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Sales of romantic fiction，Dickens and Ayn Rand's paean to capitalism are soaring，but nothing beats F.Scott Fitzgerald.

As the Footsie limps on and recession slumps towards depression，one way of easing our troubled minds，quantitatively and qualitatively，is by settling down with a good book.Or a bad one.

Publishing may be facing the same problems as other businesses，but some books are booming.Escapist romantic fiction is in the pink.Mills＆Boon is selling three books a second，and Cheryl Cole，of Girls Aloud，has signed a￡5 million deal to write romantic novels.

Sales of misery memoirs，by contrast，are dwindling:the pleasure of wallowing in someone else's unhappiness，it seems，is less poignant in hard times.

Some recessionary reading is self-explanatory，such as Gill Holcombe's bestselling How to Feed Your Whole Family a Healthy Balanced Diet，with Very Little Money and Hardly Any Time，even if You Have a Tiny Kitchen，only Three Saucepans(One with an Ill-fitting Lid)and No Fancy Gadgets—Unless You Count the Garlic Crusher...Books about growing vegetables，slow cooking and knitting are all doing well.

Our reading habits reflect a thirst for economic enlightenment，a subject many found baffling and boring until it began to bite.

Marx is selling well，as is Keynes.Galbraith's 1954 treatise on the implosion of Wall Street，The Great Crash，1929，has beCome required reading:politicians make a point of claiming to be rereading it，a sure sign they have never read it before.

Sales of Dickens，Thackeray and Trollope have jumped by more than 15 per cent in the past few months，as readers hark back to a Victorian world in which financial uncertainty was ingrained in daily life，and the soul-deadening pursuit of money ruthlessly satirized.

Where we have Bernard Madoff，Trollope invented Augustus Melmotte，the unscrupulous fraudster and stock-swindler，and Dickens created Mr Merdle，the dodgy financial fat cat of an earlier age:“All people knew(or thought they knew)that he had made himself immensely rich；and，for that reason alone，prostrated themselves before him.”

But there is another recession-driven bestseller that speaks volumes about attitudes towards the global economic crisis.Atlas Shrugged，Ayn Rand's epic 1，000-page novel extolling capitalism and the virtues of selfinterest，has tripled its sales in the past seven months，and sold an astonishing 200，000 copies in the US in 2008，more than at any time since it was first published in 1957.

As the world economy totters，Rand's semi-mystical fantasy of financial disintegration has gained ever-wider currency.The Economist established that whenever Washington has intervened to bail out the markets，sales of Atlas Shrugged have spiked.

Rand has even infiltrated popular culture.In Mad Men，the television series about New York advertising in the 1960s，the company's boss hands out copies of Atlas Shrugged to his employees，to stimulate further their entrepreneurial hunger.

The novel is a paean to capitalism，free-market individualism and limited government，and the plot is simple:society's inventors，industrialists and risk—takers—“men of the mind”—beCome so oppressed by government regulation and taxation that they rebel，effectively going on strike，and retreat to the Colorado mountains.The entire economic and social infrastructure，predictably enough，disintegrates.

Rand's dystopia emerged from her upbringing in Soviet Russia，which she fled in 1925.Her imagined world is peopled by a few great individuals，alongside a mass of“looters，”determined to redistribute wealth and tax the successful，and parasitic“moochers，”demanding compensation from the breadwinners because they cannot or will not earn their own keep.Atlas，the god holding up world，has had enough，and shrugs off his burden，with cataclysmic consequences.

Rand's turgid prose and stark message made little impact in Europe，but in America she remains extraordinarily，and increasingly important.A 1991 survey by the Library of Congress found Atlas Shrugged was the second most influential book in the US，after the Bible.Some commentators have seen attempts to intervene in the financial markets as a return to big government of the sort Rand so violently parodied.

Yet one can also argue that the greed of financial institutions，and the attitude of the former Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan(a friend and disciple of Ayn Rand)，is what has plunged America and the world into economic chaos.The financial Atlas of recent years was not burdened enough.

Money，Rand insisted，“is the root of all good.”At one level this is the familiar story of individualism triumphing against conformity；at another，it sanctions a sort of Nietzschean will to wealth，in which only greed is good.If there is one American novel that captures the spirit of these times，it is not Rand's vast，compassionless treatise in defence of laissezfaire capitalism，but The Great Gatsby，F.Scott Fitzgerald's portrait of a gilded society intoxicated by wealth，dancing its way into the Great Depression.

