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

Passage 1

It is well known that teenage boys tend to do better 1)______ math than girls, that male high school students are more likely than their female counterparts 2)______ advanced math courses like calculus, that virtually all the great mathematicians 3)______ men. Are women born with 4)______ mathematical ability? Or does society’s sexism slow their progress? In 1980, two Johns Hopkins University researchers tried 5)______ the eternal nature/nurture debate. Julian Stanley and Camilla Benbow 6)______ 10,000 talented seventh and eighth graders between 1972 and 1979. Using the Scholastic Aptitude Test, in which math questions are meant to measure ability rather than knowledge, they discovered 7)______ 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) on mathematical ability; at the 700 level, the ratio was 14 to 1. The conclusion: males have 10)______ superior mathematical reasoning ability.

Benbow and Stanley’s findings, 11)______ were published in "Science", disturbed some men and 12)______ women. Now there is comfort for those people in a new study from the University 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 and tested on their ability to solve geometry proofs, a subject requiring 14)______ abstract reasoning and spatial ability. The conclusion 15)______ by Usiskin: there are no sex differences 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■