THESE CHANGES IN THE AMERCAN HOME MAY ______________A. NOT CHANGE...

54. These changes in the Amercan home may ______________

A. not change the children at all B. cause problems for a marriage

C. not happen D. help families

Read the following passage, and mark the letter A, B, C, or D on your answer sheet to indicate the

correct answer to each of the questions from 45 to 54.

Reading to oneself is a modern activity which was almost unknown to the scholars of the classical

and medieval worlds, while during the fifteenth century the term “reading” undoubtedly meant reading

aloud. Only during the nineteenth century did silent reading become commonplace. One should be wary,

however, of assuming that silent reading came about simply because reading aloud was a distraction to

others. Examinations of factors related to the historical development of silent reading have revealed that

it became the usual mode of reading for most adults mainly because the tasks themselves changed in

character. The last century saw a steady gradual increase in literacy and thus in the number of readers. As

the number of readers increased, the number of potential listeners declined and thus there was some

reduction in the need to read aloud. As reading for the benefit of listeners grew less common, so came

the flourishing of reading as a private activity in such public places as libraries, railway carriages and

offices, where reading aloud would cause distraction to other readers. Towards the end of the century,

there was still considerable argument over whether books should be used for information or treated

respectfully and over whether the reading of materials such as newspapers was in some way mentally

weakening. Indeed, this argument remains with us still in education. However, whatever its virtues, the

old shared literacy culture had gone and was replaced by the printed mass media on the one hand and by

books and periodicals for a specialised readership on the other. By the end of the twentieth century,

students were being recommended to adopt attitudes to books and to use reading skills which were

inappropriate, if not impossible, for the oral reader. The social, cultural and technological changes in

the century had greatly altered what the term “reading” implied.

Question 55: Reading aloud was more common in the medieval world because ______.

A. people relied on reading for entertainment

B. silent reading had not been discovered

C. there were few places available for private reading

D. few people could read to themselves

Question 56: The word “commonplace” in the first paragraph mostly means “______”.

A. for everybody’s use B. most preferable

C. attracting attention D. widely used

Question 57: The development of silent reading during the last century indicated ______.

A. an increase in the average age of readers

B. an increase in the number of books

C. a change in the nature of reading

D. a change in the status of literate people

Question 58: Silent reading, especially in public places, flourished mainly because of ______.

A. the decreasing need to read aloud

B. the development of libraries

C. the increase in literacy

D. the decreasing number of listeners

Question 59: It can be inferred that the emergence of the mass media and specialised reading materials

was an indication of ______.

A. a decline of standards of literacy

B. a change in the readers’ interest

C. an alteration in educationalists’ attitudes

D. an improvement of printing techniques

Question 60: The phrase “a specialised readership” in paragraph 4 mostly means “______”.

A. a requirement for readers in a particular area of knowledge

B. a limited number of readers in a particular area of knowledge

C. a reading volume for particular professionals

D. a status for readers specialised in mass media

Question 61: The phrase “oral reader” in the last paragraph mostly means “a person who ______”.

A. is good at public speaking

B. practises reading to an audience

C. takes part in an audition

D. is interested in spoken language

Question 62: All might be the factors that affected the continuation of the old shared literacy culture

EXCEPT _____.

A. the inappropriate reading skills

B. the specialised readership

C. the diversity of reading materials

D. the printed mass media

Question 63: Which of the following statements is NOT TRUE according to the passage?

A. Reading aloud was more common in the past than it is today.

B. Not all printed mass media was appropriate for reading aloud.

C. The decline of reading aloud was wholly due to its distracting effect.

D. The change in reading habits was partly due to the social, cultural and technological changes.

Question 64: The writer of this passage is attempting to ______.

A. explain how reading habits have developed

B. change people’s attitudes to reading

C. show how reading methods have improved

D. encourage the growth of reading

Writing

I. Finish each of the following sentences in such a way that it is as similar as possible in meaning to

the sentence printed before it.