Nick Carraway，the narrator，works in the bond market，for the superbly named Probity Trust，and each day，he“studied investments and securities for a conscientious hour.”

The Great Gatsby remains not just one of the greatest works of American literature，but a timeless evocation of the allure，corruption and carelessness of wealth.“They were careless people，Tom and Daisy—they smashed up things and creatures and then retreated back into their money or their vast carelessness or whatever it was that kept them together，and let other people clean up the mess they had made.”As the world struggles to clear up the economiComess left by a greedy，careless few，Gatsby's story has never seemed more immediate.

1.What is the main message does the writer intend to convey in this article?

2.Why does the writer devote so much space to discussion of Ayn Rand's Atlas Shrugged?

3.What does The Economist's observation of a close link between sales of Atlas Shrugged and Washington's policy tell us about both?

4.Why do you think readers now hark back to a Victorian world of Dickens，Thackeray and Trollop?

5.How does Fitzgerald's novel relate to currently“tottering”capitalism or world economy?

Footsie:Popular name for the Financial Times FT-SE 100 Index(Financial Times-Stock Exchange 100 stock index)，a market-value(capitalization)-weighted index of 100 Blue Chip stocks traded on the London Stock Exchange.

Claiming to be rereading it，a sure sign they have never read it before:注意此处作者的sarcastic tone。

Queen Victoria ruled；it includes the entire second half of the nineteenth century，a time when Britain was the most powerful nation in the world.The Victorian period was known for a rather stern morality.It was also marked by a general earnestness about life and by a confidence that Britain's domestic prosperity(Industrial Revolution)and vast holdings overseas were signs of the country's overall righteousness(e.g.white man's burden).As the Victorian period continued，however，such easy beliefs were increasingly challenged.The Victorian period produced a great number of diverse writers and thinkers:Robert Browning，Charles Darwin，Charles Dickens，Rudyard Kipling，John Stuart Mill，Robert Louis Stevenson，and Alfred Lord Tennyson.维多利亚女王在位的63年期间(1837年6月20日—1901年1月22日)，是英国最强盛的所谓“日不落帝国”时期，她在位期间直到她去世后，到第一次世界大战开始的1914年，英国都称为维多利亚时代，1914年以后，英国开始走向衰落。维多利亚时代，被认为是英国工业革命和大英帝国的峰端。维多利亚时期以崇尚道德修养和谦虚礼貌而著称，也是一个科学、文化和工业都得到很大发展的繁荣昌盛的太平盛世。

Bernard Madoff:The Wall Street money manager who swindled$50 billion.　2008年，美国华尔街传奇人物、纳斯达克股票市场公司前董事会主席伯纳德·麦道夫(Bernard Madoff)12月11日因涉嫌证券欺诈遭警方逮捕。检察人员指控他通过操纵一只对冲基金给投资者损失大约至少500亿美元。他曾是纽约皇后区的犹太穷小子，半个世纪前，他抓住美国证券业发展的机遇，白手起家成了华尔街传奇人物。然而，2008年12月11日，纳斯达克前主席伯纳德·麦道夫涉嫌巨额欺诈的消息震动华尔街，也震动了从欧洲到亚洲身陷其“庞氏骗局”的投资机构和个人。Bernard Madoff is the investment manager who defrauded investors of up to$50 billion in what might be the largest swindle in Wall Street history.Madoff was a Wall Street legend who had been in business for nearly 50 years.According to the story Madoff told others，in 1960，at age 22，he took$5，000 earned from his summer job as a Long Island lifeguard and started his own investment firm.His brother Peter joined him in 1970 in what had beCome a booming business with an impressive list of clients.Madoff's firm grew famous for its reliable annual returns of 10％or more；he served as president of the board of directors of the NASDAQ stock exchange，and he and his wife Ruth were popular socialites in New York and Florida，where they were members of the exclusive Palm Beach Country Club.But it was all too good to be true.On 11 December 2008，FBI agents arrested Madoff at his Manhattan apartment，and the Securities and Exchange Commission said he was charged with“massive fraud”and running a“multi-billion dollar Ponzi Scheme旁氏骗局.”Madoff reportedly admitted to investigators that he had lost$50 billion of investors'cash.Madoff pled guilty to 11 felony counts on 12 March 2009，and was jailed until a sentencing hearing scheduled for June 16th.He faces up to 150 years in prison.A Ponzi Scheme is a fraudulent investment operation that pays returns to investors from their own money or money paid by subsequent investors rather than from any actual profit earned.The Ponzi Scheme usually offers returns that other investments cannot guarantee in order to entice new investors，in the form of shortterm returns that are either abnormally high or unusually consistent.The perpetuation of the returns that a Ponzi scheme advertises and pays requires an ever-increasing flow of money from investors in order to keep the scheme going.

