When I first entered university, my aunt, who is an English professor, gave me a new English dictionary. I was   1  to see that it was an English English dictionary, also known as a monolingual（单语的） dictionary.   2  it was a dictionary intended for non-native learners, none of my classmates had one and, to be honest, I found it extremely  3  to use at first. I would look up words in the dictionary and still not fully understand the meaning. I was used to the   4  bilingual（双语的）dictionaries, in which the words are    5  both in English and Chinese. I really wondered why my aunt   6  to make things so difficult for me. Now, after studying English at university for three years, I   7 that monolingual dictionaries are  8 in learning a foreign language.

As I found out, there is in fact often no perfect equivalence(对应) between two  9  in two language. My aunt even goes so far as to  10 that a Chinese “equivalent” can never give you the   11 meaning of a word in English! Therefore, she insisted that I read the definition(定义) of a word in a monolingual dictionary when I wanted to get a better understanding of its meaning. 12  , I have come to see what she meant. 

Using a monolingual dictionary for learners has helped me in another important way. This dictionary uses a(n)   13  number of words, around 2, 000, in its definitions. When I read these definitions, I am  14 exposed to the basic words and learn how they are used to explain objects and ideas.  15 this, I can express myself more easily in English.

         Over the past century, all kinds of unfairness and discrimination(歧视) have been made illegal. But one popular form continues to exist, that is alphabetism (字母排序法). This, for those as yet unaware of such a disadvantage, refers to discrimination against those whose surnames (姓氏) begin with a letter in the lower half of the alphabet.

         It has long been known that the cars of a taxi firm called AAAA have a big advantage over Zodiac cars when customers look through their phone directories. Less well known is the advantage that Adam Abbot has in life over Zoe Zysman. English names are fairly spread between the halves of the alphabet. Yet a quite large number of top people have surnames beginning with letters between A and K.

         Thus the American presidents and vice-presidents have surnames starting with B and C separately and 26 of those before George Bush took office (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, Chirac, 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 characters. The same case are the world’s five richest men (Gates, Buffet and so on).

         Can this merely happen by chance? At the start of the first year in primary school, teachers seat pupils alphabetically from the front, to make it easier to remember their names. So shortsighted Zysman gets stuck in the back row, and is seldom asked the improving questions by those teachers. At that time the alphabetically disadvantaged may think they have had a lucky escape. Yet the result may be worse qualifications, because they get less attention, as well as less confidence in speaking publicly.

         The unfairness continues. At university graduation parties, the ABCs proudly get their awards first. However, by the time they reach the Zysmans most people are a little tired. Lists of job interviews and conference speakers and attendees all tend to be drawn up alphabetically, and their readers lose interest as they plough through them.

1. What does the author intend to show with AAAA cars and Zodiac cars?

         A. An example of competition of two kinds of cars.         B. Some advantages of AAAA cars in the taxi firm.

         C. An example of unfairness caused by alphabetism.     D. Some disadvantages of Zodiac cars in the taxi firm.

2. What can we infer from the first three paragraphs?

         A. The alphabet is to blame for the failure of Zoe Zysman.

         B. In both East and West, names are important to success.

         C. Customers often pay a lot of attention to companies’ names.

         D. The discrimination in alphabetism can be found in many areas.

3. The fourth paragraph suggests that         .

         A. alphabetically disadvantaged students often escape from class

         B. teachers should pay equal attention to all their students

         C. questions are often put to the more intelligent students

         D. students should be seated according to their eyesight

4. Which of the following is true according to the passage?

         A. VIPs in the western world gain a great deal from alphabetism.

         B. People with surnames beginning with N to Z are often ill – treated.

         C. Putting things alphabetically may lead to unintentional unfairness.

         D. The movement to get rid of alphabetism still has a long way to go.

When I first entered university, my aunt, who is an English professor, gave me a new English dictionary. I was   1   to see that it was an English English dictionary, also known as a monolingual（单语的） dictionary.   2   it was a dictionary intended for non-native learners, none of my classmates had one and, to be honest, I found it extremely  3   to use at first. I would look up words in the dictionary and still not fully understand the meaning. I was used to the    4   bilingual（双语的）dictionaries, in which the words are    5   both in English and Chinese. I really wondered why my aunt   6   to make things so difficult for me. Now, after studying English at university for three years, I   7  that monolingual dictionaries are   8  in learning a foreign language.

   As I found out, there is in fact often no perfect equivalence(对应) between two  9   in two language. My aunt even goes so far as to  10  that a Chinese “equivalent” can never give you the   11  meaning of a word in English! Therefore, she insisted that I read the definition(定义) of a word in a monolingual dictionary when I wanted to get a better understanding of its meaning.  12   , I have come to see what she meant. 

