Text 2Over the past century, all kinds of unfairness and discrimination have been condemne

Text2Overthepastcentury,allkindsofunfairnessanddiscriminationhavebeencondemnedormadeillegal.Butoneinsidiousform.continuestothrive:alphabetism.This,forthoseasyetunawareofsuchadisadvantage,referstodiscriminationagainstthosewhosesurnamesbeginwithaletterinthelowerhalfofthealphabet.

IthaslongbeenknownthatataxifirmcalledAAAAcarshasabigadvantageoverZodiaccarswhencustomersthumbthroughtheirphonedirectories.LesswellknownistheadvantagethatAdamAbbotthasinlifeoverZoëZysman.Englishnamesarefairlyevenlyspreadbetweenthehalvesofthealphabet.YetasuspiciouslylargenumberoftoppeoplehavesurnamesbeginningwithlettersbetweenAandK.

ThustheAmericanpresidentandvice-presidenthavesurnamesstartingwithBandCrespectively;and26ofGeorgeBush’spredecessors(includinghisfather)hadsurnamesinthefirsthalfofthealphabetagainstjust16inthesecondhalf.Evenmorestr iking,sixofthesevenheadsofgovernmentoftheG7richcountr iesarealphabeticallyadvantaged(Berlusconi,Blair,Bush,Chirac,ChrétienandKoizumi).Theworld’sthreetopcentr albankers(Greenspan,DuisenbergandHayami)areallclosetothetopofthealphabet,evenifoneofthemreallyusesJapanesecharacters.Asaretheworld’sfiverichestmen(Gates,Buffett,Allen,EllisonandAlbrecht).

Canthismerelybecoincidence?Onetheory,dreamtupinallthesparetimeenjoyedbythealphabeticallydisadvantaged,isthattherotsetsinearly.Atthestartofthefirstyearininfantschool,teachersseatpupilsalphabeticallyfromthefront,tomakeiteasiertoremembertheirnames.Soshort-sightedZysmanjuniorgetsstuckinthebackrow,andisrarelyaskedtheimprovingquestionsposedbythoseinsensitiveteachers.Atthetimethealphabeticallydisadvantagedmaythinktheyhavehadaluckyescape.Yettheresultmaybeworsequalifications,becausetheygetlessindividualattention,aswellaslessconfidenceinspeakingpublicly.

Thehumiliationcontinues.Atuniversitygraduationceremonies,theABCsproudlygettheirawardsfirst;bythetimetheyreachtheZysmansmostpeopleareliterallyhavingaZZZ.Shortlistsforjobinterviews,electionballotpapers,listsofconferencespeakersandattendees:alltendtobedrawnupalphabetically,andtheirrecipientsloseinterestastheyploughthroughthem.

第46题：Whatd oestheauthorintendtoillustr atewithAAAAcarsandZodiaccars?

AAkindofoverlookedinequality.

BAtypeofconspicuousbias.

CAtypeofpersonalprejudice.

DAkindofbranddiscrimination.