单选题 Walking through my train yesterday, staggering from my seat to the buffet and back, I counted five people reading Harry Potter novels. Not children—these were real grown-ups reading children"s books.
It was as if I had wandered into a John wyndham scenario where the adults" brains have been addled by a plague and they have returned to childishness, avidly hunting out their toys and colovring—in books.
Maybe that would have been understandable. If these people had jumped whole-heartedly into a second childhood it would have made more sense. But they were card-carrying grown-ups with laptops and spreadsheets returning from sales meetings and seminars. Yet they chose to read a children"s book.
I don"t imagine you"ll find this headcount exceptional. You can no longer get on the London Tube and not see a Harry Potter book. Nor is it just the film; these throwback readers were out there in droves long before the movie campaign opened.
So who are these adult readers who have made JK Rowling the second-biggest female earner in Britain (after Madonna)? As I have tramped along streets knee-deep in Harry Potter paperbacks , I"ve mentally slotted them into three groups.
First come the Never-Readers, whom Harry has enticed into opening a book. Is this a bad thing? Probably not. Writing has many advantages over film, but it can never compete with its magnetic punch. If these books can re-establish the novel as a thrilling experience for some people, then this can only be for the better. If it takes obsession-level hype to lure them into a bookshop. That"s fine by me. But will they go on to read anything else? Again, we can only hope.
The second group are the Occasional Readers. These people claim that tiredness, work and children allow them to read only a few books a year. Yet now-to be part of the crowd, to say they"ve read it—they put Harry Potter on their oh-so-select reading list. It"s infuriating , and maddening. Yes, I"m a writer myself, currently writing difficult, unreadable, hopefully unsettling novels, but there are so many other good books out there, so much rewarding, enlightening, enlarging works of fiction for adults; and yet these sad cases are swept along by the hype, the faddism, into reading a children"s book.
The third group are the Regular Readers, for whom Harry is sandwiched between McEwan (英国 当代作家) and Balzac, Roth (德国现代诗人) and Dickens. This is the real baffler—what on earth do they get out of reading it? Why bother? But if they call rattle through it in a week just to say they"ve been there—like going to Longleat (朗利特山庄英国名胜) or the Eiffel Tower—the worst they"re doing is encouraging others.
单选题 The word "staggering" underlined in Paragraph 1 is closest in meaning to ______.
【正确答案】 A
【答案解析】[解析] 根据文中第一段的内容“staggering from my seat to the buffet and back”可知，摇摇晃晃地从座位上起来走到自助餐前面。选项中的A项为“摇晃”符合文意。B项“绊倒”，C项“使震惊”，D项“压倒”，这三项均不符合题意。
单选题 What"s the passage mainly about?
【正确答案】 D
【答案解析】[解析] 本题主要考查对文章主旨大意的理解。文章首先揭示了《哈里·波特》在成人中比较流行的一种现状，然后对《哈里·波特》的三种成人读者进行分类，分析他们读《哈里·波特》的原因，表现了作者对这三类读者的批评态度，所以D项“《哈里·波特》在成人读者中流行的反响”符合题意。A项“《哈里·波特》在世界范围内的流行”，这只是文中开头部分介绍的内容，不全面；B项“成人从《哈里·波特》的阅读中获得益处”，文中没有对益处作详细介绍；C项“《哈里·波特》作为儿童读物的起源”，文中没有相关内容，所以这三项都不符合题意。
单选题 The word "tramped" underlined in Paragraph 4 is closest in meaning to ______.
【正确答案】 A
【答案解析】[解析] 根据文中第四段的内容“As I have tramped along streets knee-deep in Harry Potter paperbacks”可知，我沿着街道走。选项中的A项为“步行穿过”符合文意。B项“踩踏”，C项“慢跑”，D项“跑步”，这三项均不符合题意。
单选题 The author believes that many adults read Harry Potter ______.
【正确答案】 A
【答案解析】[解析] 根据文中最后一段的内容“But if they call rattle through it in a week just to say they"ve been there”可知，但如果他们在一周内把它草草读完，只是为了表示曾读过这本书的话，A项“作者相信很多成人读《哈里·波特》是为了跟风”符合题意。B项“为打发时间”，C项“为享受第二次童年”，D项“为分享哈里的冒险经历”，B、D两项在文中没有提到，C项文中是一种假设的情况，所以这三项都不符合题意。
单选题 According to the author, the Never-Readers ______.
【正确答案】 C
【答案解析】[解析] 根据文中第五段的内容“But will they go on to read anything else? Again, we can only hope. 但他们还会去读别的书吗?我们只能拭目以待了。”可以看出作者对于这类读者会从此回归小说不抱乐观态度，所以C项符合题意。A项“将把阅读作为终身的习惯”，B项“从书中比在电影中得到了更多”，A、B在文中都没有提到，D项“几乎不能被大众驱赶着去读任何书”，显然不正确，因为他们读《哈里·波特》就是在大众的驱使下。
单选题 The word "it" underlined in Paragraph 5 refers to ______.
【正确答案】 A
【答案解析】[解析] 根据文中第五段的内容“Writing has many advantages over film, but it can never compete with its magnetic punch”可知，书比电影好处多。故it指代的内容为writing。所以正确答案是A。
单选题 The Occasional Readers are referred to as sad cases because ______.
【正确答案】 D
【答案解析】[解析] 根据第六段的内容“and yet these sad cases are swept along by the hype, the faddism, into reading a children"s book. 然而这些可悲的人却接受天花乱坠的宣传攻势和流行主义的教唆，跑去看一本儿童读物。”可知，D项“他们的阅读口味受潮流的影响”符合题意。A项“他们太忙了，不能定期享受阅读”，B项“他们正遭受繁重工作的痛苦”，A、B两项文中虽都有提到，但不是题目所问的原因，C项“他们很难决定选择阅读什么”，这在文中没有提到。
单选题 What"s the bad effect of the way the Regular Readers read Harry Potter ?
【正确答案】 C
【答案解析】[解析] 经常读书的人这种盲目跟风草草阅读《哈里·波特》的态度产生的坏影响就是会有更多的人为了表示读过《哈里·波特》而去读《哈里·波特》，只求速度不求内涵，只求其名不求其实。所以是一种助长快餐文化的表现，所以C正确。A项“它将促使太多的人去书中提到的地方参观”，B项“它将阻止人们阅读真正的杰作”，D项“在经典和流行作品中将引起混乱”，这三项在文中都无相关内容。
单选题 The word "infuriating" underlined in Paragraph 6 is closest in meaning to ______.
【正确答案】 A
【答案解析】[解析] 根据文中第四段的内容“It"s infuriating, and maddening”可知，这令人恼火，让人气愤。选项中的A项为“使恼火的”符合文意。B项“生气的”，C项“不愉快的”，D项“不高兴的”，这三项均不符合题意。
单选题 The main culprit for this madness about Harry Potter is most probably ______.
【正确答案】 C
【答案解析】[解析] 根据第六段的内容“and yet these sad cases are swept along by the hype, the faddism, into reading a children"s book. 然而这些可悲的人却接受天花乱坠的宣传攻势和流行主义的教唆，跑去看一本儿童读物。”可知，造成大家对《哈里·波特》的疯狂态度的罪魁祸首最有可能是媒体的大肆宣传。故选C。