2018年6月大学英语六级听力常考时文：The Nobel Academy

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　　1.What do critics think decides the selection of winners more? The
peculliar ... of the Academy and of Sweden.
        　　2.What is the profession of Ingmar Bjorksten? The ... for one major
newspaper of the country.
        　　3.According to the Academy, what protects it from outside influences? The
... from the great literary capital of the world.
        　　For the last 82 years, Sweden’s Nobel Academy has decided who will receive
the Nobel Prize in Literature, thereby determining who will be elevated from the
great and the near great to the immortal. But today the Academy is coming under
heavy criticism both from the without and from the within. Critics contend that
the selection of the winners often has less to do with true writing ability than
with the peculiar internal politics of the Academy and of Sweden itself.
According to Ingmar Bjorksten, the cultural editor for one of the country’s two
major newspapers, the prize continues to represent “what people call a very
Swedish exercise: reflecting Swedish tastes.” The Academy has defended itself
against such charges of provincialism in its selection by asserting that its
physical distance from the great literary capitals of the world actually serves
to protect the Academy from outside influences. This may well be true, but
critics respond that this very distance may also be responsible for the
Academy’s inability to perceive accurately authentic trends in the literary
world. Regardless of concerns over the selection process, however, it seems that
the prize will continue to survive both as an indicator of the literature that
we most highly praise, and as an elusive goal that writers seek. If for no other
reason, the prize will continue to be desirable for the financial rewards that
accompany it; not only is the cash prize itself considerable, but it also
dramatically increases sales of an author’s books.