Despite rising education levels, Americans
of every age are reading less and less for pleasure these days, according to an
analysis by the National Endowment for the Arts. The decline(下降) could have bad effects as
people tune out books, tune in popular culture and become less socially
engaged.
"We've got a public culture which is
almost entirely commercial(商业化)and novelty - driven (追新)," says NEA chairman Dana Gioia. "I think it's letting
the nation down."
The study gathers years of data on
Americans' reading habits and finds that, at every age group, we're reading
less.
Most of the data have appeared in private,
government and university surveys, but today's report is the first to combine
them into a single portrait. It suggests that the demands of school, work and
family and the decisive advantage of other forms of entertainment have caused
the decline in reading for millions of Americans.
·Only 38% of adults in 2006 said they had
spent time reading a book for pleasure.
·65% of college freshmen in 2005 said they
read little or nothing for pleasure.
·30% of 13 - year - olds in 2004 said they
read for fun "almost every day," down from 35% in 1984.
According to Gioia, a poet, they decline is
probably the single most important social issue in the United States today. The
findings should be a wake - up call to educators to change the way they teach
literature at every level. It was once believed that if someone went to
college, they would become a lifelong reader. What we're seeing right now is
that we're no longer producing readers. We're producing B. A. s and M. A. s and
Ph. D. s.
Cioia also wants main media to wake up to
how they can promote good books in many ways. He notes that when a character in
the 1994 film Four Weddings and a Funeral recited a few lines of W. H. Auden's
poem Funeral Blues, the poet briefly became a best seller.
65.The underlined phrase "tune
out" in the first paragraph probably means________.
A.close B.publish
C.prove D.read
66.According to Dana Gioia, the change of
Americans' reading habit________.
A.is positive and
valuable B.does harm to the nation
C.is caused only by popular
culture D.can make poets best sellers
67.Which of the following is NOT the cause
for the change in reading habit?
A.Demands of getting a B. A., M. A. or Ph.
D.
B.Demands of family, school and work.
C.The change in the way the literature is
taught.
D.Advantages of the entertainment.
68.We can infer that the number of
teenagers reading for pleasure reduced by________in 20 years.
A.30%
B.38% C.65% D.5%
