2018年可锐考研英语阅读模拟试题和名师解析.docxVIP

2018年可锐考研英语阅读模拟试题及名师解析（八）Over the pastcentury, all kinds of unfairness and discrimination have been condemned or madeillegal. But one insidious form continues to thrive: alphabetism. This, forthose as yet unaware of such a disadvantage, refers to discrimination againstthose 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 bigadvantage over Zodiac cars when customers thumb through their phonedirectories. Less well known is the advantage that Adam Abbott has in life overZo? Zysman. English names are fairly evenly spread between the halves of thealphabet. Yet a suspiciously large number of top people have surnames beginningwith letters between A and K。 　　Thus the American president and vice-president have surnamesstarting with B and C respectively; and 26 of George Bush’spredecessors had surnames in the first half of thealphabet against just 16 in the second half. Even more striking, six of theseven heads of government of the G7 rich countries are alphabeticallyadvantaged .The world’s three top central bankers areall close to the top of the alphabet, even if one of them really uses Japanesecharacters. As are the world’s five richest men 。 　　Can this merely be coincidence? One theory, dreamt up in all thespare time enjoyed by the alphabetically disadvantaged, is that the rot sets inearly. At the start of the first year in infant school, teachers seat pupilsalphabetically from the front, to make it easier to remember their names. Soshort-sighted Zysman junior gets stuck in the back row, and is rarely asked theimproving questions posed by those insensitive teachers. At the time thealphabetically disadvantaged may think they have had a lucky escape. Yet theresult 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, theABCs proudly get their awards first; by