动词辨析。此空前一分句讲读者数目增加了，那么相应地，听别人读书的人应该是减少了。与increased形成反义复现的只有B．declined“下降”。而且从后文As reading for the benefit of listeners grew less common…也可得到证实。receded“后退，倒退”，不能用来修饰the number；increased“增长”，expanded“膨胀，扩张”，均与文意相反。因此答案为B．declined。