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 Zoë 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, Chrétien 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 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。
　　 26. 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。
　　 27. 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 Zoë Zysman.
　　 [C] Customers often pay a lot of attention to companies’ names。
　　 [D] Some form of discrimination is too subtle to recognize。
　　 28. The 4th paragraph suggests that
　　 [A] questions are often put to the more intelligent students。
　　 [B] alphabetically disadvantaged students often escape form class.
　　 [C] teachers should pay attention to all of their students.
　　 [D] students should be seated according to their eyesight。
　　 29. What does the author mean by “most people are literally having a ZZZ” (Lines 2-3, Paragraph 5)?
　　 [A] They are getting impatient。
　　 [B] They are noisily dozing off。
　　 [C] They are feeling humiliated。
　　 [D] They are busy with word puzzles。
　　 30. Which of the following is true according to the text?
　　 [A] People with surnames beginning with N to Z are often ill-treated。
　　 [B] VIPs in the Western world 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。

　　名師解析
　　26. What does the author intend to illustrate with AAAA cars and Zodiac cars?
　　作者用“AAAA汽車(chē)”和“Zodiac汽車(chē)”來(lái)例證什么?
　　[A] A kind of overlooked inequality. 某種被忽視的不平等。
　　[B] A type of conspicuous bias. 某種顯而易見(jiàn)的偏見(jiàn)。
　　[C] A type of personal prejudice. 某種個(gè)人的偏見(jiàn)。
　　[D] A kind of brand discrimination. 某種品牌上的歧視。
　　【答案】 A
　　【考點(diǎn)】 判斷題。
　　【分析】 本題考查作者的寫(xiě)作意圖，即作者用這兩個(gè)例子試圖來(lái)證明什么問(wèn)題。通常人們只有在需要證明某個(gè)方面的問(wèn)題時(shí)才會(huì)引用例子，那么作者用這兩個(gè)例子究竟是為了說(shuō)明什么問(wèn)題呢?其實(shí)考生在讀完第一段之后就應(yīng)該比較清楚作者的意圖了，即他正在試圖證明按字母排序這一隱蔽的不公平現(xiàn)象。[B]“某種顯而易見(jiàn)的偏見(jiàn)”錯(cuò)在“顯而易見(jiàn)”。[C]“某種個(gè)人的偏見(jiàn)”錯(cuò)在“個(gè)人”。[D]“某種品牌上的歧視”是故意在偷換概念，舉這兩個(gè)例子不是為了說(shuō)明哪一個(gè)品牌好，而是為了證明字母順序主義的存在與危害。
　　27. What can we infer from the first three paragraphs?
　　從文章前三段，我們可以推斷出什么?
　　[A] In both East and West, names are essential to success。
　　在東方和西方，名字對(duì)于成功來(lái)說(shuō)都是至關(guān)重要的。
　　[B] The alphabet is to blame for the failure of Zoë Zysman.
　　Zoë Zysman的失敗應(yīng)該歸咎于字母表。
　　[C] Customers often pay a lot of attention to companies’ names。
　　顧客通常很注重公司的名字。。
　　[D] Some form of discrimination is too subtle to recognize。
　　某種歧視過(guò)于微妙以至于難以被人發(fā)現(xiàn)。