Fat cat:Fat cat is a political term originally describing a rich political donor，also called an angel or big money man.It is also a commonly used slang word to describe executives who earn what many believe to be unreasonably high salaries and bonuses.These top executives also receive generous pensions and retirement packages，consisting of extra compensation not available to other company employees.A real-life example of a fat cat would be former Disney CEO，Michael Eisner.For a period of five years in the late 1990s，Eisner received over$737 million in compensation，despite the fact that the company's five-year net inCome shrank an average of 3.1％each year.

Ayn Rand:艾茵·兰德(1905—1982)，俄裔美国哲学家、小说家。她的哲学理论和小说开创了客观主义哲学运动，她同时也写下了《阿特拉斯摆脱重负》、《源头》等数本畅销小说。她的哲学和小说强调个人主义的概念、理性的利己主义(“理性的私利”)以及彻底自由放任的资本主义。她相信人们必须透过理性选择他们的价值观和行动；个人有绝对权利只为他自己的利益而活，无须为他人而牺牲自己的利益，但也不可强迫他人替自己牺牲；没有任何人有权利透过暴力或诈骗夺取他人的财产，或是透过暴力强加自己的价值观给他人。她的政治理念可以被形容为小政府主义和自由意志主义，虽然她从来没有使用第一个称呼自称过，而且相当厌恶第二个称呼。兰德的小说所要表达的目标是要展示她理想中的英雄:一个因为其能力和独立性格而与社会产生冲突的人，但却依然奋斗不懈地朝他的理想迈进。Russian-born U.S.writer.She immigrated to the U.S.in 1926 after graduating from the University of Petrograd and worked as a screenwriter in Hollywood.She won a cult following with two best-selling novels presenting her belief that all real achievement Comes from individual ability and effort，that laissez-faire capitalism is most congenial to the exercise of talent，and that selfishness is a virtue，altruism a vice.In The Fountainhead(1943)，a superior individual transcends traditionalism and conformism.The allegorical Atlas Shrugged(1957)combines science fiction with her political message.She expounded her philosophy，which she called objectivism，in nonfiction works and as editor of two journals and beCome an icon of radical libertarianism.

Mad Men:Mad Men is an American television drama series created and produced by Matthew Weiner.Set in New York City，Mad Men begins in the early 1960s at the fictional Sterling Cooper advertising agency on New York City's Madison Avenue.The show centers on a high-level advertising creative director，and the people in his life in and out of the office.It also depicts the changing social mores of 1960s America.Mad Men has received widespread critical acclaim，particularly for its historical authenticity and visual style，and has won numerous awards，including three Golden Globes，a BAFTA(British Academy of Film and Television Arts)and six Emmys.

Library of Congress:美国国会图书馆建于1800年，距今已有二百余年的历史，是美国的四个官方国家图书馆之一，也是全球最重要的图书馆之一。美国国会图书馆是在美国国会的支持下，通过公众基金、美国国会的适当资助、私营企业的捐助及致力于图书馆工作的全体职员共同努力建成的，它是美国历史最悠久的联邦文化机构，已经成为世界上最大的知识宝库，是美国知识与民主的重要象征，在美国文化中占有重要地位。据美国国会图书馆网站(http://www.loc.gov)最新介绍:截至2008年底，馆藏总数近1.42亿，其中0.32亿书籍、0.12亿照片、0.63亿件手稿。It is the largest and one of the greatest of what may be considered national libraries.Founded in Washington，D.C.，in 1800，it was housed in the Capitol until the building was burned by British troops in 1814；it moved to permanent quarters in 1897.In addition to serving as a reference source for members of Congress and other government officers，it is outstanding among the learned institutions of the world，with magnificent collections of books，manuscripts，music，prints，and maps.By 2008 it contained some 32 million books，3 million recordings，12 million photographs，5.39 million maps，and more than 62 million manuscripts.

Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche:尼采(1844-1900)German political writer who attacked Christianity and conventional ethical viewpoints.Altruism and egalitarianism，in Nietzsche's view，were debased forms of sentimentality derived from Christianity.In their place，he celebrated egotism，and the man who had transcended the slave morality of Christianity to achieve the status of übermensch(higher man).Nietzsche's thought influenced National Socialism.尼采，德国著名哲学家。他是西方现代哲学的开创者，同时也是卓越的诗人和文体家。他最早开始批判西方现代社会，然而他的学说在他的时代却没有引起人们的重视，直到20世纪，才激起各种学派思潮的回声。后来的生命哲学，存在主义，弗洛伊德主义，后现代主义，都以各自的形式回应尼采的哲学思想。

Atlas Shrugged:Atlas Shrugged is a novel by Ayn Rand，first published in 1957 in the United States.It was Rand's fourth，longest，and last novel，and she considered it her magnum opus in the realm of fiction writing.As indicated by its working title The Strike，the book explores a dystopian United States where leading industrialists and businessmen refuse to allow the government to exploit their labor for the“general good.”The protagonist，Dagny Taggart，sees society collapse around her as the government increasingly asserts control over all industry，while society's most productive citizens，led by the mysterious John Galt，progressively disappear.Galt describes the strike as“stopping the motor of the world”by withdrawing the“minds”that drive society's growth and productivity；with their strike these creative minds hope to demonstrate that the economy and society would collapse without the profit motive and the efforts of the rational and productive.

The novel's title is a reference to the mythical Titan Atlas，who in the novel is said to hold the weight of the heavens on his shoulders.The novel includes elements of mystery and science fiction，and contains Rand's most extensive statement of Objectivism in any of her works of fiction，a lengthy monologue delivered by the strike's leader，John Galt.

The theme of Atlas Shrugged is the morality of rational self-interest and portrayal of self-loathing of monetary values within a once thriving“New America.”It advocates the core tenets of Rand's philosophy of Objectivism and expresses her concept of human achievement.The book explores a number of philosophical themes that Rand would subsequently develop into the philosophy of Objectivism.It centers on the decline of Western civilization，and Rand described it as demonstrating the theme of“the role of man's mind in existence.”In doing so it expresses many facets of Rand's philosophy，such as the advocacy of reason，individualism，the market economy and the failure of government.

Atlas Shrugged received largely negative reviews after its 1957 publication，but achieved enduring popularity and consistent sales in the following decades.In the wake of the late 2000s recession sales of Atlas Shrugged have sharply increased，according to The Economist magazine and The New York Times.The Economist reported that the fifty-two-yearold novel ranked No.33 among Amazon.com's top-selling books on 13 January，2009.

The Great Gatsby:《了不起的盖茨比》20世纪20年代的美国，空气中弥漫着欢歌与纵饮的气息。一个偶然的机会，穷职员尼克闯入了挥金如土的大富翁盖茨比隐秘的世界，惊讶地发现，他内心唯一的牵挂竟是对河岸那盏小小的绿灯——灯影婆娑中，住着心爱的黛西。然而，冰冷的现实容不下缥缈的梦，到头来，盖茨比心中的女神只不过是凡尘俗世的物质女郎。当一切真相大白，盖茨比的悲剧人生亦如烟花般，璀璨只是一瞬，幻灭才是永恒。一曲华丽的“爵士时代”的挽歌，在菲茨杰拉德笔下，如诗如梦，在美国当代文学史上留下了墨色浓重的印痕。20世纪末，美国学术界权威在百年英语文学长河中选出一百部最优秀的小说，《了不起的盖茨比》众望所归，高居第二位，傲然跻身当代经典行列。Regarded as one of the most elegant，efficient，and profound pieces of fiction ever written in the United States，The Great Gatsby is a concentrated meditation on“the American dream，”understood as the faith that anyone，even of the most humble origins，can attain wealth and social standing in the United States throughtalentandindividualinitiative.Fitzgeraldexploresthe compelling appeal of this dream，and the circumstances that render it as deceptive as it is enduring.The novel chronicles an era that Fitzgerald himself dubbed the“Jazz Age.”Following the shock and chaos of World War I，American society enjoyed unprecedented levels of prosperity during the“roaring”1920s as the economy soared.At the same time，Prohibition，the ban on the sale and manufacture of alcohol as mandated by the Eighteenth Amendment，made millionaires out of bootleggers and led to an increase in organized crime.Although Fitzgerald，like Nick Carraway in his novel，idolized the riches and glamor of the age，he was uncomfortable with the unrestrained materialism and the lack of morality that went with it.After its republishing in 1945 and 1953，it quickly found a wide readership and is today widely regarded as a paragon of the Great American Novel.The Great Gatsby has beCome a standard text in high school and university courses on American literature in countries around the world，and is ranked second in the Modern Library's list of the 100 Best Novels of the 20th Century.