Using a monolingual dictionary for learners has helped me in another important way. This dictionary uses a(n)   13   number of words, around 2, 000, in its definitions. When I read these definitions, I am  14  exposed to the basic words and learn how they are used to explain objects and ideas.  15  this, I can express myself more easily in English.

A．worried          B．sad                    C．surprised        D．nervous

A．Because             B．Although                      C．Unless          D．If

A．difficult              B．interesting             C．ambiguous      D．practical

A．new                  B．familiar                 C．earlier          D．ordinary

A．explained            B．expressed              C．described               D．created

A．offered              B．agreed                   C．decided         D．happened

A．imagine               B．recommend            C．predict           D．understand

A．natural               B．better                  C．easier             D．convenient

A．words               B．names                  C．ideas            D．characters

A．hope               B．declare                 C．doubt             D．tell

A．exact                B．basic                   C．translated       D．expected

A．Largely             B．Generally             C．Gradually        D．Probably

A．extra                       B．average                C．total             D．limited

A．repeatedly         B．nearly                  C．immediately    D．anxiously

A．According to      B．In relation to           C．In addition to D．Because of

When I first entered university, my aunt, who is an English professor, gave me a new English dictionary. I was   1  to see that it was an English English dictionary, also known as a monolingual（单语的） dictionary.   2  it was a dictionary intended for non-native learners, none of my classmates had one and, to be honest, I found it extremely  3  to use at first. I would look up words in the dictionary and still not fully understand the meaning. I was used to the   4  bilingual（双语的）dictionaries, in which the words are    5  both in English and Chinese. I really wondered why my aunt   6  to make things so difficult for me. Now, after studying English at university for three years, I   7 that monolingual dictionaries are  8 in learning a foreign language.
As I found out, there is in fact often no perfect equivalence(对应) between two  9  in two language. My aunt even goes so far as to  10 that a Chinese “equivalent” can never give you the   11 meaning of a word in English! Therefore, she insisted that I read the definition(定义) of a word in a monolingual dictionary when I wanted to get a better understanding of its meaning. 12  , I have come to see what she meant. 
Using a monolingual dictionary for learners has helped me in another important way. This dictionary uses a(n)   13  number of words, around 2, 000, in its definitions. When I read these definitions, I am  14 exposed to the basic words and learn how they are used to explain objects and ideas.  15 this, I can express myself more easily in English.

       Over the past century, all kinds of unfairness and discrimination(歧视) have been made illegal. But one popular form continues to exist, that is alphabetism (字母排序法). This, for those as yet unaware of such a disadvantage, refers to discrimination against those whose surnames (姓氏) begin with a letter in the lower half of the alphabet.

       It has long been known that the cars of a taxi firm called AAAA have a big advantage over Zodiac cars when customers look through their phone directories. Less well known is the advantage that Adam Abbot has in life over Zoe Zysman. English names are fairly spread between the halves of the alphabet. Yet a quite large number of top people have surnames beginning with letters between A and K.

       Thus the American presidents and vice-presidents have surnames starting with B and C separately and 26 of those before George Bush took office (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, Chirac, 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 characters. The same case are the world’s five richest men (Gates, Buffet and so on).

       Can this merely happen by chance? At the start of the first year in primary school, teachers seat pupils alphabetically from the front, to make it easier to remember their names. So shortsighted Zysman gets stuck in the back row, and is seldom asked the improving questions by those teachers. At that time the alphabetically disadvantaged may think they have had a lucky escape. Yet the result may be worse qualifications, because they get less attention, as well as less confidence in speaking publicly.

       The unfairness continues. At university graduation parties, the ABCs proudly get their awards first. However, by the time they reach the Zysmans most people are a little tired. Lists of job interviews and conference speakers and attendees all tend to be drawn up alphabetically, and their readers lose interest as they plough through them.

1. What does the author intend to show with AAAA cars and Zodiac cars?

       A. An example of competition of two kinds of cars.    B. Some advantages of AAAA cars in the taxi firm.

       C. An example of unfairness caused by alphabetism.   D. Some disadvantages of Zodiac cars in the taxi firm.

2. What can we infer from the first three paragraphs?

       A. The alphabet is to blame for the failure of Zoe Zysman.

       B. In both East and West, names are important to success.

       C. Customers often pay a lot of attention to companies’ names.

       D. The discrimination in alphabetism can be found in many areas.

3. The fourth paragraph suggests that         .

       A. alphabetically disadvantaged students often escape from class

       B. teachers should pay equal attention to all their students

       C. questions are often put to the more intelligent students

       D. students should be seated according to their eyesight

4. Which of the following is true according to the passage?

       A. VIPs in the western world gain a great deal from alphabetism.

       B. People with surnames beginning with N to Z are often ill – treated.

       C. Putting things alphabetically may lead to unintentional unfairness.

       D. The movement to get rid of alphabetism still has a long way to go.