In Stockholm, the Swedish Academy has chosen the British author Doris Lessing for the 2007 Nobel Prize in Literature.
The selection of Doris Lessing for a Nobel was popular among the hundreds of journalists gathered for the announcement in Stockholm.
Permanent Secretary of the Swedish Academy Horace Engdahl said with skepticism, fire and visionary power Lessing has subjected a divided civilization to scrutiny.
Doris Lessing was born in 1919 in Persia - modern-day Iran - to British parents, moving as a child with her family to southern Rhodesia, now Zimbabwe, where she stayed in school only to the age of 14.
A year after moving to London, she published her first novel in 1950. The Grass is Singing examines unbridgeable racial conflict in colonial Africa through the eyes of a white farmer’s wife and her black servant.
A member of the British Communist Party during the 1950s and a campaigner against nuclear arms and South African apartheid, Lessing was for years banned from that country and from Rhodesia.
Her literary breakthrough came in 1962 with publication of The Golden Notebook, seen by many, though not necessarily Lessing, as a pioneering work of modern feminism. A disjointed study of the mind of the main character, Anna Wulf, the novel explores her thoughts about Africa, politics and communism, relationships with men and sex, and Jungian analysis and dream interpretation.
Lessing’s themes shifted to psychology in her works from the 1960s, and by the 1970s she was fascinated with the Islamic mystic tradition of Sufism. Her turn toward science fiction with the Canopus series in the early 1980s was not warmly received by traditionalist critics, but she has continued to win new readers and numerous literary awards, including the David Cohen British Literary Prize and the Companion of Honour from the Royal Society of Literature, both in 2001.
Following the announcement, the Horace Engdahl told VOA why he was personally so pleased with Lessing’s selection.
"She is one of the truly great writers - of novels, short stories, fiction and non-fiction," Engdahl said. "She is one of the few writers who have had the courage to uphold the principle of equality between the male and female experience, and she has given the impulse to numbers of other women writers. And she is really the mother of a school that is one of the most important in our contemporary literature."
At 87, Doris lessing is the oldest Nobel Literature laureate since the first prizes were awarded in 1901. Each Nobel Prize is this year accompanied by a check for approximately $1.4 million.
【小题1】How old was Doris Lessing when she published her first novel?

In our society, we must communicate with people. A great deal of communicating is performed on a person-to-person  36  by the simple means of speech. If we travel in buses, or buy things in shops, we are likely to have conversations  37  we give information or opinions, and sometimes have our views _38  by other members of society.  

Face-to-face contact is by no means the  39  form of communication and during the last two centuries the  40  of mass communication has become one of the major factors of contemporary society. Two things,  41  others, have caused the rapid growth of the communication  42 .  Firstly, inventiveness has led to  43  in printing, photography, radio and so on. Secondly, speed has revolutionized （变革） the transmission（传输） and  44  of communications so that local news often takes a back  45  to national news.  

No longer is the  46  of information limited to a privileged （有特权的） minority. Forty years ago people used to  47  into the cinema, but now far more people sit at home and turn on the TV to watch a programme channeled into millions of homes. Communication is no longer merely concerned  48_  the transmission of information. The modern communication industry influences the way people live in society and  49  their horizons by allowing  50  to information, education and entertainment. The printing, broadcasting and advertising industries are all  51  with informing, educating and entertaining.  

_52  a great deal of the material communicated by the mass media is very  53  to the individual and to the society of which he is a part, the vast modern network of communications is  54  to abuse. However, the mass media are with us for  55 , for worse, and there is no turning back.  

In Stockholm, the Swedish Academy has chosen the British author Doris Lessing for the 2007 Nobel Prize in Literature.
The selection of Doris Lessing for a Nobel was popular among the hundreds of journalists gathered for the announcement in Stockholm.
Permanent Secretary of the Swedish Academy Horace Engdahl said with skepticism, fire and visionary power Lessing has subjected a divided civilization to scrutiny.
Doris Lessing was born in 1919 in Persia - modern-day Iran - to British parents, moving as a child with her family to southern Rhodesia, now Zimbabwe, where she stayed in school only to the age of 14.
A year after moving to London, she published her first novel in 1950. The Grass is Singing examines unbridgeable racial conflict in colonial Africa through the eyes of a white farmer’s wife and her black servant.
A member of the British Communist Party during the 1950s and a campaigner against nuclear arms and South African apartheid, Lessing was for years banned from that country and from Rhodesia.
Her literary breakthrough came in 1962 with publication of The Golden Notebook, seen by many, though not necessarily Lessing, as a pioneering work of modern feminism. A disjointed study of the mind of the main character, Anna Wulf, the novel explores her thoughts about Africa, politics and communism, relationships with men and sex, and Jungian analysis and dream interpretation.
Lessing’s themes shifted to psychology in her works from the 1960s, and by the 1970s she was fascinated with the Islamic mystic tradition of Sufism. Her turn toward science fiction with the Canopus series in the early 1980s was not warmly received by traditionalist critics, but she has continued to win new readers and numerous literary awards, including the David Cohen British Literary Prize and the Companion of Honour from the Royal Society of Literature, both in 2001.
Following the announcement, the Horace Engdahl told VOA why he was personally so pleased with Lessing’s selection.
"She is one of the truly great writers - of novels, short stories, fiction and non-fiction," Engdahl said. "She is one of the few writers who have had the courage to uphold the principle of equality between the male and female experience, and she has given the impulse to numbers of other women writers. And she is really the mother of a school that is one of the most important in our contemporary literature."
At 87, Doris lessing is the oldest Nobel Literature laureate since the first prizes were awarded in 1901. Each Nobel Prize is this year accompanied by a check for approximately $1.4 million.

