Low levels of literacy （读写能力) and numeracy （计算能力) have a damaging impact on almost

Low levels of literacy (读写能力) and numeracy (计算能力) have a damaging impact on almost every aspect of adult life. Tests and interviews with hundreds of people born in a single week in 1958【C1】______ the handicap of educational underachievement. The【C2】______ were seen in unemployment, family breakdown, low incomes, depression and social inactivity.

Those【C3】______ left school at 16 with poor basic skills had been employed for up to tour years less than good readers by the time they【C4】______ 37. Professor John Bynner, of City University, said that today's【C5】______ teenagers would【C6】______ even greater problems because the【C7】______ of manual jobs had dried up.

Almost one in five of the 1,700 people interviewed had poor literacy skills and almost half struggled with numeracy, a proportion【C8】______ other surveys for the Basic Skills Agency. Some could not read aloud from a child's book, and most found【C9】______ in following【C10】______ instructions.

Poor readers were twice【C11】______ likely to be on a low wage and four times as likely to live in a household where【C12】______ partner w9rked. Women in this position were five times as likely to be【C13】______ as depressed,【C14】______ both sexes tended to feel they had no【C15】______ over their lives, and to be less trusting of【C16】______

【C17】______ with low literacy and numeracy skills were【C18】______ involved in any community organization and much less likely than others to have voted in a general election. There had been no【C19】______ in the level of interviewees reporting problems since the【C20】______ was surveyed at the age of 21.

【C1】

A．provided

B．illustrated

C．perceived

D．assumed