Doris Lessing was born in 1919 in Persia, 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.

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(女权运动). A disjointed study of the mind of the main character, Anna Wulf, the novel explores her thoughts about Africa, politics, relationships with men and sex, and Jungian analysis and dream interpretation.

Lessing's themes changed to psychology in her works from the 1960s, and by the 1970s she was interested in the Islamic mystic tradition of Sufism(苏菲教派). Her turn toward science fiction with the Canopus series in the early 1980s was not warmly received by traditional critics, but she has continued to be popular with 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 winner since the first prizes were awarded in 1901.

What would be the best title of the passage?

A. Doris Lessing’s Great Writings.

B. Doris Lessing’s Concern about Africa.

C. A Great Writer of Novel and a Pioneer of Modern Feminism.

D. A Nobel Prize Winner for Literature.

It can be inferred from the passage that _______.

A. there are only two characters in The Grass is Singing

B. The Golden Notebook is regarded as Lessing’s masterpiece by herself

C. life in Africa in her early age lays solid foundation for her writing

D. Doris Lessing is strongly against traditional culture in Africa

According to the fourth paragraph, _______.

A. Lessing began to believe in Christ in the 1970s

B. Lessing’s science fiction won readers

C. Lessing had won two literary medals for her writings

D. Lessing changed her themes to meet the needs of traditional critics

The underlined word “impulse” in the 6th passage is closest in meaning to _______.

A. pressure      B. inspiration       C. energy        D. desire

I shall never forget the night, a few years ago, when Marion J. Douglas was a student in one of my adult-education classes. He told us how tragedy had struck at his home, not once, but twice. The first time he had lost his five-year-old daughter. He and his wife thought they couldn’t bear that first loss; but, as he said, “Ten months later, God gave us another little girl and she died in five days.”

This double bereavement was almost too much to bear. “I couldn’t take it,” this father told us. “I couldn’t sleep, eat, rest or relax. My nerves were entirely shaken and my confidence gone.” At last he went to the doctors: one recommended sleeping pills and another recommended a trip, but neither helped. He said, “My body felt as if it was surrounded in a vice(大钳子), and the jaws of the vice were being drawn tighter and tighter.” The tension of grief(悲伤) --- if you have ever been paralyzed(使瘫痪) by sorrow, you know what the meant.

“But thank God, I had one child left --- a four-year-old son. He gave me the solution to the problem. One afternoon as I sat around feeling sorry for myself, he asked, ‘Daddy, will you build a boat for me?’ I was in no mood to build a boat; in fact, I was in no mood to do anything. But my son is a persistent fellow! I had to give in. Building that toy boat took me about three hours. By the time it was finished, I realized that those three hours spent building that boat were first hours of mental relaxation and peace that I had had in months! I realized that it is difficult to worry while you are busy doing something that requires planning and thinking. In my case, building the boat had knocked worry out of the ring. So I determined to keep busy.”

“The following night, I made a list of jobs that ought to be done. Scores of items needed to be repaired. Amazingly, I had made a list of 242 items that needed attention. During the last two years I have completed most of them. I am so busy now that I have no time for worry.”

No time for worry! That is exactly what Winston Churchill said when he was working eighteen hours a day at the height of the war. When he was asked if he worried about his huge responsibilities, he said, “I am too busy. I have no time for worry.”

The underlined word “bereavement” in the second paragraph refers to _________.

A. having lost a loved one

B. having lost a valuable article

C. having lost a profit-making business

D. having lost a well-paid job

Marion felt his body as if it was caught in a vice because _________.

A. he couldn’t earn enough money to support his family

B. he was suffering from sleeplessness disease

C. he couldn’t get out of mental pressure

D. he felt tired of adult-education classes

Marion made a list of over 200 items that needed to be repaired because _________.

A. he hadn’t been able to spare time to mend them

B. he wanted to kill his free time by repairing them

C. the items had actually been broken and needed attention

D. repairing the items helped crowd worry out of his mind

At the end of the passage, the author wrote about Winston Churchill in order to ________.

A. prove that he followed Churchill’s example

B. support his student’s solution to his problem

C. show that he was successful in his career

D. make it clear how his conclusion was reached

阅读七选五(请将答案写在答题纸上)

__1__This was not because the woods and fields were always far away, but because they were too far from the city to permit people to make a day trip between morning and nightfall.

__2__ He decided to turn his little school house into a dormitory for the summer holidays. Anyone who brought his sleeping bag and cooking equipment along could stay there for a very small quantity of money. The idea was a success. A few years later, the school house was much too small to hold the many young people who wanted to stay there. __3__ This was the first hostel.

Today, young students and workers of every country can meet in the hostel and get to know each other. When young people arrive at the hostel, they have only to show their cards of membership in a hostel organization in their own country. __4__

Often, at the evening meal, a group of boys and girls from various parts of the country or world will happen to meet at the same hostel. They may put their meal together and prepare a dinner with many kinds of dishes. Sometimes a program will be organized after the meal with dances, songs, or short talks followed by a question period. __5__ For this reason, a few weeks spent “hostelling” can be just as useful a part of one’s education as classes in school.

In 1970, a young German school master had an idea which changed this situation.

People can stay in the hostel if they brought enough equipment with them.

One can learn a lot about other places, just by meeting people from those places.

As a result, a dormitory was set up in an old castle nearby.

For years, children in the industrial areas of Europe seldom left their cities to see the beauties of the countryside.

More and more young people went to the hostel for summer holidays.

This card will permit them to stay in a hostel all over the world for low prices.

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