LONDON — The novelist Hilary Mantel won the 2012 Man Booker Prize on Tuesday for Bring Up the Bodies, the second book in her trilogy about the life of Thomas Cromwell, Henry VIII’s chief minister.

Set over the course of the year 1535, it tells of Anne Boleyn, Henry’s ill-fated second wife — the time when she was the most powerful and her rapid demise. The story is told through the eyes of Cromwell, who plotted her downfall.

　 “You wait 20 years for a Booker Prize; two come along at once,” said Ms. Mantel upon accepting the award. She won the Booker in 2009, too, for the first book in the trilogy, Wolf Hall.

　 The Man Booker Prize is awarded annually to a novel written by a citizen of the United Kingdom, Ireland, or the Commonwealth. Much of literary London put on black ties and gathered for a formal dinner at the grand Guildhall to hear the winner announced; the BBC broadcast the announcement live.

　 The prize has been won in the past years by some of the biggest names in fiction, including Iris Murdoch, J.M. Coetzee, Nadine Gordimer, Kingsley Amis and Salman Rushdie.

Sir Peter Stothard, chairman of this year’s Booker panel, said the judges had based their choices on “novels, not novelists; texts, not reputations.”

　 He added, “It was the pure power of writing that settled most debates. We loved the shock of language shown in so many different ways and were excited by the vigor and vividly defined values in the books that we chose – and in the visible confidence of the novel’s place in forming our words and ideas.”

Other novels on the shortlist included The Garden of Evening Mists by Tan Twang Eng; Swimming Home by Deborah Levy; The Lighthouse by Alison Moore; Umbrella by Will Self; and Narcopolis by Jeet Thayil.　　

64. The underlined word “demise” (in Para 2) probably means _____ .

A. progress 　 B. end　　　 C. success　　　 D. recovery

65. How many novels are mentioned in the passage?

A. 5　　　　　 B. 6　　　　 C. 7　　　　　　 D. 8

66. According to the passage, which of the following is TRUE?

A. Peter Stothard thought the novels shaped people’s language in a way.

B. The judges attached importance to the language and the authors’ fame.

C. Hilary Mantel was the first to win the Man Booker Prize.

D. People were uninterested in the results of the prize.

67. The best title for the passage might be _____ .

A. Bring Up the Bodies　　　 .

B. The Man Booker Prize

C. Hilary Mantel’s Novels Earn Her Fame

D. Hilary Mantel Wins a Second Booker Prize　　　

　　During the Second World War, Winston Churchill was the British prime minister. One day he had to go to the British Broadcasting Corporation (the BBC) to make an important speech to the nation.

　　An hour before the time of his speech, he stopped a taxi in the street and asked the driver to take him to the BBC; but the taxi-driver, who did not recognize him, said he could not take him anywhere just then, because he wanted to go back to his home at the other end of London to hear Churchill make a speech on the radio.

　　Churchill was so pleased when he heard this answer that he gave the man a pound, which was worth quite a lot in those days.

　　“All right, get in,”said the driver happily, opening the door of the taxi. “I'll take you, and to hell with Churchill and his speech.”

(1) Winston Churchill was the head of______ during World War II.

[　　]

A．the American government

B．the Italian government

C．the British government

D．the French government

(2) One day Churchill went to the BBC to _______.

[　　]

A．make a speech to his people

B．see his friends

C．meet the British prime minister

D．listen to an important speech

(3) The driver refused to take Churchill to the BBC because _______.

[　　]

A．he hated Churchill

B．he had something important to do

C．he wanted to go home in the opposite direction

D．Churchill offered him too little money

(4) According to the story Churchill was_______.

[　　]

A．a modest man

B．a great man

C．a generous man

D．fond of listening to good words

Selina, Michael, Tony and Sam enjoy listening to the radio. Read the following description and help them make proper choices.
57. ________ Tony, a sports lover, always cares much about sports events. He dreams to be a sports reporter after graduation.
58. ________ Michael is a university student. He likes music very much, especially rock and pop music.
59. ________ Sam is a teacher. He is one of the most popular teachers, because he always likes to tell his students what is going on world widely. So he needs to know global events of all kinds.
60. ________ Selina has three children. They are very lovely. They are interested in drama, reading and watching TV as well.

Alan took an early interest in gardening---first on his grandfather’s Yorkshire allotment in Ilkley, and then in his parents’ back garden. Small polythene（聚乙烯）greenhouses appeared in the back garden, and cacti（仙人掌）were bought from church markets.

Alan left school at fifteen with one `O’ level in Art and took a job as an apprentice（学徒）gardener in Ilkley Parks Department nursery, studying for his City and Guilds in Horticulture（园艺）in the evening.

