Text 15

Over the past century, all kinds of unfairness and discrimination have been condemned or made illegal. But one insidious 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 rest 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 shortsighted 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 awards first; by the time they reach the Zysmans most people are literally having a ZZZ. Shortlists for job interviews, election ballot papers, lists of conference speakers and attendees: all tend to be drawn up alphabetically, and their recipients lose interest as they plough through them.

1.What does the author intend to illustrate with AAAA cars and Zodiac cars?

A.A kind of overlooked inequality.　　B.A type of conspicuous bias.

C.A type of personal prejudice.　　　D.A kind of brand discrimination.

2.What can we infer from the first three paragraphs?

A.In both East and West, names are essential to success.

B.The alphabet is to blame for the failure of Zoe Zysman.

C.Customers often pay a lot of attention to companies' names.

D.Some form of discrimination is too subtle to recognize.

3.The 4th paragraph suggests that_______.

A.questions are often put to the more intelligent students

B.alphabetically disadvantaged students often escape from class

C.teachers should pay attention to all of their students

D.students should be seated according to their eyesight

4.What does the author mean by "most people are literally having a ZZZ" (Line 2, Para. 5)?

A.They are getting impatient.　　　B.They are noisily dozing off.

C.They are feeling humiliated.　　　D.They are busy with word puzzles.

5.Which of the following is true according to the passage?

A.People with surnames beginning with N to Z are often ill-treated.

B.VIPs in the Western word gain a great deal from alphabetism.

C.The campaign to eliminate alphabetism still has a long way to go.

D.Putting things alphabetically may lead to unintentional bias.

长难例句分析

［长难例句］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.

［结构分析］本句中，主干是this...refers to discrimination。for those as yet unaware of such a disadvantage作全句的状语；as yet unaware of such a disadvantage作定语修饰those people。as yet的意思是“到目前为止（仍），现在还，至今”。against those whose surnames begin with a letter in the lower half of the alphabet是修饰discrimination的定语，由whose surnames引导的定语从句修饰those。

［参考译文］对于那些至今尚未意识到这种不利因素的人来说，它指的是一种对姓氏首字母排在字母表后半部分的人的歧视。

全文参考译文

在过去的一个世纪，所有的不平等和歧视都受到谴责或被视为违法。但一种阴险的形式继续流行开来：字母歧视。对于那些至今尚未意识到这种不利因素的人来说，它指的是一种对姓氏首字母排在字母表后半部分的人的歧视。

很久之前人们就知道，当客户在翻看他们的电话簿时，叫做AAAA汽车的出租车公司比Zodiac汽车公司有更大的优势。不那么为人所知的是Adam Abbott 比Zoe Zysman在生活中所具有的优势。英语名字按字母表相当均匀地分布。但难以置信的是有很大数量的上层人士，其姓氏是以A到K的字母开头的。

同样美国的总统和副总统的姓氏分别以B和C开头，并且在乔治·布什的前任总统中（包括他父亲），有26人其姓氏是以字母表前半部分开头的，姓氏以字母表后半部分开头的仅有16人。更惊人的是，七国集团富裕国的政府首脑有6位的姓氏有字母表顺序优势（Berlusconi，Blair，Bush，Chirac，Chretien和Koizumi）。世界的3个顶级中央银行家（Greenspan，Duisenberg和Hayami）的姓氏都以字母表最前面的字母开头，即使他们中有一人实际上用的是日本字符。世界上最富有的5个人（Gates，Buffett，Allen，Ellison和Albrecht）的姓氏也是如此。

这仅是巧合吗？一种由处于字母表不利位置的人在空闲时间构思出的理论认为，这种情况早就存在。在幼儿园第一年的开始阶段，老师按学生姓氏的字母表顺序由前往后安排座位，这样比较容易记住学生的名字。所以眼睛近视的Zysman只能坐在后排，并且很少被那些感觉迟钝的老师问一些有质量的问题。那时处于字母表不利位置的学生可能觉得他们很幸运，可以逃避老师的提问。但结果可能更糟，因为他们很难得到个人关注，同时在公共场合讲话时也缺乏自信。

这种耻辱继续着。在大学毕业典礼上，姓氏以A、B、C等前面字母开头的学生可以首先自豪地得到奖励，轮到Zysman时，大多数人都在打瞌睡了。求职者面试的顺序、投票选举名单，会议演讲者和出席者的名单列表，都会按字母顺序列出，随着他们的收件人按字母顺序查看这些名单，他们就会慢慢失去兴趣。

