Thus the American president and vice-president have surnames starting with B and C respectively; and 26 of George Bush’s predecessors (including his father) had surnames in the first half of the alphabet against just 16 in the second half. Even more striking, six of the seven heads of government of the G7 rich countries are alphabetically advantaged (Berlusconi, Blair, Bush, Chirac, Chretien and Koizumi). The world’s three top central bankers (Greenspan, Duisenberg and Hayami) are all close to the top of the alphabet, even if one of them really uses Japanese characters. As are the world’s five richest men (Gates, Buffett, Allen, Ellison and Albrecht).
如此这般，美国的总统和副总统的姓氏分别是以B和C字母起头。乔治·布什的前任有二十六位（包括其父）的姓氏均在字母表的前半部，而姓氏在字母表后半部的却仅有十六位。更加令人瞩目的是七大富裕强国政府的首脑中有六位在其姓氏按字母表顺序排名时靠前（Berlusconi，Blair，Bush，Chirac，Chretien，Koizumi）。世界三大中央银行行长（Greenspan， Duisenberg，Hayami）全都接近字母表的上端，三人之中有一人即使用日文也是如此。世界上最富有的前五位情况也是如此（Gates，Buffett，Allen，Ellison，Albrecht）。
It has long been known that a taxi firm called AAAA cars has a big advantage over Zodiac cars when customers thumb through their phone directories. Less well known is the advantage that Adam Abbott has in life over Zoe Zysman. English names are fairly evenly spread between the halves of the alphabet. Yet a suspiciously large number of top people have surnames beginning with letters between A and K.
人们早已知道在客户翻阅电话簿时，名叫AAAA的出租汽车公司要比Zodiac出租汽车公司有很大的优越性。至于在生活方面Adam Abbott较之Zoe Zysman的优越性就不那么为人所知了。英语的姓名虽然在字母表的前后两半部分的分布相当平均，但顶级人物的姓名的首字母在A与K之间的却多得可疑。
Over the past century, all kinds of unfairness and discrimination have been condemned or made illegal. But one insidious form continues to thrive: alphabetism. This, for those as yet unaware of such a disadvantage, refers to discrimination against those whose surnames begin with a letter in the lower half of the alphabet.
在过去的一个世纪里各种各样的不公和歧视遭到了谴责或定为非法。但是有一种隐蔽的形式还在蔓延：按字母表顺序排名。对于尚未意识到其危害的人来说，它指的是对那些姓氏起始字母位于字母表后半部的人的歧视。
The humiliation continues. At university graduation ceremonies, the ABCs proudly get their awards first; by the time they reach the Zysmans most people are literally having a ZZZ. Shortlists for job interviews, election ballot papers, lists of conference speakers and attendees: all tend to be drawn up alphabetically, and their recipients lose interest as they plough through them.
这种委屈继续着。在大学的毕业典礼上，姓名首字母是ABC的学生骄傲的首先领到奖品；等轮到Zysmans们领奖品的时候，大多数人简直都在鼾声大作了。求职面试、选举投票、会议发言或参加会议等诸多名单，也是按字母表顺序排序，当人们费劲地向下查看时，兴趣随之索然。
Can this merely be coincidence? One theory, dreamt up in all the spare time enjoyed by the alphabetically disadvantaged, is that the rot sets in early. At the start of the first year in infant school, teachers seat pupils alphabetically from the front, to make it easier to remember their names. So short-sighted Zysman junior gets stuck in the back row, and is rarely asked the improving questions posed by those insensitive teachers. At the time the alphabetically disadvantaged may think they have had a lucky escape. Yet the result may be worse qualifications, because they get less individual attention, as well as less confidence in speaking publicly.
这仅仅是巧合吗？按字母表顺序排名靠后的人在享受闲暇时光时凭空想出一种理论，认为这种倒霉事老早就开始了。在幼儿学校第一年之始，老师为了较为容易记住学生的名字，就按字母表顺序由前往后给学生排座位。因此近视的小Zysman就被插在了后排，这样一来，粗心的教师提出的有助于提高的问题就很少会问到他。这时，按字母表顺序排名靠后的学生还认为他们能逃避老师的问题很幸运。然而，结果可能就是成绩欠佳，因为这种学生得到的个人关注较少，同时当众讲话时的信心也不足。
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