填空题. A. byproducts B. genuinely C. even though D. placed E. passive F. as G. published H. equivalent I. requires J. inclusively K. released L. trend M. consequences N. indifferent O. dismal Stories people have with reading are not new, but the 1 is worsening. Recently, a record has shown that 10 percent of the freshmen at university could read no better than the average eighth grader. As 2 a commentary as it is, there is a more chilling point to it: of those college freshmen whose reading skills were 3 to the eighth-grade level, many had ranked in the top half of their high-school classes. A professor said that even after four years on campus, some college students could hardly read or write. The 4 are obvious, and are already being felt in the cultural marketplace. A first work of fiction, if it has any luck at all, will sell perhaps 3,000 copies. Publishers and authors know not to expect much better than that, while a record album recently 5 has sold 3.5 million copies. Much of the problem is that we live in a(n) 6 age. To listen to a record album 7 nothing of the cultural consumer, except his mere presence. To read a book, though, takes an act of will on the part of the consumer. He must 8 want to find out what is inside. He can't just sit there, he must do something, 9 the something is as simple an action as opening a book, closing the door and beginning to read. In the past, this was taken for granted as an important part of life. But now, in the day of the "information retrieval system", such a reverence (尊重) is not being 10 on the reading.