Passage 1
Best-selling crime writer P. D. James-the initials stand for Phyllis Dorothy-exudes an air of quiet authority. It is easy to envisage her, had she not become a creator of detective stories with more twists and turns than a spiral staircase, as a headmistress of a girl‟s school. But it is soon apparent from what she says that the authoritative mien is, in fact, a cloak for shyness. She reluctantly admits that Adam Dalgliesh, the detective in her novels, “is, I suppose, modeled on myself or rather, the way I would have turned out if I had been a man”. Dalgliesh prefers to unravel the complexities of crimes solo, as does his creator. “I need time on my own, particularly when I am writing. I can write more or less anywhere as long as I have total privacy.”
She is too modest to concur with the view that she is Britain's best-known crime writer, even though her books-12major detective novels-are read avidly by millions all over the world. She herself is a great fan of the works of close friend Ruth Rendell. “I particularly enjoy her psychological works, written under the name of Barbara Vine.” Books beside her bed are most likely to be by women writers such as Iris Murdoch, Anita Brookner and Penelope Lively,although not to the total exclusion of male authors like Graham Greene and Evelyn Waugh, whom she considers to have been the greatest novelists of their generation. Success came to P. D. James late in life. Now in her seventies, she was 42when her first crime novel, Cover Her Face, was published. Born in Oxford, the eldest of three children, Phyllis grew up mainly in Cambridge, where her family moved when she was 11 years old. “I met my husband there-he was a student at the university, and I have always loved the place. That is why I chose it as the setting fox An Unsuitable Job for a Woman.”
Reluctantly, she reveals that from a promising start, life has been hard, even tragic at times. Her Irish doctor husband, Connor Bantry White, returned from the Second World War, during which he served with the Royal Army Medical Corps, a very sick man. “I had to work long hours to support him and our two young daughters, Clare and Jane.The ideas were teeming in my head, but I could do practically nothing about it—I simply hadn‟t the time. My husband's parents, however, were marvelous, and took my daughters under their wing, giving them a sense of security throughout those difficult years.”
While working full-time in administration for the National Health Service, she made good use of her enviable organizational skills. At one point, five psychiatric outpatients‟ clinics came under her jurisdiction. Then followed 11years at the Home Office, first in the Police Department, doing administration for forensic science research, and then in the Criminal Law section, in the juvenile crime division. It was while working in forensic science that she became “quite accustomed” to the sight of corpses. But it was not fascination with death itself that inspired her. “It was, rather, the shape and construction involved in the writing of a crime novel that appealed. I have always enjoyed reading detective stories, and I always knew that I wanted to be a writer.”
“I didn‟t want to use the traumatic events of my own life in a work of fiction. The writing of a detective story appealed as a wonderful apprenticeship for someone setting out to be a serious novelist, and it was suitably removed from my own experience. As I went on, I became increasingly aware that one could stay within the constraints and indeed within the so-called formula of the classic detective story and still write a good, serious and revealing novel about human beings. Writing detective stories”, she says, “is a way of bringing order out of disorder. The solution of a crime confirms the sanctity of life-even if that life is unlovable. Nobody really likes violence.”
What does the writer suggest about P. D. James‟s outward manner?
由题目中的关键词 outward manner， 定位到第一段的第三句“But it is soon apparent from what she says that the authoritative mien is, in fact, a cloak for shyness.” 可知她表现出来的权威实际上是掩饰羞怯。 C 选项中的conceal 即 cloak 的同义改写， 因此答案为 C。
When questioned about Adam Dalgliesh, P. D. James ________.
由题目中的关键词 Adam Dalgliesh， 定位到第一段的倒数第二句“She reluctantly admits that Adam Dalgliesh,the detective in her novels, 'is, I suppose, modeled on myself'”， 可知 Adam Dalgliesh 是 P. D. James 以自己为原型创作的， 因此二者是相似的， 答案为 A。
What is revealed about P. D. James, tastes in reading?
由第二段的第四句“Books beside her bed are most likely to be by women writers such as …” 可知， 她更喜欢读女性作家所写的书。 less keen on 表示“不那么热衷于......”， 因此答案为 B。
According to P. D. James, her early writing career suffered from lack of ________.
由题目中的关键词“early writing career” 定位到第三段首句的 a promising start, 由这一段倒数第二句“The ideas were teeming in my head, but I could do practically nothing about it—I simply hadn't the time.” 可知， 她没有时间把自己的想法写出来。 因此答案为 D。
What realization did P. D. James come to while working on her detective stories?
由文章最后一段的第三句“As I went on, I became increasingly aware that one could stay within the constraints and indeed within the so-called formula of the classic detective story and still write a good, serious and revealing novel about human beings.”可知， 即使作家受到传统侦探小说的影响， 也仍然可以创作出优秀的小说作品。B 选项是对这句话的同义改写， 因此答案为 B。