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Harry Potter: The End Is Here

What a lot of commotion over a book. Not since 19th-century New Yorkers anxiously crowded the Manhattan docks to be the first to discover the serialized fate of Dickens’s Little Nell have people gotten so excited about fiction. For weeks now, the rumors have flown over the Internet: Harry lives! Harry dies! Last week the excitement reached a new pitch as the hoopla soared to unprecedented levels that not even the well-oiled publicity machinery of publishers could have ignited. Books fell into the hands of eager fans despite the closely monitored embargo of the 12 million copies —when you have 12 million copies of anything, sooner or later something’s going to fall off a truck. Once the novel was on the streets, photocopies were quickly posted online. Spoilers went to work revealing the fates of various characters—and got a lot wrong. Even more-diligent fans got busy retyping the entire book to put online. M
A. darker
B. deeper
C. magic
D. perfect

Most critical plot points in Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone came from J. K. Rowling’s imagination, but Flamel and his powerful pebble were legendary long before Harry went to Hogwarts. The 14th century alchemist created the philosoper’s stone (called "sorcerer’s" in U.S.editions of Potter ), with which he turned mercury to gold and gained eternal life. But Flamel’s tale—like his stone and his science—was no more real than a magic.
The philosopher’s stone was the key to alchemy, the medieval predecessor to chemistry that aimed to cure all illnesses, make the elixir of life, and transmute base metals into gold. The last made perfect sense at the time. The Aristotelian theory of elements stated that all things consisted of fire, air, water, and earth. So a little shift in one metal’s composition could create gold.
Flamel was renowned as an alchemical success. In 1382, after 25 years of studying an
A. came from J. K. Rowing’s imagination
B. was legendary long before Rowling wrote the book
C. turned out to be a magic in Potter
D. was believed by many alchemists

Forget Harry Potter. No matter that the film about this schoolboy with magic powers broke all box-office records on its opening weekend, taking $94 m in the United States and $23 m in Britain, the truly momentous phenomenon in the film industry is not a pre-pubescent wizard but a humble circular piece of plastic: the digital versatile disc (DVD).
Next year, for the first time, sales of movies in DVD format are forecast to outsell those on video cassette in America, reaching a total of $9.5 billion, according to Morgan Stanley, an investment bank. Already, 80% of American households have DVD players. With a DVD recorder now in the shops as well, something that can record from the TV as well as play the discs, Christmas sales are expected to be strong. A technology considered a flop when it was launched in 1997 is now the basis for the fastest-growing consumer appliance ever.
Some in the film business complain that people are simply buying DVDs instead of video cass
A. DVDs can do things that the video cassette cannot
B. DVDs can offer clearer picture
C. DVDs are cheaper
D. DVDs have lively extra features