历年考研英语阅读理解mp3(04-2)

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[00:05.61]2004 Text2
[00:07.36]Over the past century,
[00:09.18]all kinds of unfairness and discrimination
[00:11.80]have been condemned¹ or made illegal.
[00:14.82]But one insidious² form continues to thrive: alphabetism.
[00:20.63]This, for those as yet unaware³ of such a disadvantage,
[00:24.72]refers to discrimination against those
[00:27.24]whose surnames begin with a letter
[00:29.39]in the lower half of the alphabet.
[00:32.37]It has long been known
[00:34.02]that a taxi firm called AAAA cars has a big advantage
[00:40.05]over Zodiac cars when customers thumb
[00:43.19]through their phone directories.
[00:46.12]Less well known is the advantage
[00:48.25]that Adam Abbott has in life over Zoe Zysman.
[00:53.39]English names are fairly evenly spread
[00:55.91]between the halves of the alphabet.
[00:58.44]Yet a suspiciously large number of top people
[01:01.47]have surnames beginning with letters between A and K.
[01:06.72]Thus the American president and vice-president
[01:10.15]have surnames starting with B and C respectively;
[01:14.88]and 26 of George Bush's predecessors
[01:18.10](including his father) had surnames in the first half
[01:21.80]of the alphabet against just 16 in the second half.
[01:27.04]Even more striking,
[01:28.45]six of the seven heads of government
[01:30.47]of the G7 rich countries are alphabetically⁴ advantaged
[01:35.10](Berlusconi, Blair, Bush, Chirac, Chrétien and Koizumi).
[01:42.74]The world's three top central bankers
[01:45.65](Greenspan, Duisenberg and Hayami)
[01:49.58]are all close to the top of the alphabet,
[01:52.71]even if one of them really uses Japanese characters.
[01:56.64]As are the world's five richest men
[01:59.27](Gates, Buffett, Allen, Ellison and Albrecht).
[02:04.08]Can this merely be coincidence?
[02:07.20]One theory, dreamt up in all the spare time enjoyed
[02:10.59]by the alphabetically disadvantaged,
[02:13.02]is that the rot sets in early.
[02:15.81]At the start of the first year in infant school,
[02:18.95]teachers seat pupils alphabetically from the front,
[02:22.37]to make it easier to remember their names.
[02:25.39]So short-sighted Zysman junior gets stuck in the back row,
[02:30.65]and is rarely asked the improving questions posed
[02:33.96]by those insensitive teachers.
[02:36.89]At the time the alphabetically disadvantaged
[02:39.49]may think they have had a lucky escape.
[02:42.13]Yet the result may be worse qualifications,
[02:45.34]because they get less individual attention,
[02:48.17]as well as less confidence in speaking publicly.
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[02:52.42]The humiliation⁵ continues.
[02:54.82]At university graduation ceremonies,
[02:57.54]the ABCs proudly get their awards first;
[03:01.77]by the time they reach the Zysmans most people
[03:04.60]are literally⁶ having a ZZZ.
[03:07.81]Shortlists for job interviews,
[03:10.12]election ballot⁷ papers,
[03:11.74]lists of conference speakers and attendees:
[03:14.87]all tend to be drawn⁸ up alphabetically,
[03:17.69]and their recipients⁹ lose interest
[03:20.01]as they plough through them.

1 condemned   

adj. 被责难的, 被宣告有罪的 动词condemn的过去式和过去分词

参考例句：

• He condemned the hypocrisy of those politicians who do one thing and say another. 他谴责了那些说一套做一套的政客的虚伪。
• The policy has been condemned as a regressive step. 这项政策被认为是一种倒退而受到谴责。

2 insidious   

adj.阴险的，隐匿的，暗中为害的，（疾病）不知不觉之间加剧

参考例句：

• That insidious man bad-mouthed me to almost everyone else.那个阴险的家伙几乎见人便说我的坏话。
• Organized crime has an insidious influence on all who come into contact with it.所有和集团犯罪有关的人都会不知不觉地受坏影响。

3 unaware   

a.不知道的，未意识到的

参考例句：

• They were unaware that war was near. 他们不知道战争即将爆发。
• I was unaware of the man's presence. 我没有察觉到那人在场。

4 alphabetically   

adv.照字母顺序排列地

参考例句：

• I've arranged the books alphabetically so don't muddle them up. 我已按字母顺序把这些书整理了，千万不要再弄乱。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• They are all filed alphabetically under author. 这些都是按照作者姓名的字母顺序归档的。 来自辞典例句

5 humiliation   

n.羞辱

参考例句：

• He suffered the humiliation of being forced to ask for his cards.他蒙受了被迫要求辞职的羞辱。
• He will wish to revenge his humiliation in last Season's Final.他会为在上个季度的决赛中所受的耻辱而报复的。

6 literally   

adv.照字面意义，逐字地；确实

参考例句：

• He translated the passage literally.他逐字逐句地翻译这段文字。
• Sometimes she would not sit down till she was literally faint.有时候，她不走到真正要昏厥了，决不肯坐下来。

7 ballot   

n.（不记名）投票，投票总数，投票权；vi.投票

参考例句：

• The members have demanded a ballot.会员们要求投票表决。
• The union said they will ballot members on whether to strike.工会称他们将要求会员投票表决是否罢工。

8 drawn   

v.拖，拉，拔出；adj.憔悴的，紧张的

参考例句：

• All the characters in the story are drawn from life.故事中的所有人物都取材于生活。
• Her gaze was drawn irresistibly to the scene outside.她的目光禁不住被外面的风景所吸引。

9 recipients   

adj.接受的；受领的；容纳的；愿意接受的n.收件人；接受者；受领者；接受器

参考例句：

• The recipients of the prizes had their names printed in the paper. 获奖者的姓名登在报上。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The recipients of prizes had their names printed in the paper. 获奖者名单登在报上。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》