题目答案与解析

1.作者用AAAA cars和Zodiac cars汽车公司为例，意欲说明什么？

A.一种被人们忽视的不平等。　　B.一种显而易见的偏见。

C.一种个人偏见。　　　　　　　D.一种少见的歧视。

【答案】A

【解析】本题可参照文章的第一段和第二段。从文章的第一段可知，一种隐秘的不公平和歧视继续盛行——按字母排序；第二段接着讲到，人们早就知道，当乘客通过电话本叫出租车时，一家名为“AAAA”的出租车公司所具有的优势就比一家名为“Zodiac”的汽车公司大；人们不太知晓的是这样的有利条件——在生活中，Adam Abbott比Zoe Zysman有优势。据此可知，作者举“AAAA cars”和“Zodiac cars”汽车公司为例是为了说明——人们忽视了一种隐秘的不公平和歧视。因此A项为正确答案。

2.我们从文章的前三段中可以推知什么？

A.不管是在东方还是在西方，姓名对于成功至关重要。

B.人们指责字母表导致姓氏靠后者的失败。

C.消费者通常非常注重公司的名字。

D.某种歧视太细微因而难以辨别。

【答案】D

【解析】从文章的第一、第二、第三段的内容可知，过去，各种各样的不公平和歧视受到人们的谴责或是被视为违法；但是，一种隐秘的不公平和歧视继续盛行；人们早就知道，当乘客通过电话本叫出租车时，名为“AAAA”的出租车公司所具有的优势就比名为“Zodiac”的汽车公司大；人们不太知晓的是这样的有利条件——在生活中，Adam Abbott比Zoe Zysman有优势；然后举例说明，指出有些人有字母方面的优势。据此可知，由于某些隐秘的不公平和歧视太细微，所以难以被人们关注。因此D项为正确答案。

3.第四段暗示_________。

A.更聪明的学生经常被提问　　B.不具备字母优势的学生经常逃课

C.老师应该关注所有学生　　　D.应该根据学生的视力来给他们排座位

【答案】C

【解析】文章第四段讲道，这只能算是巧合吗？一种理论认为，这种情况早就存在；在幼儿园的起始阶段，老师根据字母顺序从前到后给学生排座位，一些近视的、姓氏靠后的幼儿不得不坐在后排，那些不敏感的老师很少向这些幼儿提一些有助于提高的问题；那时，那些不具备字母优势的人可能认为他们有幸躲过了提问；结果可能会造成更严重的后果。据此可知，老师不应该忽视那些没有字母优势的学生。C项的“老师应该关注所有学生”与文章的意思相符，因此C项为正确答案。

4.作者讲“most people are literally having a ZZZ”（第五段第二至三行）的含义是什么？

A.他们变得不耐烦。　　B.他们已是鼾声大作。

C.他们觉得丢脸。　　　D.他们忙于做字谜游戏。

【答案】B

【解析】从文章第五段的内容可知，在大学的毕业典礼上，那些姓氏靠前者首先获得奖品；等到该姓氏靠后者获奖时，大多数人都在打瞌睡了；求职面试的最后名单、投票选举单、会议发言以及参加者名单往往都是根据字母先后顺序制作的，等人们费劲地观看时，他们的兴趣也随之消失了。据此可知，该句话的意思应该是——大多数人都在打鼾。B项与文章的意思相符，因此为正确答案。

5.依照本文的观点，以下选项中正确的是哪项？

A.以N到Z为姓氏的人经常受到虐待。

B.西方世界的重要人物从以字母先后排序的做法中获得极大的好处。

C.消除以字母先后排序的运动仍然任重道远。

D.以字母先后排序的做法可能会导致无心的偏见。

【答案】D

【解析】从文章第一段的内容可知，过去，各种各样的不公平和歧视受到人们的谴责或是被视为违法；但是，有一种隐秘的不公平和歧视继续盛行——按字母排序；从第二段的内容可知，人们早就知道，当乘客通过电话本叫出租车时，名为“AAAA”的出租车公司所具有的优势就比名为“Zodiac”的汽车公司大；但是，人们不太知晓的是：在生活中，Adam Abbott比Zoe Zysman有优势；第三段举例说明；第四段接着讲到，这只能算是巧合吗？跟着举例指出：在幼儿园，老师根据字母顺序从前到后给学生排座位，结果可能会造成更严重的后果，因为这些人受到的关注更少，他们也更缺乏公开表达自己信心的机会；从文章的最后一段内容可知，这种使人蒙羞的情况还在继续。据此可知，根据字母的先后排序的做法可能无意中导致偏见。因此D项为正确答案。