　　【答案】 D
　　【考點(diǎn)】 文章結(jié)構(gòu)與舉例說(shuō)明題。
　　【分析】 考生只有通讀作者要求的這三段，才能夠得出正確結(jié)論。第一段提出“字母順序主義”這一說(shuō)法，第二段舉例說(shuō)明這種現(xiàn)象在生活中的表現(xiàn)，第三段舉例說(shuō)明“字母順序主義”在名人身上的體現(xiàn)。在上題中說(shuō)過(guò)，舉例都是為了證明某個(gè)觀點(diǎn)，也就是說(shuō)，第二和第三段都是為了證明第一段提出的論點(diǎn)。從幾個(gè)關(guān)鍵的單詞、詞組“insidious”，“unaware”以及“l(fā)ess well known”我們可以推斷出正確選項(xiàng)[D]“某種歧視過(guò)于微妙以至于難以被人發(fā)現(xiàn)。”。選項(xiàng)[A]顯得過(guò)于絕對(duì)。將某一個(gè)人或者某一類(lèi)人的失敗全部歸咎于字母是有失偏頗的，文章中只是說(shuō)，由于名字靠后，有一些學(xué)生可能容易被老師忽視，從而導(dǎo)致學(xué)習(xí)的失敗，但是這不能說(shuō)明都是字母的責(zé)任，而且這一點(diǎn)已經(jīng)不在前三段了。選項(xiàng)[C]這一說(shuō)法也是以偏概全，文中只是說(shuō)顧客容易受到字母排序的影響從而注意到排名靠前的出租車(chē)公司而已。
　　28. The 4th paragraph suggests that 第四段暗示
　　[A] questions are often put to the more intelligent students。
　　更加聰明的學(xué)生經(jīng)常被提問(wèn)。
　　[B] alphabetically disadvantaged students often escape form class。
　　姓氏在字母排序中處于劣勢(shì)的學(xué)生經(jīng)常逃課。
　　[C] teachers should pay attention to all of their students。
　　老師應(yīng)該關(guān)注所有的學(xué)生。
　　[D] students should be seated according to their eyesight。
　　學(xué)生應(yīng)該按照視力的好壞來(lái)排座位。
　　【答案】 C
　　【考點(diǎn)】 推斷題。
　　【分析】 文章中沒(méi)有直接給出一個(gè)答案，考生必須自己通過(guò)透徹的理解原文才能得出結(jié)論。第四段認(rèn)為“這不是巧合，按字母表順序排名靠后而吃虧的人在業(yè)余時(shí)間憑空想出一種理論認(rèn)為這種倒霉事兒很早就開(kāi)始了。在幼兒學(xué)校第一年之始，老師為了較為容易記住學(xué)生的名字，就按字母表順序由前往后給學(xué)生排座位。因此近視的小Zysman就被插在了后排，這樣一來(lái)，粗心的教師提出的有助于提高的問(wèn)題就很少會(huì)問(wèn)到他。這時(shí)，按字母表順序排名靠后的學(xué)生還認(rèn)為他們能逃避老師的問(wèn)題很幸運(yùn)。然而，結(jié)果可能就是成績(jī)欠佳，因?yàn)檫@種學(xué)生得到的個(gè)人關(guān)注較少，同時(shí)當(dāng)眾講話時(shí)的信心也不足”。至此，作者再一次試圖論證其論點(diǎn)，即“按照字母排序是隱蔽的不平等”。而且這還導(dǎo)致了學(xué)生不能夠得到公平的教育機(jī)會(huì)，也就是在說(shuō)，老師們?cè)撽P(guān)注關(guān)注那些按字母排序吃虧的人了，因此選項(xiàng)[C]比較符合文意。[D]是一種貌似正確實(shí)際上以偏概全的說(shuō)法，沒(méi)有達(dá)到作者想要表達(dá)的高度，是一種比較膚淺的表象的看法，有些考生沒(méi)有仔細(xì)精讀原文，就可能受其影響。
　　29. What does the author mean by “most people are literally having a ZZZ”(Lines 2-3, Paragraph 5)?
　　“most people are literally having a ZZZ”(第五段第二、三行)是什么意思?
　　[A] They are getting impatient. 他們急不可耐。
　　[B] They are noisily dozing off. 他們鼾聲大作。
　　[C] They are feeling humiliated. 他們感覺(jué)受到了屈辱。
　　[D] They are busy with word puzzles. 他們忙于拼字游戲。。
　　【答案】 B
　　【考點(diǎn)】 推斷題。
　　【分析】 看第五段“這種羞辱繼續(xù)著。在大學(xué)的畢業(yè)典禮上，姓名首字母是A、B、C的學(xué)生驕傲地首先領(lǐng)到獎(jiǎng)品;等輪到Zysman們領(lǐng)獎(jiǎng)品的時(shí)候，大多數(shù)人差不多都在‘ZZZ’了”。在西方漫畫(huà)中，“ZZZ”就是表示打鼾，這是考查考生平日的英語(yǔ)學(xué)習(xí)中是否對(duì)西方文化背景知識(shí)給予足夠的關(guān)注。
　　30. Which of the following is true according to the text?
　　根據(jù)本文，以下哪一種說(shuō)法是正確的?
