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.
The phrase “a specialized readership” in paragraph 4 mostly means “______ ”
A. a reading volume for particular professionals
B. a status for reader specialized in mass media
C. a requirement for readers in a particular area of knowledge
D. a limited number of readers in a particular area of knowledge
Đáp án D
Thông tin: 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.
Dịch nghĩa: văn hóa đọc viết chung cũ đã biến mất và được thay thế bởi các phương tiện truyền thông đại chúng in ấn trên một mặt và bởi những cuốn sách và tạp chí cho độc giả chuyên môn trên mặt khác.
Cấu trúc: on the one hand … on the other (hand) = một mặt thì … mặt khác thì, dùng để nối hai vế có mối quan hệ trái ngược.
Trong vế “on the one hand” là từ “mass media” (phương tiện truyền thông đại chúng) nên trong vế còn lại mang ý nghĩa trái ngược lại với đại chúng là cá biệt.
Phương án D. a limited number of readers in a particular area of knowledge = một số lượng hạn chế độc giả trong một lĩnh vực kiến thức cụ thể, là phương án chính xác nhất.
A. a reading volume for particular professionals = một khối lượng đọc cho các chuyên gia đặc biệt
“Books and periodicals” chính là những khối lượng, phương tiện đọc rồi, không thể dành cho khối lượng đọc khác nữa.
B. a status for reader specialized in mass media = một địa vị cho người đọc chuyên về thông tin đại chúng
Thông tin đại chúng là dành cho tát cả mọi người đọc, chứ không có ai chuyên về thông tin đại chúng. Hơn nữa, không có thông tin nói về địa vị xã hội.
C. a requirement for readers in a particular area of knowledge = một yêu cầu cho độc giả trong một lĩnh vực kiến thức cụ thể.
Không có thông tin như vậy trong bài.