Question

It was when I was attending high school that I first read Asimov’s stories. At the time, a few SF magazines began to introduce this author and translate a few pieces from his “Robot Series”. Of Asimov’s works, the one that left the deepest impression on me was Pebble in the Sky. This novel directly influenced my early SF writing.
Asimov was one of the leading writers of Western science fiction’s Golden Age, so although his writing may not have a direct influence on writers of today, his underlying （潛在的） influence on many levels is undeniable — the famous Three Laws of Robotics, and many classic writing techniques, for example. Of course, his influence is related to the atmosphere that existed in the Golden Age; a science fiction writer today has a hard time reaching that level no matter how outstanding he or she is. Asimov’s novels are marked by a fully integrated logical system, and his stories are a pleasure to read — this is the reason his novels still attract readers today. Naturally, Western science fiction has few people these days who follow Asimov’s creative methods; instead they are closely connected to mainstream artistic trends, employing large amounts of postmodern techniques. This type of science fiction has a hard time blossoming on Chinese soil. The majority of Chinese SF readers would rather read the classic works of Asimov. This is an important question that faces today’s Chinese science fiction writers.
Compared with the “Robot Series”, Asimov’s “Foundation Series” is a little less well-known in China. This is mostly due to the large influence of the Three Laws, and moreover, the Foundation novels have never been completely introduced here. In fact, the Foundation series creates an entire world, even grander than that of the “Robot Series”; this science fiction epic（史詩） had a direct influence on later Western science fiction, the most famous example being Star Wars.

1. 1.
   We can know from the passage that the author is a _______ .
   1. A.
      science fiction writer          
   2. B.
      science fiction publisher
   3. C.
      high school student           
   4. D.
      novel translator
2. 2.
   The Three Laws of Robotics are most probably        .
   1. A.
      stories written by Asimov      
   2. B.
      writing techniques employed by Asimov
   3. C.
      techniques to build robots     
   4. D.
      characters in Asimov’s science fiction
3. 3.
   The main purpose of the passage is to        .
   1. A.
      compare Asimov with other science fiction writers
   2. B.
      attract people to read Asimov’s stories
   3. C.
      introduce Asimov’s influence on SF writing
   4. D.
      explain why Asimov is popular in China
4. 4.
   What can be inferred from the passage?
   1. A.
      “Foundation Series” were translated into Chinese earlier than “Robot Series”
   2. B.
      Science fiction of postmodern style is not popular with Chinese readers
   3. C.
      Asimov is the greatest science fiction writer in Western countries
   4. D.
      The writing techniques by Asimov are better than the postmodern ones
5. 5.
   In the writer’s opinion, Asimov’s “Foundation Series”       .
   1. A.
      were not as successful as his “Robot Series”
   2. B.
      are better known to Chinese readers than his “Robot Series”
   3. C.
      were more logically organized than his “Robot Series”
   4. D.
      were written better than his “Robot Series” in some ways

Answer 1

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