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  3. Behind every book review there are two key figures: a book review editor and a reviewer. Editors decide whether a book is review

Behind every book review there are two key figures: a book review editor and a reviewer. Editors decide whether a book is review

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问题 Behind every book review there are two key figures: a book review editor and a reviewer. Editors decide whether a book is reviewed in their publication, when the review appears, how long it is, and who writes the review.
    When many periodicals feature the same books, this does not prove that the editors of different periodicals have not made individual decisions. Before publication, editors receive news releases and printer’s proofs of certain books, signifying that the publishers will make special efforts to promote these books. They will be heavily advertised and probably be among the books that most bookstores order in quantity. Not having such books reviewed might give the impression that the editor was caught napping, whereas too many reviews of books that readers will have trouble finding in stores would be inappropriate. Editors can risk having a few of the less popular titles reviewed, but they must consider what will be newsworthy, advertised, and written about elsewhere.
    If these were the only factors influencing editors, few books that stand little chance of selling well would ever be reviewed. But editors feel some concern about what might endure, and therefore listen to literary experts. A generation ago, a newspaper used a brilliant system of choosing which books to feature. The book review editor sent out a greater number of books than reviews he actually intended to publish. If a review was unenthusiastic, he reasoned that the book was not important enough to be discussed immediately, and if good reviews of enough other books came in, the unenthusiastic review might never be printed. The unenthusiastic reviewers were paid promptly anyway, but they learned that if they wanted their material to be printed, it was advisable to be kind.
    Most editors print favorable and unfavorable reviews; however, the content of the review may be influenced by the editor. Some editors would actually feel that they had failed in their responsibility if they gave books by authors they admired to hostile critics or books by authors they disapproved of to critics who might favor them. Editors usually can predict who would review a book enthusiastically and who would tear it to shreds.  
The passage provides information to answer which of the following questions?
选项 A、Would most book review editors prefer to have books reviewed without regard to the probable commercial success of the books?
B、Are publishers’ efforts to persuade bookstores to order certain books generally effective?
C、On what basis do literary experts decide that a book is or is not important?
D、What criteria are used to determine the length of a particular book review?
E、Have book review practices in general changed significantly since a generation ago?
答案B
解析 Which one of the five questions can be answered based on the information given in the passage? This implies that four of the answer choices will be questions that we cannot answer based on the passage. Certain among these choices are easily eliminated: the question regarding literary experts’ evaluation and the question regarding criteria for length of reviews.
The question of whether book review practices in general have changed over the last generation is also fairly easily eliminated: the information about such practices a generation ago only concerns the system used by one review editor in one newspaper.
Thus we can narrow down our answer candidates to the following: the question about how expected commercial success relates to review editors’ preferences, and the question about whether book publishers’ outreach efforts for certain books succeed in persuading bookstores to order large quantities of those books. Which one of these two questions does the passage help answer?
A    The passage provides neither a definitive "yes" nor a definitive "no" answer to this question, at least as concerns "most" book editors. The second paragraph of the passage indicates that expectations regarding the books that bookstores will order in quantity does figure prominently in decision making regarding publication of reviews. However, this does not necessarily indicate what most editors would prefer. It is possible, if not likely, that book review editors differ widely in their preferences. This does not of course answer whether book review editors listen to their personal preferences when making decisions about publication of book reviews. Ultimately, we do not have the information to address either this question or its nuances.
B    Correct. The passage tells us that the books that publishers heavily advertise will probably be among the books that most bookstores order in quantity. This provides a "yes" answer to the question.
C    The passage provides no information regarding how literary experts decide whether a book is "important." Note that the passage specifically discusses book review editors. It is unclear whether this is the same thing as "literary expert," but we are given no reason to think so.
D    The passage provides no information regarding how the length of a book review is determined.
E    The passage indicates that a generation ago, a review editor for a newspaper had a brilliant system of publishing only the reviews that were enthusiastic about particular books. However, the passage does not indicate that this was common editorial practice at the time. Rather, the passage tells us that most editors currently publish both positive and negative reviews. Nothing in the passage indicates that this practice was different a generation ago.
The correct answer is B.
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