【2004英一text2】姓氏字母居然会引发歧视？那鸭鸭叫什么才好，AAAA吗？
原文初读
P1
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 .
P2
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 Zo ë 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 .
P3
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 , Chr é tien 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 ).
P4
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 .
P5
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 .
重点单词/短语理解
condemn
：v 谴责，指责
insidious
：adj 暗中为害的；潜伏的
thrive
：v 兴盛；蓬勃发展
thumb through
：快速翻阅
thumb
：n 拇指；(手套的)拇指部分；v 翘起拇指请求搭乘(过路汽车)；示意请求搭便车；用拇指摸；用拇指捋
directory
：n 电话号码薄；公司名录
fairly
：adv 相当，颇
evenly
：adv 均匀地；均等地
suspiciously
：adv 奇怪地；出乎意料地
respectively
：adv 分别；依次地
character
：n 文字；字符
dream sth up
：想出（不同寻常的计划、主意）
rot
：n 形势恶化
set in
：（不愉快的事）开始，来临
infant
：n 幼儿
junior
：adj 小（置于同名父子中儿子姓名之后）
get stuck
：动不了，卡住
improving
：adj 有教育意义的；益智性的
qualification
：n 资格考试
humiliation
：n 羞辱，屈辱
literally
：adv （用于强调）确实，真正地
shortlist
：n 候选名单
ballot
：n （不记名）投票
conference
：n 会议
plough through sth
：费劲读完…
plough
：
n.
犁；北斗七星；大熊星座
v.
犁(田)；耕(地)；翻(土)
真题再现
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 Zo ë 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 from 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 .
答案速查：ADCBD
真题解析
26.作者提到AAAA和Zodiac的汽车公司是为了借这个大家都知道的现象来引出下文不为人知的首字母歧视。选A。B：完全和原文意思相反
overlooked
：adj 忽视的，未注意到的
conspicuous
：adj 引人注目的，明显的
bias
：n 偏见
C：这不是一种个人偏见，而是一种隐含的社会性的偏见。D：不是为了说明一种品牌歧视，与中心主旨不符。
27.A：过于夸大了名字对于成功的重要性。
B：首先，混淆概念，个人成败与字母表引发的歧视有关而不是字母表。其次，过于绝对，个人成败并不归因于字母表歧视，还与其他很多因素有关。
C：文中只是说出租车公司名字字母排序越靠前越容易被顾客注意到。并不是说顾客很在意公司的名字。
D正确。与26意思类似。有些歧视太微妙以至于很难被察觉。
28.C。认真理解第四段
29.重点理解
dozing off：打鼾
原文by the time they reach the Zysmans most people are
literally
having a ZZZ .大学毕业典礼轮到姓氏Z开头的学生时，大部分人都确实鼾声大作了。A选项干扰性强，但没B这么生动。 30.A：过于具体，主观臆断姓氏首字母在N到Z之间的人会被更差的对待，文中只是说首字母排在字母表后面的人。 B：西方杰出人士都从字母表歧视中获得了好处吗？文中只是说西方杰出人士中很大一部分姓氏首字母占优势。 C：文中没有提到消除字母表歧视的运动，只介绍了这种现象。 D：与26、27意思相同。
鸭鸭真的没想到看似公平的按字母表顺序排序居然蕴藏着这么多的不公平！
