阅读理解。
For a writer, there is hardly any greater honor than winning the Nobel Prize for literature.
And for a woman writer, claiming the prize is even harder, for only eight women once won it. Austria's
Elfriede Jelinek is the ninth and the first since 1996.
The Stockholm-based Swedish Academy announced last Thursday that Jelinek won this year's Nobel Prize
in literature. She is recognized for her socially critical (批判的) novels and plays.
Jelinek, 57, made her literary debut (初次露面) in 1967. She has written plays, novels and poetry. She is
best known for her autobiographical 1983 novel"The Piano Teacher", made into a movie in 2001.
The basic theme of her work is the inability of women to live as people beyond the roles and personalities
traditionally expected of them. Her characters struggle to lead lives not normally acceptable in society. "The
nature of Jelinek's texts is often hard to define. They shift between prose (散文) and poetry and songs, they
contain theatrical scenes and film script," said the academy.
The Nobel Prize was founded by Swedish inventor Alfred Nobel. Nobel died in 1896 and left his fortune
of about US $920 million to a fund to honor people who have helped other human beings. This year each prize
is worth US $13 million.
1. The underlined word "them" in the last second paragraph refers to _____.
A. roles
B. people
C. texts
D. women
2. Elfrede Jelinek won the Nobel Prize just because _____.
A. she was an Austrian woman writer
B. she wrote socially critical novels and plays
C. her novel "The Piano Teacher" was made into a movie
D. the nature of her texts is hard to define.
3. Which of the following about the Nobel Prize is TRUE?
A. It is harder for a woman writer to win than a man writer.
B. The total prize every year was $920 million.
C. Women writers were not awarded until 1996.
D. Only eight women writers won the prize since 1996.
4. This passage is most likely taken from _____.
A. a travel magazine
B. a history book
C. a newspaper
D. an advertisement
