III. Reading Comprehension:       In Germany, one often hears the doubtful phrase ''the lucky late-born'' for those too young to be held
accountable for Nazi crimes. But what's so lucky, German writers wonder, about having to ask, ''What did you do in the war, Daddy?'' What's so lucky about loving your suspect parents and feeling complicitous in their crimes? Or, alternatively, hating your suspect parents and losing your humanity in ''swaggering self-righteousness''? Recent history complicates family relations in Germany in ways that are hard for Americans to imagine.
      In The Reader, by Bernhard Schlink, that gap is also, tellingly, a class divide. Michael Berg, the
narrator and title character is a cautious, self-protective young man who shies away from messy situations.When he is a high school student, he meets his great love Hanna Schmitz, a 36-year-old streetcar conductor formerly employed at Auschwitz. Ashamed of the age and class difference, and perhaps of his own sexuality,he keeps their relationship secret from his friends -- a first betrayal. One day, Hanna abruptly vanishes.When the couple meet again, he is in law school and she is a defendant on trial with other labor camp guards, accused of leaving a group of women to burn to death in a locked church during a bombing raid toward the end of the war. Michael is horrified to learn of Hanna's past. However, observing her confusion in court, he discovers that her most closely guarded secret is merely pathetic .And Hanna is so deeply ashamed that she admits to charges； consequently, she is sentenced to life in prison. Michael never visits Hanna in prison nor even sends her a letter. Nevertheless, after decades, he decides to begin reading to her again and sends her his taped renditions of Homer, Chekhov and others, which are a revelation for him: ''I was astonished at how much older literature can actually be read as if it were contemporary.''
      Literature is not only a bridge between the generations, sometimes it may get closer to the truth of
recent history than benumbed testimonies. But this redemptive magic has its limits. Substituting great books for human contact is a cowardly dodge. Even though the abrupt ending isn't wholly convincing, Schlink's daring fusion of 19th-century post-romantic, post-fairy-tale models with the awful history of the 20th century makes for a moving, suggestive and ultimately hopeful work, an original contribution to the
impossible genre with the questionable name of Vergangenheitsbewaltigung, ''coming to terms with the
past.''
【題組】1. What kind of article could the above essay be?
(A) a news story
(B) an editorial
(C) a book review
(D) a featured article