单选题 A Black comedy by a first-time novelist with a past as colorful as his book has defied the bookies to win the ￡50,000 Man Booker prize, the most important honour in the British literary world. Vernon God Little by DBC Pierre, the nom de plume of 42-year-old Mexican-Australian Peter Finlay, was the unanimous choice of the Booker judges, chaired by John Carey, who took less than an hour to decide. The novel tells the story of Vernon Gregory, a Texan teenager who is put on trial accused of a massacre at his high school.
At the awards ceremony at the British Museum in London last night, Professor Carey described it as a "coruscating black comedy reflecting our alarm but also our fascination with modern America". Accepting the prize, the novelist said: "My mum is in the audience. I want to say she and the rest of my family planted the idea that I could do anything and I would just like to apologise for taking it literally." It beat a shortlist including Brick Lane, the first novel by Monica Ali which was the bookmakers' favourite and has been the biggest seller in the shops, and Oryx and Crake by Margaret Atwood, the only established author to make it to the final round of judging.
Martyn Goff, the director of the Man Booker prize, said he was "absolutely amazed" at the swiftness of the decision which was made after the second shortest debate in the prize's 35-year history. "Four of them jumped as one, and the fifth [member of the jury] was not unhappy," he said. The judges were particularly convinced by the way the author was able to create such a strong sense of America. "There was a feeling that it could only have been written by an American whereas we all know it wasn't," he said.
DBC Pierre—the initials stand for Dirty But Clean—is a reformed drug addict and gambler who was born into a wealthy family but lost virtually everything when the banks were nationalised in Mexico in 1982. Without his family money to fall back on, Finlay has admitted selling his best friend's home and keeping the proceeds as well as working up hundreds of thousands of dollars of debts in a scheme to find gold in Mexico. Revealing how his life was often stranger than fiction, he said in a recent interview. "For nine years I was in a drug haze, on a rampage of cocaine, heroin, any shit I could get. I am not proud of what I have done and I now want to put it right."
A publishing deal for the book was sealed just one hour before the first plane hit New York's World Trade Centre on 11 September, 2001. "Ever since, I feel like there's some dark destiny swirling around the book," he said. His financial problems are likely to become a thing of the past. A filmmaker has bought an option to make a movie of the book and as well as the ￡50,000 prize cheque, the writer, who currently lives in Ireland, is guaranteed a significant increase in sales. Sales of last year's winner, Yann Martel's Life of Pi, have exceeded 1 million copies. Martin Higgs, literary editor of Waterstone's, said. "The storyline for this book is one that you would as much see played out today on the six o'clock news as read in a novel and has for this reason struck a chord with book lovers."
Finlay was second favourite to win, behind Monica Ali, 35, who created a flurry of interest even before her debut novel was published when she was named one of Granta's best young British novelists. The other shortlisted books were The Good Doctor, by Damon Galgut, Astonishing Splashes of Colour by Clare Morrall, and Notes on a Scandal by the former Independent on Sunday journalist Zoe Heller, 38.

单选题 The novelist Peter Finlay said that, when accepting the prize, he "would just like to apologise for taking it literally" (para. 2) The word "it" refers to the idea of ______.

A. selling his friend's home and using up the money
B. publishing the novel Vernon God Little
C. owing huge amounts of debts to others
D. doing whatever he liked

单选题 We can learn from the shortlisted books of this year's Man Booker prize that ______.

A. most of them are from established authors
B. some of them are from first-time novelists
C. all of them are biggest sellers in the shops
D. half of them were written by former journalists

单选题 According to the passage, the director of the Man Booker prize was "absolutely amazed" because ______.

A. the debate over the prize winner was so hot and fierce
B. the plot of Vernon God Little was so fascinating
C. the Booker judges were almost unanimous in their decision
D. the fifth member of the jury refused to change his mind

单选题 The author mentions in the passage the sales of last year's winner Yann Martel's Life of Pi to imply that ______.

A. the success of Vernon God Little will bring the author a lot of money
B. Peter Finlay will become as rich as a world famous movie star
C. the sales of Vernon God Little will exceed that of Life of Pi
D. the Booker prize winning novels will become world classics

单选题 Which of the following CANNOT be concluded from the passage about the novelist Peter Finlay?

A. He had once been a drug addict and gambler.
B. He almost lost everything because of the nationalization of banks in Mexico.
C. He was quite worried before the publication of his first novel.
D. He knew his best-selling book would win the national literary prize.