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 36 to 43.
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 increases, the number of potential listeners decline 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 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 specialized 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.
Reading aloud was more common in the medieval world because______
A. few people could read to themselves
B. people relied on reading for entertainment
C. there were few places available for private reading
D. silent reading had not been discovered
Đáp án A
Thông tin: The last century saw a steady gradual increase in literacy and thus in the number of readers. As the number of readers increases, the number of potential listeners decline and thus there was some reduction in the need to read aloud.
Dịch nghĩa: Thế kỷ trước đã thấy một sự gia tăng dần dần ổn định trong trình độ học vấn và do đó trong số độc giả. Khi số lượng độc giả tăng lên, số lượng thính giả tiềm năng suy giảm và do đó có sự tụt giảm sự cần thiết phải đọc to.
Từ thông tin trên, có thể thấy việc đọc to phổ biến ở thời kỳ trung cổ là vì trình độ học vấn thấp, rất ít người biết chữ để tự đọc. Khi trình độ học vấn tăng lên thì nhu cầu cần đọc to cũng theo đó giảm đi. Phương án A. few people could read to themselves = rất ít người có thể tự đọc cho họ, là phương án chính xác nhất
B. people relied on reading for entertainment = người ta dựa vào việc đọc để giải trí.
Không có thông tin trong bài nói rằng con người dựa vào việc đọc để giải trí. Có thông tin cho rằng việc đọc là hoạt động cá nhân, nhưng không nói rằng mục đích của nó là để giải trí.
C. there were few places available for private reading = có rất ít địa điểm sẵn có cho việc đọc cá nhân.
Không có thông tin như vậy trong bài. .
D. silent reading had not been discovered = đọc thầm đã không được phát hiện ra
Không có thông tin như vậy trong bài.