Question 4 is based on the conversation you have just heard.

Conversation One

W: Mr. Ishiguro, have you ever found one of your books at a secondhand bookstore?

M: Yes. That kind of thing is difficult. If they’ve got my book there, I think, “Well, this is an insult! Somebody didn’t want to keep my book!” But if it’s not there, I feel it’s an insult too. I think, “Why aren’t people exchanging my book? Why isn’t it in this store?”

W: Does being a writer require a thick skin?M: Yes, for example, my wife can be very harsh. I began working on my latest book, The Buried Giant, in 2004, but I stopped after I showed my wife a little section. She thought it was rubbish.

W: Even after you won a Booker Prize?M: She’s not intimidated at all and she criticizes me in exactly the same way she did when I was first unpublished and I was starting.

W: But you would never compromise on your vision.

M: No, I wouldn’t ever compromise on the essential, the ideas or the themes. This isn’t really what my wife is trying to criticize me about. It’s always about execution.

W: So why did you put your book, The Buried Giant, aside for so long? Apparently you started working on it over 10 years ago.

M: I’ve often stopped writing a book and left it for a few years. And by the time I come back to it, it may have changed. Usually my imagination has moved on and I can think of different contexts or a different way to do it.

W: What does it feel like when you finally finish a book?

M: It’s funny you ask that because I never have this moment when I feel, “Ah, I’ve finished!” I watch footballers at the end of the match, you know, the whistle goes and they’ve won or lost. Until then they’ve been giving everything they have and at that moment they know it’s over. It’s funny for an author. There’s never a finishing whistle.

4. What does the man want to say by mentioning the football match?

解析：D。本题目为推理题。问题为：男士提足球比赛是想说什么？原文所在句：I watch footballers at the end of the match, you know, the whistle goes and they’ve won or lost… It’s funny for an author. There’s never a finishing whistle.男士会观察比赛结束时的球员，哨声响起比赛结束，尘埃落定……对于作家就有意思了，写作从来没有结束的哨声。故正确答案为D）Unlike a football match, there is no end to writing a book.（不像足球比赛有终点，写书没有终点）。此题目需要将文中的finishing与选项中的end进行替换，较有难度。