1. 1.

   How old was Doris Lessing when she published her first novel?

   1. A.
      14
   2. B.
      26
   3. C.
      31
   4. D.
      50
2. 2.

   Which of the following about The Grass is Singing is true?

   1. A.
      It is mainly about racial conflict between the whites and the blacks in the US.
   2. B.
      The main characters are a white farmer’s wife and her black servant.
   3. C.
      It was published in Africa.
   4. D.
      It was Doris Lessing’s most famous novel.
3. 3.

   We can infer from the passage that __________.

   1. A.
      Journalists are very interested in the election of Doris Lessing’s for Nobel Prize.
   2. B.
      Doris Lessing regard The Golden Notes as a pioneering work of feminism.
   3. C.
      Doris Lessing has written about many different subjects.
   4. D.
      Many writers have the courage to stick to the equality between the male and female experience.
4. 4.

   The underlined wordschool in the last but one paragraph means________.

   1. A.
      institution for educating children
   2. B.
      college or university
   3. C.
      department of a university
   4. D.
      group of writers, thinkers
5. 5.

   Which of the following can be the best title of this passage?

   1. A.
      Doris Lessing wins Nobel Prize for literature.
   2. B.
      The greatest British female writer.
   3. C.
      The oldest Nobel Prize winner.
   4. D.
      2007 Nobel Prize announced in Stockholm.

An increase in students applying to study economics at university is being attributed to （归因于）the global economic crisis awakening a public thirst for knowledge about how the financial system works.  

Applications for degree courses beginning this autumn were up by 15% this January, according to UCAS, the Universities and Colleges Admissions Service. A. spokesman for the Royal Economic Society said applications to do economics at A-level were also up.   

Professor john Beath, the president of the society and a leading lecture at St Andrews University, said his first-year lectures-which are open to students from all departments—were drawing crowds of 400, rather than the usual 250.   

“There are a large number of students who are not economics majors, who would like to learn something about it. One of the things I have done this year is to relate my teaching to contemporary events in a way that one hasn’t traditionally done. ” He added.   

University applications rose 7% last year. But there were rises above average in several subjects. Nursing saw a 15% jump, with people’s renewed interest in caters in the pubic sector（部门）, which are seen as more secure in economic crisis.   

A. recent study showed almost two thirds of parents believed schools should do more to teach pupils about financial matters, and almost half said their children had asked them what was going on, although a minority of parents felt they did not understand it themselves well enough to explain.   

Zack Hocking, the head of Child Trust Funds, said: “It’s possible that one good thing to arise from the downturn will be a generation that’s financially wiser and better equipped to manage their money through times of economic uncertainty.”  

71. Professor John Beath’s lectures are ______ .  

A. given in a traditional way                 B. connected with the present situation  

C. open to both students and their parents    D. warmly received by economics  

72. Incomes in the public sector are more attractive because of their_____.   

A. greater stability     B. higher pay    C. fewer applications   D. better reputation  

73. in the opinion of most parents ______ .   

A. eccentrics should be the focus of school teaching  

B. more students should be admitted to universities  

C. the teaching of financial matters should be strengthened.   

D. children should solve financial problems themselves   

74. According to Hocking, the global economic crisis might make the youngsters_____ .   

A. wiser in money management  

B. have access to better equipment  

C. confide about their future careers  

D. get jobs in Child Trust Funds  

75. What’s the main idea of the text?  

A. Universities have received more applications.  

B. Economics is attracting an increasing numbers students  

C. college students benefit a lot from economic uncertainty  

D. parents are concerned with children’s subject selection.   

An increase in students applying to study economics at university is being attributed to （归因于）the global economic crisis awakening a public thirst for knowledge about how the financial system works.    

Applications for degree courses beginning this autumn were up by 15% this January, according to UCAS, the Universities and Colleges Admissions Service. A. spokesman for the Royal Economic Society said applications to do economics at A-level were also up.    

Professor john Beath, the president of the society and a leading lecture at St Andrews University, said his first-year lectures-which are open to students from all departments―were drawing crowds of 400, rather than the usual 250.    

“There are a large number of students who are not economics majors, who would like to learn something about it. One of the things I have done this year is to relate my teaching to contemporary events in a way that one hasn’t traditionally done. ” He added.     

University applications rose 7% last year. But there were rises above average in several subjects. Nursing saw a 15% jump, with people’s renewed interest in caters in the pubic sector（部门）, which are seen as more secure in economic crisis.    

A. recent study showed almost two thirds of parents believed schools should do more to teach pupils about financial matters, and almost half said their children had asked them what was going on, although a minority of parents felt they did not understand it themselves well enough to explain.    

Zack Hocking, the head of Child Trust Funds, said: “It’s possible that one good thing to arise from the downturn will be a generation that’s financially wiser and better equipped to manage their money through times of economic uncertainty.”   

71.Professor john Beath’s lectures are             .

A.given in a traditional way                 B.connected with the present situation

C.open toboth students and their parents       D.warmly received by economics

72.cncoms in the public sector are more attractive because of their         .

A.greater stability     B.higher pay    C.fewer applications   D.better reputation

73.in the oponion of most parents,           .

A.ecenetnics should be the focus of school teaching

B.more students should be addmnded to universities

C.the teaching of financial matters should be strengthened.

D.children should solve financial problems themselves

74.According to Hocking ,the glbal economic crisis might make the youngsters        .

A.wiser in money management

B.have access to better equipment

C.confid about their future careers

D.get jobs in Child Trust Funds

75.what’s the main idea of the text?

A.Universities have received more applications.

B.Economics is attracting an increasing numbers students

C.college students benefit a lot from economic uncertainty

D.parents are concerned with children’s subject selection.