He went on to horticultural college at Oaklands in Hertfordshire where he studied for one year full-time, being awarded the National Certificate in Horticultural. This was followed by three years at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, resulting in the award of the Kew Diploma.

 After two years as supervisor of staff training at Kew, Alan entered journalism where he became first a gardening books editor, and then Deputy Editor of Amateur Gardening magazine. He appeared regularly on BBC Radio and Television in programs such as Nationwide , Breakfast Time, Open Air, Pebble Mill, Songs of Praise, Titchmarsh’s Travels, and the Chelsea Flower Show. He presented the 100th edition of The Word for Channel 4, and hosted the quiz show Ask the Family.

Gardeners’ World and the hugely popular Ground Force, second only to Easterners in the BBC1 ratings, are broadcast as far as Australia, New Zealand and North America. After leaving both programs, Alan worked on two other series for the BBC to be transmitted in 2003 and 2004, one of them a landmark series on the natural history of Britain. Alan writes for the Daily Express, Sunday Express, Radio Times and BBC Gardeners’ World magazine, and has more than thirty gardening books to his credit. His four novels, as well as a book about his own life, have been best sellers.

Alan, 53, gardens organically, and lives with his wife, two daughters and a medley of animals.

1.We know that Alan ______in his school days.

A. was good at writing novels            B. loved Horticulture very much even

C. didn’t do so well in his studies      D. decided to be an apprentice

2.According to this passage, we can learn that______.

A. Alan accepted little education     B. Alan wrote many books about food

C. Alan had never been married         D. Alan was first a gardening books editor

3.Though the author doesn’t tell us directly, we can conclude that______.

A. Alan’s school teachers were not good at teaching the subject: Botany

B. when Alan was successful he was working as a journalist of the time

C. Alan had had four years of training in Horticulture before being a journalist

D. born as a man of many talents, Alan didn’t realize the fact until years later

4.Which of the following four programs is more popular than Ground Force in the BBC1 ratings?

   A. Breakfast Time.  B. Radio Time.  C. Gardeners’ World.  D. Easterners.

5. What’s the best title for the passage?

A. A Man of Many Talents.     B. Botany Makes Him What He Is Today.

C. No Pains, No Gains.        D. Can’t a Poorly-graded Student Be Successful?

Recently,university students around the world were asked to volunteer in a global experiment called Unplugged.It was designed to see how young people would react if they were asked to observe a total media ban by unplugging all forms of media devices for 24 hours.

Unplugged is being run by Dr Roman Gerodimos，a lecturer in Communication and Journalism at Bournemouth University.During the experiment，Dr Gerodimos said there were already  signs of how much the exercise affected volunteers.He said：“They’re reporting withdrawal symptoms，overeating，feeling nervous，isolated and disconnected.”

During their 24-hour test，three of the experiment’s participants were followed around by a BBC reporter plus cameraman.They were asked to write down 100 lines about their day offline，but of course，they all waited until the next day when they had access to their laptops.

Elliot Day wrote：“Today,my whole morning routine was thrown up into the air.Despite being  aware of the social importance of the media,I was surprised by how empty my life felt without the radio or newspapers.”

From Caroline Scott，we read：“I didn’t expect it，but being deprived of the media for 24 hours resulted in my day-to-day activities becoming so much harder to carry out than usual…I didn’t break out in a cold sweat like our lecturer expected us all to，but It’s not something l would like to do again！”

And Charlotte Gay wrote：“I have to say the most difficult item for me to be without has been  my  mobile；not  only is it a social device，it’s  my main access point of communication.”

Earlier in the year,a UK government study found that in the UK we spend about half our waking hours using the media,often plugged into several things at once.So,with technology continuing to develop at an alarming rate,how much time will you set aside for sleep in the future?

What can we learn about the volunteers?

A.Volunteers didn’t write down about their day offline.

B.Volunteers weren’t allowed to use any media for 24 hours.

C.Volunteers  were followed around by Dr Roman Gerodimos.

D.Only volunteers in the UK took part in Unplugged experiment.

Which of the following is NOT mentioned about the participants’feelings？

A.Anxious.          B.Lonely            C.Bored.            D.Despaired.

Which of the following is true of Caroline Scott？

A.The media ban affected his temperature.

B.His work went on smoothly without the media.

C.His work was carried on hard without the media.

D.His life was empty without the radio or newspapers.

What can be inferred from the last paragraph?

A.People should use the media devices reasonably.

B.People can easily survive the media devices addict.

C.People can spend more time sleeping in the future.

D.People spend about half the time using the media devices.

The text is most probably a         .

A.newspaper ad           B.book review

C.news report            D.science fiction story