Jane Austen ever popular

This summer, the UK will honor its favorite writer, Jane Austen (1775-1817), by making her face on the new £ 10 note. In the 200 years since her death, Austen’s fame has increased from the modest amount she enjoyed in her lifetime to the global fame she receives today.

And yet Austen’s work is so very English that it’s rather strange she should be so popular all over the world. Her novels are so of her time that it’s remarkable that she’s still appreciated in this very different age. Her most famous works — including Pride and Prejudice, the one for which she is most known — are set in the world of the English gentry (绅士阶层) in the 18th century.

Most of her fiction is about young women of that time. Women of the gentry could not work so their chances of happiness or even basic living depended upon finding a husband. This is a very serious subject, of course, but the joy of Austen’s stories is her ability to make wonderful, but also touching comedy out of something so serious.

Take Pride and Prejudice as an example. Elizabeth Bennet is one of five daughters in a countryside family that struggles because daughters can’t inherit (继承) the property. Her mother wants to marry off as many of them as possible. The pushy and annoying Mrs Bennet is one of the great comic characters in English literature.

The main plot of the novel is driven by the love-hate relationship between Elizabeth and Mr Darcy, a wealthy noble. At first, they don’t get on. Elizabeth finds Darcy too proud; she feels he thinks he is better than everyone else in the countryside. She thinks that he looks down upon her family in particular. Darcy, while admiring Elizabeth, believes that she has treated him unfairly. The pleasure of the novel is reading how these obstacles (阻碍) are overcome and how the comical and unexpected ending is achieved.

If we think about this story, it’s obvious why Jane Austen is still popular 200 years after her death, and why readers can still identify with (与……产生共鸣) characters from the long dead world of the 18th century English gentry. Although there have been many changes since that time, it’s still the greatest challenge in life for men and women to find the partner of their dreams.

【小题1】What can we conclude from Paragraph 2?

A．The author believes Jane Austen’s works are ahead of her time.

B．The author thinks that everyone should read Jane Austen’s books.

C．The author has doubts about Jane Austen’s popularity all over the world.

D．The author is surprised that Jane Austen’s books are still so famous.

【小题2】According to the passage, Pride and Prejudice __________.

A．has a sad and unexpected ending

B．deals with a serious social issue in a lighthearted way

C．centers on countryside people’s struggles in the 18th century

D．tells readers that everyone can succeed through hard work

【小题3】According to the passage, why does Jane Austen remain popular today?

A．Because readers enjoy reading love stories about wealthy nobles.

B．Because readers are attracted by the way people deal with difficulties in the stories.

C．Because readers can always find something new from her novels.

D．Because her works deal with the problems many of today’s readers still face.

【小题4】What’s the main purpose of the passage?

A．To tell us why Jane Austen is chosen to be on the new £ 10 note.

B．To introduce the story of Pride and Prejudice.

C．To explain why Jane Austen is still popular today.

D．To introduce Jane Austen’s creative writing style.

   Canada’s Alice Munro, called the “master of the contemporary short story”, won the 2013 Nobel Prize in Literature. After that, the Nobel committee（委员会）said on Twitter that it hadn’t been able to contact Munro and left a phone message to tell her the good news. But The Canadian Press contacted her, and she was quoted as saying the award was "quite wonderful"and she was "terribly surprised".

Douglas Gibson, Munro's publisher read a statement on the author's behalf. "I am amazed and very grateful. I am particularly glad that winning this award will please so many Canadians. I'm happy that this will bring more attention to Canadian writing," she said, according to Gibson.

"Munro is acclaimed for her finely tuned storytelling，which is characterized by clarity and psychological realism（现实主义），"the Nobel committee said.

The author has won many honors over the years，including the 2009 Man Booker International Prize. "Alice Munro is mostly known as a short story writer and yet she brings as much depth，wisdom and precision to every story as most novelists bring to a lifetime of novels，"the Man Booker judging committee said at the time.

Munro，who lives in Huron County in southwestern Ontario，was born near there in Wingham. She started writing stories in her teen years and studied journalism and English at the University of Western Ontario. She started publishing in various magazines in the 1950s. In 1968，she published Dance of the Happy Shades，a collection of short stories. In 1971 she published a collection of stories entitled Lives of Girls and Women，which critics have described as a coming-of-age work.

Munro gained world fame for writing about everyday people. "Here is a world prize being won by someone who writes about housewives in Vancouver, booksellers in Victoria, bean farmers in Huron County and accountants and teachers and librarians — ordinary Canadian people, and she turns them into magic," Gibson said.

【小题1】How did Alice Munro feel about her winning the Nobel Prize?
A．Satisfied and proud.
B．Puzzled but grateful.
C．Surprised but happy.
D．Concerned but lucky.【小题2】The underlined word "acclaimed" in Paragraph 3 is closest in meaning to"_________".
A．understood     B. admired
B．advertised D. criticized【小题3】Which of the following shows the correct order of what happened in Munro's life？
a. She published Lives of Girls and Women.
b. She won the Man Booker International Prize.
c. She studied at the University of Western Ontario.
d. She won the Nobel Prize in Literature.
e. She published Dance of the Happy Shades.
A．c-a-b-d-e B. c-e-a-b-d
B．a-c-b-e-d D. a-b-c-d-e【小题4】What do we know about Munro's writing？
A．It concerns the life of poor people.
B．It contains depth and wisdom.
C．It usually tells magic stories.
D．It tends to avoid realistic problems.

你班将在本周五下午举行一场主题为“阅读的重要性”的英语演讲比赛。请围绕该主题写一篇演讲稿，需包含以下要点：
1.你认为现在很多人不喜欢阅读的原因是什么？2.你认为阅读重要吗？为什么？
注意：1.词数100左右；2.开头和结尾已给出，不计入总词数。

Hello，everyone. It is a great honor for me to speak here. The topic of my speech is the significance of reading.

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That's all. Thanks for your attention.