Write your answers on ANSWER SHEET l.

　　Children who grip their pens too close to the writing point are likely to be at a disadvantage in examinations，(31) ___to the first serious investigation into the way in which writing technique Can dramatically affect educational achievement.

　　The survey of 643 children and adults，ranking from pre-school t0 40-plus，also suggests(32) ___pen—holding techniques have deteriorated sharply over one generation，with teachers now paying far(33) ___attention to correct pen grip and handwriting style.

　　Stephanie Thomas，a learning support teacher(34)—___findings have been published，was inspired to investigate this area(35) ___he noticed that those students who had the most trouble with spelling(36) ___had a poor pen grip.While Mr.Thomas could not establish a significant statistical link(37) ___pen—holing style and accuracy in spelling，he(38) ___find huge differences in technique between the young children and the mature adults，and a definite(39) ___between near—point gripping and slow，illegible writing.

　　People who(40) ___—their pens at the writing point also show other characteristics(41) ___inhibit learning，(42) ___as poor posture，leaning too(43) ___to the desk，using four fingers to grip the penn(44) ___than three，and clumsy positioning of the thumb(which can obscure(45)——is being written).

　　Mr.Thomas believes that the(46) ___between elder and younger writers is(47) ___too dramatic to be accounted for simply by the possibility that people get better at writing as they grow(48) ___.He attributes it to a failure to teach the most effective methods，pointing out that the differences between(49) ___groups coincides with the abandonment of formal handwriting instruction in classrooms in the sixties.“The 30-year- old showed a huge diversity of grips，(50) ___me over 40s group all had a uniform‘tripod’grip.”

　　答案精解

　　参考译文

　　根据一项对于握笔姿势大幅影响考试成绩的调查，那些握笔十分靠近笔尖的学生很可能在考试中处于劣势。

　　本次调查涉及643人，从学龄前儿童到40多岁的成年人，调查表明握笔技术在一代人的时间里大幅退步，现在的老师已经不像以前那样重视纠正学生的握笔姿势和书写方式了。

　　斯蒂芬尼·托马斯是一名助教，已经发表了他的发现，在他注意到那些拼写有困难的学生握笔习惯也不好的时候，受到启发开始调查这一领域。虽然托马斯先生不能在握笔方式和拼写正确性之间建立明确的统计学关联，但是他却发现小孩子和成人之间的握笔技术有很大的差别，而握笔靠近笔尖与缓慢而难以辨认的书写之间存在明确关联。

　　握笔靠近笔尖的人也显示出了其他的一些妨碍学习的特点，如坐姿很差、太靠近桌子、用4个手指而不是3个手指握笔和大拇指位置放得不对(这会使写的字迹模糊)。

　　托马斯先生认为，对比老年人和年轻人的书写太过明显不能简单得出人年龄越大字写得越好的说法。他认为这是因为没有教授最有效的方法，并指出不同年龄段的人之间写字的不同恰巧出现在60年代课堂里放弃对写字的指导之后。“30岁的人表现出非常不同的握笔方式，而超过40岁的人统一都用3只手指握笔”。

　答案及解析

　　31.according 【解析】according to意为“根据”，为固定短语，本句句意为“根据对…的严格调查，…。”