【问25】我在做Cambridge Practice Tests for IELTS 2一书中的练习题时曾遇到这样一道题:

用一或两个词或数字完成句子如下：

Initially, there was a ... ... per cent decrease in absenteeism.

原文中的对应段落如下：

Absence rates for the six months prior to the incentive scheme ranged from 3.69 per cent to 4.32 per cent. In the following six months they ranged between 2.87 per cent and 3.96 per cent. This represents a 20 per cent improvement. However, analysing the absence rates on a year-to-year basis, the overall absence rate was 3.60 per cent in the first year and 3.43 per cent in the following year. This represents a 5 per cent decrease from the first to the second year of the study. A significant decrease in absence over the two-year period could not be demonstrated.

我认为应选5，而答案是20，请问为什么？

答： 原题问初期(initially)缺勤率下降了多少。根据原文，在实施奖励办法后的前半年，缺勤得到20%的改进（即下降），而5%的下降则指后来的第二年和第一年的比较，显然不是指初期，所以答案应是20%。在做阅读练习时，一定要弄清题目的确切意思，以免所答非所问。

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