The best way to come first is to go last．An analysis of almost 50 years of competitions--including Eurovision Song Contests and world skating championships--has found that contestants are more likely to win if they are among the last to appear before the judges．

The study by an American university appears to provide scientific proof(证据)that the best man，or woman，does not always win．

It found that。on average，the last competitor to appear in the Eurovision Song Contest was more than twice as likely to win as the one who went on first．

The first rounds of figure-skating championships，for which the running order is selected at random，showed more dramatic results．The final skater had a 1 4 per cent chance of victory，making him or her more than four times as likely to win as the first skater．

The study showed a gradual worsening of chances for competitors who appeared earlier in the running order．A contestant who appears first in a contest is two per cent less likely to win than one who appears second．A contestant who appears second is two per cent less likely to win than one who appears third，and so on。

The findings are published in the March issue of Acta Psychologica，a scientific journal．

Robert Hardman，a senior lecturer in psychology at London Metropolitan University who specializes in the science of decision-making，said that the results were interesting。He suggested that the effect was caused by the limitations of the human memory．

“When people make comparisons；they aren’t really able to make a lot of fine-grade discrimination．When contestants appear at the beginning of a contest, judges have little to compare them to and are perhaps wary(谨慎的)of the scores they give,” he said．

“Later on，when judges are able t0 compare the contestants to those that have gone before，

they might give more extreme marks because they feel more confident about their judgments．”

1．Robert Hardman’s words mainly tell about his　　　 .

A．own achievement in the research

B．explanation for the findings

C．suggestion to solve the problem

D．comments on the findings

2．The first skater in the first round of figure skating championships had a 　　　 percent chance of winning．

A．two　 B．three　 C．four　　　 D．six　　　　　　　　　　　　

3．According to the study，the best competitor does not always win possibly because he／she

_______.

A．fails to show his／her very best

B．is mistakenly put in the running order

C．meets with unfair judges

D．appears too early before the judges

4．Judging from the context，the underlined word “worsening” in the 5th paragraph should mean　　　 .

A．decrease in number

B．increase in degree

C．reduction in possibility

D．rising in quantity

5．What may be a problem with the judges according to the article?

A．They can’t remember things well enough．

B．They believe the first is seldom the best．

C．They don’t really know what is good．

D．They show favor towards the contestants they like．