2016考研英语阅读精选：1980到2012年美国人的常识变化

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    How USA General Knowledge Has Changed, 1980-2012
        从1980年到2012年，美国人的常识发生了怎样的变化
    A lovely little study from Kent State University hasrevealed how American
students in 2012 performedon a comprehensive test of general knowledge thatwas
developed in 1980. By comparing the results oneach question with the original
scores from collegestudents three decades ago, the changes inknowledge were made
clear.
    肯特州立大学曾做过一个有趣的小研究，对2012年的美国学生就常识方面进行综合实验，显示出他们表现如何，这个实验也是自1980年发展而来的。通过将每个问题的结果与三十年前大学生的原分数相比，可以明确得出常识改变了。
    A lot of the changes were unsurprising. Many of the questions concern 1970s
pop culture andit’s to be expected that no-one know them today.
    很多变化则是意料之中的。在20世纪90年代涉及通俗文化的许多问题，正如料想的一样，时至今天已经没人知道了。
    However，other results are more interesting. Knowledge of hockey has
increased.Likewise，migraines are much better-known now—the migraine question
went up from #25 to#6, perhaps reflecting better awareness of the disease.
    然而，其他的结论更加有趣。关于曲棍球的常识却增加了。同样，偏头痛在现在已经家喻户晓——偏头痛的问题从25号上升到6号，这或许反映出人们对疾病更加警觉了。
    Curiously，knowledge that cheetahs are the fastest land animal has rocketed
from #93 to #10.Maybe reflects the success of the Discovery Channel.
    奇怪的是，关于猎豹是陆地上速度最快的动物这个常识已经从93号飙升到10号。或许可以反映出探索频道的成功?
    Some things have been forgotten，however. That Antarctica is the largest
desert on Earth (it is)was #50 on the 1980 knowledge charts. Now it’s down to
#249. That Franklin discoveredlightning to be a form of electricity，and that
Paris is the capital of France，have also slippeddown the list.
    然而有些东西已经被人们遗忘了。南极洲是地球上最大的沙漠，(这现在是)曾经是1980年知识图表中的50号。现在已经跌到249号了。富兰克林发现了闪电也是电的一种形式以及巴黎是法国的首都，这些也从列表中下滑了。
    The wrong answers were also quite fun. 30% of people thought Baghdad was
the capital ofAfghanistan-wonder why), while 21% believed Budapest to be the
capital of India (maybe theythought "Buddhist") 12% thought Mount Everest was in
the Appalachians. 11% thoughtdynamite is called dynamite because it was invented
by a Mr. Dynamite, and my favourite，7% said that the layer of fat that whales
have is called "flubber".
    错误的答案通常也十分有趣。30%的人认为巴格达是阿富汗首都(想知道为什么吗?)，而21%的人认为布达佩斯是印度的首都(也许他们认为是“佛教徒”的缘故?)。12%的人认为珠穆朗玛峰位于阿巴拉契亚山脉。11%的人认为炸药之所以被称为炸药，是因为它是被一位炸药先生发明的，以及我最感到有趣的是，7%的人说鲸鱼身上的脂肪层是“飞天法宝”。