Laissez-faire capitalism:Laissez-faire means“leave to do”；a more colloquial translation might be“let them get on with it.”Since the late eighteenth century such phrases as“a laissez-faire policy”and“laissezfaire economics”have suggested a belief in the virtues of allowing individuals to pursue their interests through market transactions with minimalgovernmentinterference.Doctrinethatinterferenceof government in business and economic affairs should be minimal.Adam Smith's The Wealth of Nations(1776)described laissez-faire economics in terms of an“invisible hand”that would provide for the maximum good for all，if businessmen were free to pursue profitable opportunities as they saw them.The growth of industry in England in the early 19th century and American industrial growth in the late 19th century both occurred in a laissez-faire capitalist environment.The laissez-faire period ended by the beginning of the 20th century，when large monopolies were broken up and government regulation of business beCome the norm.The Great Depression of the 1930s saw the birth of Keynesian Economics an influential approach advocating government intervention in economic affairs.The movement toward deregulation of business in the United States that began in the 1970s and 1980s is to some extent a return to the laissez-faire philosophy.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/01/11/ AR2009011102337.html

Women Are Still a Closed Book to Men.Research Shows Men Mainly Read Works by Other Men

新闻标题中名词和简短小词的广泛使用，以增强可读性。在英语新闻的标题写作中，虚词常被省去，剩下的主要是实词。而名词具有很强的表意功能，信息量大同时又具有广泛的语法兼容性，它可以充当多种词类的角色，也可以用简洁明了的形式和结构表达完整的句法概念，如The Population Surprise人口下降(the decrease of the population surprises people)。英语新闻标题除了使用名词之外，还经常选用那些短小精悍或字母较少的小词，以求增强新闻的简洁性和可读性，目的是美化版面，节约篇幅。小词又叫“新闻紧缩词”，由常用的词组合在一起，省去部分音节而成。其特点是词形短、字母少、音节简单、词义宽泛且生动灵活。另外，报刊标题一般忌讳移行，为了在刊头有限的空间内能容纳下标题，可以使用小词来解决这一问题。例如:aid→assistance(帮助)，body→committee/commission(机构，委员会)，ban→prohibit/forbid(禁止)，poll→election poll/public opinion poll(选举民意调查，民意测验)。

1.In times of economic recession，reading a book could make us feel better.

2.A 2008 survey found that Atlas Shrugged was the second most influential book in the US，after the Bible.

3.Thirst for economic enlightenment was usually a boring subject for reading.

4.A Victorian world is characterized by financial uncertainty and pursuit of money.

5.In the wake of the late 2000s recession sales of Atlas Shrugged have sharply increased.

1.Which of the following is true about Bernard Madoff?

A.He is similar to Augustus Melmotte.

B.He is similar to Mr Merdle.

C.He is a financial fat cat.

D.All of the above.

2.According to the article，which is true about Atlas Shrugged?

A.It's a long novel first published in Britain.

B.It's a paean to laissez-faire capitalism and individualism.

C.It described a utopia，not a dystopia.

D.None of the above.

3.According to the article，all of the following apply to Ayn Rand except_______.

A.she's got a simple easy style of writing

B.she was brought up in Russia

C.she thought money was the root of all good

D.she opposed big government

4.Which of the following best captures the style of writing of this aticle?

A.Descriptive comment.

B.Argumentation.

C.Sarcasm.

D.Parody.

5.What is true about The Great Gatsby?

A.It describes a gilded society.

B.It is one the greatest works of American literature.

C.Daisy and Tom are both characters of the novel.

D.All of the above.