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
外语
Over the past century, all kinds of unfairness and discrimination have been condemned or made illegal. But one insidious form co
Over the past century, all kinds of unfairness and discrimination have been condemned or made illegal. But one insidious form co
admin
2013-01-12
44
问题
Over the past century, all kinds of unfairness and discrimination have been condemned or made illegal. But one insidious form continues to thrive: alphabctism. 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 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, Chirae, Chretien 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 characten;. 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.
What does the author mean by "most people are literally having a ZZZ" (Lines 2—3, Para- graph 5 ) ?
选项
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
解析
转载请注明原文地址:https://kaotiyun.com/show/Rv9O777K
0
考博英语
相关试题推荐
Mostnursesarewomen,butinthehigherranksofthemedicalprofessionwomenareina______.
A______personisonewhoisgoodatanumberofdifferentthings.
ProfessorTaylor’stalkhasindicatedthatsciencehasaverystrong______ontheeverydaylifeofnon-scientistsaswellassc
Thedoctorswereworriedbecausethepatientdidnotrecuperateasrapidlyastheyhadexpected.
Furthereducationisofficially(describedas)thepost-secondarystageofeducation,(comprised)allvocationalandconvocation
Colorisveryimportanttomostanimalsforithelpsthemtogetalongintheworld.Color【21】tomakeananimaldifficultforit
______ofover5%areattractiveifthedollarreallyisgoingtostabilize.
Intheairport,Icouldhearnothingexcepttheroarofaircraftengineswhich______allothersounds.
Amongthemanywaysinwhichpeoplecommunicatethroughspeech,publicspeakinghasprobablyreceivedmorestudyandattractedm
Sinceateacher’sresponseonastudent’spaperispotentiallyaninfluentialtextinawritingclass,weneedtoexamineourpra
随机试题
老年人对药物的反应性较成年人低,故用药量一般应略高于成年人。
营养性巨幼细胞贫血的血象变化中,下列哪点具有早期诊断意义
A.宫腔粘连B.性染色体异常C.39岁绝经D.产后出血休克E.闭经及乳汁分泌
香加皮来源于()
某肝癌患者病情已到晚期,处于极度痛苦之中,自认为是肝硬化,寄希望于治疗,病情进展和疼痛发作时,多次要求医生给予明确说法和治疗措施。此时,医生最佳的伦理选择应该是
下列内容中,()属于锅炉最大连续蒸发量试验的内容。
以下关于国际联盟与联合国的表述,正确的是()。
工程质量监理文档是按照工程质量过程控制和测试技术进行工程质量控制的主要手段,如果监理认为存在质量缺陷,则工程质量监理文档必须包括_____________。
数字通信系统与模拟通信系统的区别在于(32)之间的信号不同。
栈和队列的共同点是
最新回复
(
0
)