首页
外语
计算机
考研
公务员
职业资格
财经
工程
司法
医学
专升本
自考
实用职业技能
登录
考研
For a quarter of a century, surveys of reading habits by the National for the Arts(NEA), a federally-funded body, have been favo
For a quarter of a century, surveys of reading habits by the National for the Arts(NEA), a federally-funded body, have been favo
admin
2015-10-20
37
问题
For a quarter of a century, surveys of reading habits by the National for the Arts(NEA), a federally-funded body, have been favorite material for anyone who thinks America is
dumbing down
. Susan Jacoby, author of The Age of American Unreason, for example, cites the 2007 NEA report that "the proportion of 17-year-olds who read nothing(unless required to do so for school)more than doubled between 1984 and 2004."
So it is a surprise that this trend seems to have taken a turn for the better. This week the NEA reported that, for the first time since 1982 when its survey began, the number of adults who said they had read a novel, short story, poem or play in the past 12 months had gone up, rising from 47% of the population in 2002 to over 50% in 2008.
The increase, modest as it is, has thrown educationalists into excitement. "It’s just a blip," one professor told The New York Times. It is certainly a snapshot. But it is not statistically insignificant. As the NEA’s research director, Sunil Iyengar, points out, almost every demographic and ethnic group seems to be reading more. The increase has been most marked in groups whose reading had declined most in the past 25 years, African-Americans and Hispanics(up by 15% and 20% respectively since 2002). It has also been larger among people at lower levels of education: reading among college graduates was flat, but among those who dropped out of high school it rose from under a quarter to over a third.
Most remarkable of all has been the rebound among young men. The numbers of men aged 18-24 who say they are reading books(not just online)rose 24% in 2002-08. Teachers sometimes despair of young men, whose educational performance has lagged behind that of young women almost across the board. But the reading gap at least may be narrowing. Dana Gioia, the NEA’s outgoing chairman, thinks the reason for the turnaround is the public reaction to earlier reports which had sounded the alarm. "There has been a measurable change in society’s commitment to literacy," he says. "Reading has become a higher priority."
It may also be benefiting from the growing popularity of serious-minded leisure pursuits of many kinds. Museums, literary festivals and live opera transmissions into cinemas are all reporting larger audiences. Mr. Iyengar thinks the division between those who read a lot and those who don’t is eroding. What has not changed, though, is America’s "functional illiteracy" rate. Fully 21% of adult Americans did not read a book last year because they couldn’t, one of the worst rates in the rich world.
What does the author mean by "dumbing down"(Line 3, Paragraph 1)?
选项
A、Becoming illiterate.
B、Becoming noiseless.
C、Getting clumsy.
D、Getting inflexible.
答案
A
解析
语义理解题。根据题意直接定位到第一段。文中指出美国人越来越缺乏读书,头脑更简单。因此,A项“变得无知”为正确答案。
转载请注明原文地址:https://kaotiyun.com/show/OAzZ777K
0
考研英语一
相关试题推荐
Inthefollowingtext,somesentenceshavebeenremoved.ChoosethemostsuitableonefromthelistA—Gtofitintoeachofthe
Inthefollowingtext,somesentenceshavebeenremoved.ForQuestions41-45,choosethemostsuitableonefromthelist(A、B、C、
Advertisingisaformofselling.Forthousandsofyearstherehavebeenindividualswhohavetriedto(1)_____otherstobuyth
Studythefollowingphotocarefullyandwriteanessayinwhichyoushould1)describethephotobriefly,2)interprett
Manyteachersbelievethattheresponsibilitiesforlearningliewiththestudent.(1)_____alongreadingassignmentisgiven,
IfyoushouldmeetMr.WhiteorMrs.Black,tell______aboutthemeeting.
Forthispart,youaresupposedtowriteacompositiononthetitleMyViewonExaminations.1.ThemeaningofExaminationsinp
Peoplecangetemotionalaboutimmigration.BillO’Reilly,atalk-showhost,devotedarecentsegmenttothestoryofanillegal
We’vejustinstalledtwoair-conditionersinourapartment,______shouldmakegreatdifferencesinourlifenextsummer.
Theletterseemed______byachild.
随机试题
中毒型痢疾的临床特征不包括
慢脾风的病理机制主要是()
法定检验检疫的入境货物转异地检验的,口岸检验检疫机构不做检疫处理。()
下列关于市场经济与商品经济相互关系的表述中,正确的是()。
近年来,我国国债持有者结构有很大变化,( )成为新的重要的国债应债主体。
甲实木地板厂为增值税一般纳税人,2018年2月有关生产经营情况如下:(1)从油漆厂购进上光漆200吨,每吨不含税单价1万元,取得油漆厂开具的增值税专用发票,注明货款200万元、增值税34万元。(2)向农业生产者收购原木30吨,收购凭证上注明收购货款
在接案面谈过程中,社会工作者进行资料收集的内容和范围包括()。
[*]
A、白天别做梦B、可惜这是梦C、根本不可能D、恭喜你中奖C
1.Moreandmore,theoperationsofourbusinesses,governments,andfinancialinstitutionsarecontrolledbyinformationthate
最新回复
(
0
)