The passage has 15 blanks. For each blankthere are four choices marked A), B), C) and D)on the right side of the paper. You shouldchoose the ONE that best fits into the passage.

Passage 1

It is well known that teenage boys tend to do better1)______ math than girls, that male high schoolstudents are more likely than their femalecounterparts 2)______ advanced math courses likecalculus, that virtually all the great mathematicians3)______ men. Are women born with 4)______ mathematical ability? Or does society’s sexismslow their progress? In 1980, two Johns Hopkins University researchers tried 5)______ theeternal nature/nurture debate. Julian Stanley and Camilla Benbow 6)______ 10,000 talentedseventh and eighth graders between 1972 and 1979. Using the Scholastic Aptitude Test, inwhich math questions are meant to measure ability rather than knowledge, they discovered7)______ sex differences. 8)______ the verbal abilities of the males and females 9)______differed, twice as many boys as girls scored over 500 (on a scale of 200 to 800) onmathematical ability; at the 700 level, the ratio was 14 to 1. The conclusion: males have10)______ superior mathematical reasoning ability.

Benbow and Stanley’s findings, 11)______ were published in "Science", disturbed some menand 12)______ women. Now there is comfort for those people in a new study from theUniversity of Chicago that suggests math 13)______ not, after all, a natural male domain. Prof.Zalman Usiskin studied 1,366 tenth graders. They were selected from geometry classes andtested on their ability to solve geometry proofs, a subject requiring 14)______ abstractreasoning and spatial ability. The conclusion 15)______ by Usiskin: there are no sexdifferences in math ability.

1.　A. at　B. to 　C. of 　D. about

2.　A. in tackling　B. tackling?　C. to tackle　D. about tackling

3.　A. might be　B. have been　C. must be D. had been

4.　A. smaller 　B. less 　C. fewer　D. not more

5.　A. to settle 　B. to set 　C. settling 　D. setting

6.　A. were tested 　B. have tested　C. were testing　D. had tested

7.　A. distinct 　B. instinct　C. remote 　D. vague

8.　A. Since 　B. However　C. As 　D. While

9.　A. scarcely not　B. virtually　C. largely　D. hardly

10.　A. superficially 　B. universally　C. inherently　D. initially

11.　A. as　 B. that 　C. which 　D. all

12.　A. few　B. not a few　C. not few　D. quite few

13.　A. be 　B. were　C. was 　D. is

14.　A. none of　B. neither of 　C. either　D. both

15.　A. got　B. gained C. reached　D. accomplished

■答案■

答案：

1. A　2. C　3. B　4. B　5. A

6. D　7. A　8. D　9. D　10. C

11. C　12. B　13. D　14. D　15. C