Brazil
A nation of non-readers
MANY Brazilians cannot read. In 2000, a quarter of those aged 15 and older were functionally illiterate. Many simply do not want to. Only one literate adult in three reads books. The average Brazilian reads 1.8 non-academic books a year—less than half the figure in Europe and the United States. In a recent survey of reading habits, 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 change this. On March 13th the government launched a National Plan for Books and Reading. This seeks 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 in two S?o Paulo metro stations, and is planning one in a Carnival samba school. It is starting to be 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 monthly wage. Most other books have small print-runs, pushing up their price.
But Brazilians' indifference to books has deeper roots. Centuries of slavery meant the country's leaders long neglected education. Primary schooling became universal only in the 1990s. 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 the Brazilian 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 the market for religious books, which outsell fiction in Brazil.
But reading is a difficult habit to form. Brazilians bought fewer books in 2004—289m, including textbooks distributed by the government—than they did in 1991. Last year the director of Brazil's national library quit after a controversial tenure. He complained that he had half the librarians he needed and termites had eaten much of the collection. Along with crime and high interest rates, that ought to be a cause for national shame.
本文选自2006年5月16日的经济学人：Brazil: A nation of non-readers
36. N. simply
本空所在句不缺其它成分，该空应为副词。备选副词J) particularly(专门地、特别地)与N) simply(简单地、仅仅)中，simply符合句意“许多人仅仅是不想学着识字。”
37. A. average
本空修饰名词Brazilian，需要形容词。备选形容词A) average(平均的、普通的)E) expensive(昂贵的)K) potential(潜在的)中，average符合句意“普通的巴西人每年读1.8本非学术书目”。且reads 1.8 non-academic books a year也在提示这里是在描述平均值。
38. M. ranked
本空是该句谓语，缺动词。且与前句并列，而前句用的过去式，因此本空需动词过去式。备选的有C) distributed(分发、散布)、F) launched(发射、发动)、G) named(取名、提名)、H) neglected(忽视)、L) quit(退出、辞职)、M) ranked(排名)和O) treasured(珍惜)。能与空后的18th构成合理搭配的只有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
本空是该句谓语，缺动词。由于描述的是过去的日子，需要过去式。备选的有C) distributed(分发、散布)、F) launched(发射、发动)、G) named(取名、提名)、H) neglected(忽视)、L) quit(退出、辞职)和O) treasured(珍惜)。本空后的专有概念National Plan for Books and Reading明显是个活动或计划之类，能与之构成合理搭配的只有launched，表示“发起了此计划”。
40. E. expensive
本空做表语，主语是books，形容词、动词分词可能性较大。注意到后句提到push up their price，因此这里描述的应该是书的价格，expensive符合话题。
41. H. neglected
本空是所在从句的谓语，且描述的是过去、主句也为过去式，因此这里需要过去式。备选的有C) distributed(分发、散布)、G) named(取名、提名)、H) neglected(忽视)和L) quit(退出、辞职)O) treasured(珍惜)。注意前句引出的话题是巴西对书籍的漠视，本句提到的也是巴西长期奴隶制的影响，因此本空应选择neglected，表示巴西“长期忽视教育”。distributed意思不合理，treasured则与这里想表示的意思相反。
42. K. potential
本空一种可能是副词，但备选副词只剩particularly，而其意思在这里并不合适，这里也没有构成其所表示的递进关系的条件。因此只能考虑本空另一种可能：名词。备选的有B) collection(收集)、D) exhibition(展览)和K) potential(潜力)。potential是意思合理的，表示巴西的图市场“有着的增长潜力”。
43. C. distributed
本空位于名词后，应为后置定语，需要动词分词；by提示了这里需要过去分词。备选的有C) distributed(分发、散布)、G) named(取名、提名)和L) quit(退出、辞职)O) treasured(珍惜)。这里意思合理的只有distributed，表示“被政府分发的书籍”。
44. L. quit
本空是该句谓语，其描述的是过去，需要过去式，备选的有G) named(取名、提名)、L) quit(退出、辞职)、和O) treasured(珍惜)。同时该空后无宾语，因此必须是不及物动词，符合此要求的只有quit，表示国家图书馆负责人辞职。
45. B. collection
空前的定冠词提示本空需要名词，备选的有B) collection(收集)和D) exhibition(展览)。这里意思较合理的是collection，它可以表示图书馆的馆藏书籍。意思是“白蚁吃掉了大部分馆藏书籍”。
