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　　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 tile

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/f 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 ret 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.

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

　　[A] A kind of overlooked inequality.

　　[B] A type of conspicuous bias.

　　[C] A type of personal prejudice.

　　[D] A kind of brand discrimination.

　　【答案】A

　　【注释】从第2段第1句可知A为正确答案。A kind of over looked inequality：一种被人忽视的不平等。顾客在翻看电话簿时，4A汽车的名字排在前面，所以这是一种看似平等，实际上并不平等的安排。第2段的第1句和第1段的最后1句紧密相关。选项A中的“overlooked”相当于文中的“unware”。

　　47. 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.

　　【答案】D

　　【注释】本题考查对文章结构的把握。文章第2段和第3段都是对第1段所阐明的观点的进一步的解释和说明。Some form of discrimination is too subtle to recognize：有些歧视太微妙，不易察觉。[A]“无论在东方还是在西方，名字是获得成功必不可少的因素”。[B]“Zoe Zysman没有获得成功应归咎于他的名字”。[C]“顾客总是很注意公司的名称”均不正确。

　　48. 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.

　　【答案】C

　　【注释】从第4段可知C为正确答案。名字在字母表后面的学生虽有近视也得坐在后面，不利于学生的学习，也会影响他们以后在公众场合讲话的自信心。说明了教师应当关心每个学生。所以C为正确答案。

　　49. What does the author mean by "most people are literally having a ZZZ" (Lines 2-3, Paragraph5)?

　　[A] They are getting impatient.

　　[B] They are noisily dozing off.

　　[C] They are feeling humiliated.

　　[D] They are busy with word puzzles.

　　【答案】B

　　【注释】本题的答案在最后一段的第2句。考生可能对“ZZZ”有些迷惑。但是最后一段第2句的分号和“by the time”给我们以提示。通过“proudly”可知“ZZZ”的含义与人的精力有关。are having a ZZZ：打鼾。B.“They are noisily dozing off.”正好与之相符。[A]“他们变得不耐烦”；C“他们感到受了羞辱”；D.“他们忙于做字迷游戏”均不正确。

　　50. 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 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.

　　【答案】D

　　【注释】这是一道主旨题。前4段都讲到了按字母排列而引起的对一些人的不公平。选项A中“often ill-treated”、选项B中“VIPs in the Western word”以及选项C中“The campaign to eliminate alphabetism”均没有在文中出现，“按字母顺序排列会导致非故意的不公"为正确答案。

　　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。对于那些还不知道这种缺陷的人来说，这是指对那些姓的首字母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薄时，叫做AAAA汽车的

　　从而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，G7富裕国的政府首脑有六位的姓氏有字母表顺序优势(Berlusconi, Blair, Bush, Chirac, Chretien and Koizumi)。世界的三个顶级中央银行家(Greenspan, Duisenberg and 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。世界上最富有的五个人(Gates, Buffett, Allen, Ellison and 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所有空闲时间构思出的理论认为，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，大多数人只会照本宣科地读他们的名字。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察看这些名单，他们就会慢慢失去兴趣。