A. USUALLY B. ABSOLUTELY C. UNFORTUNATELY D. GENERALLYREAD THE FOL...

27. A. Usually

B. Absolutely

C. Unfortunately

D. Generally

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

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 common place. 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 reveals 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 remain 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 century, students was being recommended to adopt attitudes to books

and to use reading skills which was 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.