Text 4

With the prevalence of interactive electronic media, a man alone in his own home will never have been so well placed to fill the inexplicable mental space between birth and death. Computer games and surfing the web will make the existential problem a thing of the past. Isn't that great! In this promising scenario it seems only right that books should be pushed more and more into those moments, say, of travel, that people still don't quite know what to do with.

In spite of all this, given the perceived dumbing down of such a world, when people do read they'll no doubt want to feel they are reading something serious. For although the collapse of pretty well all collective illusions - religious and political - will have persuaded most people to turn their mental energies to problems exclusively technical and their emotions to the harmlessly superficial, still it's hard to forget that qualities like wisdom and insight once carried considerable prestige. It would be nice to think one had them. And of course those qualities tended to be associated with something called literature. Result? You're going to find fewer books presenting themselves as mass market stories and more taking up literary pretensions.

Translators can only benefit from this desire for the seemingly sophisticated. We can look forward to lots of fantastic foreign stories, which are enthusiastically sustained by the overall concept of 'the global village'. Much of this will be awful and some wonderful, but don't expect the press or the organizers of prizes to offer you much help in making the appropriate distinctions between superior and inferior stuff. They will be chiefly engaged in creating celebrity, the greatest enemy of discrimination, but a vital prop(支柱) for the confused consumer. However, the sharper readers will establish their own book list, something worth looking forward to.

Meanwhile, every ethnic grouping the world over will be seen to have a great writer of their own-a phenomenon that will lead to a new kind of provincialism, more historical than geographical, where only the strictly contemporary is admired. Universities will include novels written only last year, while the achievements of ten or only five years ago will quite reasonably be forgotten.

    In short, you can't go too far wrong when predicting more of the same things. But there is a positive side to this -- the inevitable reaction against it. What we would like to see happen in the world of literature-publishers seeking less to generate celebrity through advertising, newspapers and magazines giving space to reflective serious readings -- are rather unlikely. But dullness never quite darkens the whole planet. In their own fashion, a few writers will always be looking for new departures.

36. According to the author, people want to feel they are reading something serious because______.

A. they have turned their mental energies to technical problems.

B. wisdom and insight once carried substantial prestige.

C. they have not been persuaded into giving up certain qualities.

D. collective illusions have collapsed.

37. What does the author say about “celebrity” in the field of literature?

A. It is the greatest enemy of personal discriminations.

B. It is generated by publishers through advertising and by organizers of prizes.

C. It helps sharper readers establish their own reading lists.

D. It is a prop for all the consumers.

38. According to the passage, which of the following statements is true?

A. The prevalence of interactive electronic media helps a man alone at home to stop thinking about the meaning of life and death.

B. Books are supposed to be pushed more into moments people cannot handle.

C. Qualities like wisdom and insight tend to be forgotten.

D. Universities are inclined to include novels older than 5 years.

39. What does the author’s attitude towards the new kind of “provincialism” (Line2, paragraph 4)?

A. negative  B. positive  C. subjective   D. optimistic

40. According to the author, what is the prospect of the literary world?

A. The publishers will reduce the cost of advertising.

B. Newspapers and magazines will give space to serious literature.

C. Publishers will stop generating celebrity.

D. There are difficulties as well hopes with the future of literature.