Brazil

　　A nation of non-readers

　　MANY Brazilians cannot read. In 2000, a quarter ofthose aged 15 and older were functionally illiterate. Many simply do not want to. Only oneliterate adult in three reads books. The average Brazilian reads 1.8 non-academic books ayear—less than half the figure in Europe and the United States. In a recent survey of readinghabits, Brazilians came 27th out of 30 countries, spending 5.2 hours a week with a book.Argentines, their neighbours, ranked 18th.

　　In rare accord, government, businesses and NGOs are all striving in different ways to changethis. On March 13th the government launched a National Plan for Books and Reading. Thisseeks to boost reading, by founding libraries and financing publishers among other things.The Brazil Reader Institute, an NGO, brings books to people: it has installed lending libraries intwo S?o Paulo metro stations, and is planning one in a Carnival samba school. It is starting tobe common to see characters in television soap operas shown reading. Cynics note that Globo,the biggest broadcaster, is also a big publisher of books, newspapers and magazines.

　　One discouragement to reading is that books are expensive. At S?o Paulo's book fair this week, “O Código Da Vinci” was on sale for 32 reais—more than a tenth of the official minimum monthlywage. Most other books have small print-runs, pushing up their price.

　　But Brazilians' indifference to books has deeper roots. Centuries of slavery meant thecountry's leaders long neglected education. Primary schooling became universal only in the1990s. Radio was ubiquitous by the 1930s; libraries and bookshops have still not caught up. “The electronic experience came before the written experience,” says Marino Lobello, of theBrazilian Chamber of Books, an industry body.

　　All this means that Brazil's book market has the biggest growth potential in the western world,reckons Mr Lobello. That notion has attracted foreign publishers, such as Spain's Prisa-Santillana, which bought a local house last year. American evangelical publishers are eyeing themarket for religious books, which outsell fiction in Brazil.

　　But reading is a difficult habit to form. Brazilians bought fewer books in 2004—289m, includingtextbooks distributed by the government—than they did in 1991. Last year the director ofBrazil's national library quit after a controversial tenure. He complained that he had half thelibrarians he needed and termites had eaten much of the collection. Along with crime and highinterest rates, that ought to be a cause for national shame.

　　選詞填空答案

　　36. N. simply

　　本空所在句不缺其它成分，該空應(yīng)為副詞。備選副詞J)particularly(專門地、特別地)與N) simply(簡(jiǎn)單地、僅僅)中，simply符合句意“許多人僅僅是不想學(xué)著識(shí)字。”

　　37. A. average

　　本空修飾名詞Brazilian，需要形容詞。備選形容詞A) average(平均的、普通的)E) expensive(昂貴的)K)potential(潛在的)中，average符合句意“普通的巴西人每年讀1.8本非學(xué)術(shù)書目”。且reads 1.8 non-academic books a year也在提示這里是在描述平均值。

　　38. M. ranked

　　本空是該句謂語(yǔ)，缺動(dòng)詞。且與前句并列，而前句用的過去式，因此本空需動(dòng)詞過去式。備選的有C)distributed(分發(fā)、散布)、F) launched(發(fā)射、發(fā)動(dòng))、G) named(取名、提名)、H) neglected(忽視)、L)quit(退出、辭職)、M) ranked(排名)和O) treasured(珍惜)。能與空后的18th構(gòu)成合理搭配的只有ranked，表示“排在第18位”。另外前句描述的也是巴西的排名。

　　39. F. launched

　　本空是該句謂語(yǔ)，缺動(dòng)詞。由于描述的是過去的日子，需要過去式。備選的有C) distributed(分發(fā)、散布)、F) launched(發(fā)射、發(fā)動(dòng))、G) named(取名、提名)、H) neglected(忽視)、L) quit(退出、辭職)和O)treasured(珍惜)。本空后的專有概念National Plan for Books and Reading明顯是個(gè)活動(dòng)或計(jì)劃之類，能與之構(gòu)成合理搭配的只有l(wèi)aunched，表示“發(fā)起了此計(jì)劃”。

　　40. E. expensive

　　本空做表語(yǔ)，主語(yǔ)是books，形容詞、動(dòng)詞分詞可能性較大。注意到后句提到push up their price，因此這里描述的應(yīng)該是書的價(jià)格，expensive符合話題。

　　41. H. neglected

　　本空是所在從句的謂語(yǔ)，且描述的是過去、主句也為過去式，因此這里需要過去式。備選的有C)distributed(分發(fā)、散布)、G) named(取名、提名)、H) neglected(忽視)和L) quit(退出、辭職)O)treasured(珍惜)。注意前句引出的話題是巴西對(duì)書籍的漠視，本句提到的也是巴西長(zhǎng)期奴隸制的影響，因此本空應(yīng)選擇neglected，表示巴西“長(zhǎng)期忽視教育”。distributed意思不合理，treasured則與這里想表示的意思相反。

　　42. K. potential

　　本空一種可能是副詞，但備選副詞只剩particularly，而其意思在這里并不合適，這里也沒有構(gòu)成其所表示的遞進(jìn)關(guān)系的條件。因此只能考慮本空另一種可能：名詞。備選的有B) collection(收集)、D) exhibition(展覽)和K) potential(潛力)。potential是唯一意思合理的，表示巴西的圖市場(chǎng)“有著最大的增長(zhǎng)潛力”。

　　43. C. distributed

　　本空位于名詞后，應(yīng)為后置定語(yǔ)，需要?jiǎng)釉~分詞;by提示了這里需要過去分詞。備選的有C) distributed(分發(fā)、散布)、G) named(取名、提名)和L) quit(退出、辭職)O) treasured(珍惜)。這里意思合理的只有distributed，表示“被政府分發(fā)的書籍”。

　　44. L. quit

　　本空是該句謂語(yǔ)，其描述的是過去，需要過去式，備選的有G) named(取名、提名)、L) quit(退出、辭職)、和O) treasured(珍惜)。同時(shí)該空后無賓語(yǔ)，因此必須是不及物動(dòng)詞，符合此要求的只有quit，表示國(guó)家圖書館負(fù)責(zé)人辭職。

　　45. B. collection

　　空前的定冠詞提示本空需要名詞，備選的有B) collection(收集)和D) exhibition(展覽)。這里意思較合理的是collection，它可以表示圖書館的館藏書籍。意思是“白蟻吃掉了大部分館藏書籍”。