High 3 · Reading series
Lesson 6 · A Statistic without Its Denominator
Audio track 06
Listen first
Listen once before opening the English passage.
Open the English passage and hover for word help
A poster claimed that “half of students prefer online meetings.” The number seemed powerful, and our newspaper nearly repeated it. Before printing, we asked who had answered the survey. Only forty students had, all from a club that already held most meetings online.
The figure was not false: twenty of those forty preferred the format. It was misleading if readers imagined half of the entire school. We interviewed students in other clubs and found different needs. Some appreciated travel time saved; others found online discussion difficult when they shared a room with family.
We changed our headline to name the group and the number of replies. We also asked the student council to run a wider survey before deciding next year's meeting rules. That request would take more time, but it matched the size of the decision.
A percentage answers a question only after we know “of whom?” The missing denominator had been invisible in the poster, yet it changed the meaning of every word around the number.
Sentence practice
Play any sentence in Dicvo’s Jenny English voice. Before playing all, choose how many times each sentence plays. A practice pause about as long as the sentence follows each play, including before the next sentence. The complete reading remains above.
Choose a sentence to begin.
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A poster claimed that “half of students prefer online meetings.”
-
The number seemed powerful, and our newspaper nearly repeated it.
-
Before printing, we asked who had answered the survey.
-
Only forty students had, all from a club that already held most meetings online.
-
The figure was not false: twenty of those forty preferred the format.
-
It was misleading if readers imagined half of the entire school.
-
We interviewed students in other clubs and found different needs.
-
Some appreciated travel time saved; others found online discussion difficult when they shared a room with family.
-
We changed our headline to name the group and the number of replies.
-
We also asked the student council to run a wider survey before deciding next year's meeting rules.
-
That request would take more time, but it matched the size of the decision.
-
A percentage answers a question only after we know “of whom?”
-
The missing denominator had been invisible in the poster, yet it changed the meaning of every word around the number.
Check your understanding
After reading, state the main idea in one sentence and find a line that supports it.
Chinese translation
一张海报称‘一半学生更喜欢线上会议’。数字很有力，校报差点也照写。印刷前，我们问了是谁回答调查：只有四十人，全都来自原本就以线上开会为主的社团。
数字本身不假：四十人中有二十人偏好线上。若读者以为指全校一半学生，表述就会误导。我们采访其他社团，听见了不同需要：有人珍惜省下的通学时间，有人和家人共用房间，觉得线上讨论很难。
我们改写标题，标明受访群体和答复人数，并请学生会在决定来年开会规则前做更广泛的调查。那会多花时间，却与决定影响的范围相称。
百分比只有在知道‘谁的百分比’后才能回答问题。海报里看不见的分母，改变了数字周围每个词的意思。
Key words and expressions
Key terms have Chinese explanations. Hover over dotted words in the English passage for word help and pronunciation when available.
- claimed
- 声称；海报给出一半的数字。
- prefer
- 更喜欢；部分受访者偏好线上。
- survey
- 调查；须查谁作答。
- figure
- 数字；20/40 算法没错。
- misleading
- 误导人的；若被当成全校结论。
- entire
- 整个的；样本不代表全校。
- appreciated
- 看重；有人节省通学时间。
- replies
- 答复；标题应注明数量。
- percentage
- 百分比；离不开对应人群。
- denominator
- 分母；四十名社团成员。
Background notes (Chinese)
样本是四十名特定社团成员，20/40 不能代表全校。新闻应同时写明人数与来源，避免读者误解百分比。