J.K. Rowling set children’s imaginations on fire. Can the creator of Harry Potter do the same for a grown-up audience? The British author will find out on September 27, when more than 2 million hardcover(精装书) copies of her first novel for adults hit bookstores in the UK and the US, along with the digital edition. Set in a little English town, The Casual Vacancy is about an election held after an unexpected death.
Michael Pietsch, Rowling’s US publisher, says the novel reminded him of Dickens “because of the humanity, the humor, the social concerns, the intensely real characters”. No magic though, apparently: “This book isn’t Harry Potter”, says Pietsch. “It is a completely different concern”. As with Harry Potter, there are no advance copies for the media, no early reviews. To date, the seven-book series has sold more than 450 million copies worldwide, and it became one of the most successful movie franchises in July 21, 2007.
Back then, fans could buy books at midnight parties hosted by bookstores. But recent years have seen a great challenge for brick-and-mortar(实体的) bookstores. People are still buying books, indeed more books than in 2007, according to figures released by the Association of American Publishers. But they are reading them in a new format(样式)—the e-book. The Harry Potter series just became available digitally for the first time in April. It will be different for The Casual Vacancy, with the publisher simultaneously releasing an e-book. For Rowling fans who once queued up for Harry Potter, this means that instant satisfaction is now only a click away.
Moving from children’s books to adult literature is a big transition. Will Rowling’s new book be successful? Arthur Levine, the US co-editor of the Harry Potter books, seems confident: “If you read or re-read the Harry Potter books, you can see that Rowling has all the strengths she needs for great success as a fiction writer –you have great characters, an involving plot, a sense of humor and great empathy”.
小题1:In Paragraph 2, what Michael Pietsch says means that_____.
A．Dickens’ works are too impressive to forget.
B．J.K. Rowling has all the strengths of Dickens.
C．The new book is similar to Dickens’ works in some way.
D．The new book is quite different from the works of Dickens.小题2:The underlined word “simultaneously” has the closest meaning with“______”.
A．willingly
B．meanwhile
C．especially
D．eventually小题3:What’s the main purpose of Paragraph 3?
A．To explain why the new book will have a digital edition.
B．To show the Harry Potter series are popular with readers.
C．To compare J.K. Rowling’s old books and her new book.
D．To clarify the great challenges for brick-and-mortar bookstores.小题4:What do the Harry Potter series and The Casual Vacancy have in common?
A．They are both intended for children.
B．They both show the author’s great talent.
C．Their characters both have magical power.
D．Both of them won’t be read on the Internet.