　　[A] People with surnames beginning with N to Z are often ill-treated。
　　姓氏字母為N到Z的人經(jīng)常受到不公平的對(duì)待。
　　[B] VIPs in the Western world gain a great deal from alphabetism。
　　西方世界的重要人士從字母順序主義中獲益頗豐。
　　[C] The campaign to eliminate alphabetism still has a long way to go。
　　消除字母順序主義的運(yùn)動(dòng)仍然任重而道遠(yuǎn)。
　　[D] Putting things alphabetically may lead to unintentional bias。
　　凡是按照字母排序把事物排列的做法可能會(huì)導(dǎo)致無(wú)意識(shí)的偏見(jiàn)。
　　【答案】 D
　　【考點(diǎn)】 事實(shí)細(xì)節(jié)題。
　　【分析】 本題考查的是事實(shí)細(xì)節(jié)，而且選項(xiàng)跨度很大，只有在通篇閱讀本文并且取得深刻認(rèn)識(shí)之后，我們才有可能完全答對(duì)本道題目。選項(xiàng)[A]這一說(shuō)法的問(wèn)題出在作者提到“A-K”，而不是到“M”，而且“ill-treated”這個(gè)單詞有點(diǎn)過(guò)了，因?yàn)樽帜疙樞蛑髁x導(dǎo)致的不公平與主觀的虐待還是有很大區(qū)別的。選項(xiàng)[B]這一說(shuō)法的問(wèn)題出在程度的限定上。文章中提到許多杰出人士在字母排序中靠前，但是這只能夠說(shuō)這些人相比字母靠后的人可能更容易成功，而且西方世界的重要人士這個(gè)主語(yǔ)太大了，它也包括字母靠后的那些重要人士，而且用“gain a great deal”都顯得過(guò)于夸張。[C]這個(gè)說(shuō)法與作者的意圖不同，作者只是在論證字母順序主義這樣一種不平等現(xiàn)象，但是并沒(méi)有提出要消除字母順序主義。只有選項(xiàng)[D]還比較合理，來(lái)自于首段的第二、三句。

　　 難句解析：
　　 1. 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。
　　【結(jié)構(gòu)分析】 該句子的主句是“this refers to discrimination”。主語(yǔ)“this”和謂語(yǔ)“refers to”之間插入了介賓短語(yǔ)“for those”作狀語(yǔ)，“those”后跟著形容詞短語(yǔ)“unaware of…”作其定語(yǔ)，賓語(yǔ)“discrimination”后跟介賓短語(yǔ)“against those…”作定語(yǔ)，“those”后又有“whose”引導(dǎo)的定語(yǔ)從句來(lái)修飾。
　　 2. 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。
　　【結(jié)構(gòu)分析】 “and”將本句分為兩個(gè)并列分句，第一個(gè)分句即“American president and vice-president have surnames”，第二個(gè)分句是“26 of…h(huán)ad surnames”。第一個(gè)分句的賓語(yǔ)“surnames”后是現(xiàn)在分詞結(jié)構(gòu)“starting with”作定語(yǔ);第二個(gè)分句賓語(yǔ)緊跟的介詞結(jié)構(gòu)“in the first half of the alphabet”作定語(yǔ)。
　　全文翻譯：
　　在過(guò)去的一個(gè)世紀(jì)里各種各樣的不公和歧視遭到了譴責(zé)或定為非法。但是有一種隱蔽的不公和歧視形式還在盛行：字母順序主義。對(duì)于尚未意識(shí)到其危害的人來(lái)說(shuō)，它指的是針對(duì)那些姓氏起始字母位于字母表后半部的人的歧視。
　　人們?cè)缫阎�道在客�?hù)翻閱電話簿時(shí)，名叫AAAA的出租汽車(chē)公司要比Zodiac出租汽車(chē)公司有很大的優(yōu)越性。至于在生活方面，一個(gè)名叫Adam Abbott的人較之一個(gè)名為Zoë Zysman的人占了多大的優(yōu)勢(shì)就不那么為人所知了。英語(yǔ)的姓名雖然在字母表的前后兩部分的分布相當(dāng)平均，但杰出人物的姓名的首字母在A與K之間的卻多得可疑。
　　如此這般，美國(guó)的總統(tǒng)和副總統(tǒng)的姓氏分別是以B和C字母起頭。喬治·布什的前任有二十六位(包括其父)的姓氏均在字母表的前半部分，而姓氏在字母表后半部的卻僅有十六位。更加令人矚目的是七國(guó)首腦中有六位在其姓氏按字母表順序排名時(shí)靠前(Berlusconi，Blair，Bush，Chirac，Chrétien，Koizumi)。世界三大中央銀行家(Greenspan，Duisenberg，Hayami)的姓氏首字母全都接近字母表的上端，三人之中有一人名字盡管用的是日文，也是如此。世界上比較富有的前五位情況也是如此(Gates，Buffett，Allen，Ellison，Albrecht)。
　　這僅僅是巧合嗎?按字母表順序排名靠后而吃虧的人在業(yè)余時(shí)間憑空想出一種理論，認(rèn)為這種倒霉事兒很早就開(kāi)始了。在幼兒學(xué)校第一年之始，老師為了較為容易記住學(xué)生的名字，就按字母表順序由前往后給學(xué)生排座位。因此近視的小Zysman就被插在了后排，這樣一來(lái)，粗心的教師提出的有助于提高學(xué)生能力的問(wèn)題就很少會(huì)問(wèn)到他。這時(shí)，按字母表順序排名靠后的學(xué)生還認(rèn)為他們能逃避老師的問(wèn)題很幸運(yùn)。然而，結(jié)果可能就是成績(jī)欠佳，因?yàn)檫@種學(xué)生得到的個(gè)人關(guān)注較少，同時(shí)當(dāng)眾講話時(shí)的信心也不足。
　　這種恥辱還在繼續(xù)著。在大學(xué)的畢業(yè)典禮上，姓名首字母是A、B、C的學(xué)生驕傲的首先領(lǐng)到獎(jiǎng)品;等輪到Zysman們領(lǐng)獎(jiǎng)品的時(shí)候，大多數(shù)人簡(jiǎn)直都在鼾聲大作了。求職面試、選舉投票、會(huì)議發(fā)言或參加會(huì)議等諸多名單，也是按字母表順序排序，當(dāng)人們費(fèi)勁地向下查看時(shí)，興趣隨之索然。