单选题

Low levels of literacy and numeracy have a damaging impact on almost every aspect of adults, according to a survey published yesterday, which offers{{U}} (1) {{/U}}of a developing underclass. Tests and{{U}} (2) {{/U}}with hundreds of people born in a week in 1958 graphically illustrated the{{U}} (3) {{/U}}of educational underachievement. The effects can be seen in unemployment, family{{U}} (4) {{/U}}, low incomes, depression and social inactivity.
Those who left school at 16 with poor basic skills had been employed for up to four years less than good readers{{U}} (5) {{/U}}they reached 37. Professor John Bynner, of City University, who carried the research, said that today’s{{U}} (6) {{/U}}teenagers would even encounter greater problems because the supply of{{U}} (7) {{/U}}jobs had shrunk.
Almost one fifth of the 1,700 people interviewed for yesterday’s report had poor literacy and almost half{{U}} (8) {{/U}}with innumeracy, a proportion{{U}} (9) {{/U}}other surveys for the Basic Skills Agency. Some could not read a child’s book, and most found difficult{{U}} (10) {{/U}}written instruction.
Poor readers were twice as likely to be a low wage and four times likely to live in a household where partners worked. Women in this{{U}} (11) {{/U}}were five times as likely to be{{U}} (12) {{/U}}depressed,{{U}} (13) {{/U}}both tended to feel they had no control over their lives, and to trust others{{U}} (14) {{/U}}.
Those who had low literacy and numeracy were seldom{{U}} (15) {{/U}}in any community organization and less likely than others to{{U}} (16) {{/U}}in a general election. There had been no{{U}} (17) {{/U}}in the literary level of{{U}} (18) {{/U}}reporting problems.
Alan Wells, the agency’s director, said: “ The results emphasize the dangers of developing an underclass people, who were out of work,{{U}} (19) {{/U}}depressed and often labeled themselves as{{U}} (20) {{/U}}. There is a circle of marginalization, with the dice against these people and their families.”

【正确答案】 D

【答案解析】[解析] 语义衔接题。四个选项意思相近，均有“证明，证据”之意，到底选用哪个，就需要从其不同的用法来辨别。[A]proof与[D]evidence尤为相近，但前者着重强调“事件或迹象的真实性”，而后者则既可强调“事件或迹象存在”又可强调其“真实性”，本句的意思是调查证明下层阶级存在，因此evidence比较恰当。[B]witness多指“某事件的目击者，证人”，[C]testimony则指“证词、见证”，均与此处语义不能衔接。

【正确答案】 B

【答案解析】[解析] 语义衔接题。首先注意所填词与with搭配，排除[A]investigations“调查，研究”，虽与test语义并列，但多与of而不是with搭配；[B]interviews“采访，会见，面试”，interview with sb.“对某人进行采访”，符合语境；[C]conferences“协商，会议”、[D]communications“交流，沟通”这两个词虽然可与with搭配，但与进行调查 (survey)与测试(test)时采取的方式不符。所以本题答案为[B]。

【正确答案】 C

【答案解析】[解析] 语义衔接题。这四个词均有“缺陷、不足”的含义，但要注意各自的侧重点不同：[A]defect“(尤指生理上的)缺陷，不足”；[B]backwardness“落后”；[C]handicap“残疾，障碍，不利条件”；[D]scarcity“缺乏，不足 (尤指数量上的)”。此处侧重指中下层阶级在教育方面的不利条件，因此[C]更能与文意衔接。

【正确答案】 D

【答案解析】[解析] 语义衔接题。文章主题是读写能力与算术能力偏低造成的不利影响，因此此处所指的teenagers应该是low levels of literacy and numeracy，综合而言，即是“受教育程度低的”，所以选[D]unqualified。[A]illiterate“不识字的，未受过教育的”，没有包括算术能力低的，片面，所以排除；[B]suffering“受苦的，生病的”与[C] poor“贫穷的”，均与语境不符。

【正确答案】 A

【答案解析】[解析] 惯用衔接题。所填词与with搭配，因此限定只能选[A]struggled，struggle with sth.“与…抗争，奋斗”，说明有一半的人存在算术能力差的问题。[B]是强干扰项，但要注意face的用法，与with搭配时，短语为 be faced with，否则直接跟宾语；[C]encountered“遇到”、[D]confronted“面临”，均是及物动词，无需与with搭配。

【正确答案】 D

【答案解析】[解析] 语义衔接题。[A]post“岗位，职位”，指具体的某一岗位；[B]condition“条件”；[C]status“地位”； [D]position“位置，立场，形势”。结合上文，此处的women是指与上句中提到的poor readers读写能力水平相当的女性，也就是同样属于poor readers的女性，因此[D]position确切。

【正确答案】 A

【答案解析】[解析] 惯用衔接题。四个选项中，[A]classified与[D]labeled均可与介词as搭配，但as可以省略。此处指这些女性均易被认为情绪低落，意思与搭配上只有[A]符合，classify as“分类，归类”。label as“标示，标明”，如：The bottle is labeled poisonous“瓶上标明有毒”；[B]thought与[C]believed与不定式搭配，意为“被认为是”。

【正确答案】 D

【答案解析】[解析] 语义，惯用衔接题。本题比较简单，掌握四个形近词的意思与搭配即可作答。[A]revolved“围绕，旋转”，多与round搭配使用；[B]dissolved“溶解，解散，解除”，及物动词，dissolve sth. in sth.“将某物溶解于其他物之中”；[C]resolved作“决心，决定”讲时与on搭配，作“解决”讲时为及物动词；[D]involved常与in搭配，表示“牵涉，涉及，包括”，符合句意，为正确答案。