Why should people spend their valuable"free time"reading fiction，the purpose of which，at best，is only entertainment？We recognize that some novels are entertaining，but leave no lasting impression．What makes a novel more than entertainment？
Our answer is that we don't just read great books----they read us as well．The human condition is complex and contradictory（矛盾的），layered like an ice-cream，with flavors blending（混合）among the layers．A great novel reflects that complexity．We may read it several times，as we do with our favorites，and each time it is like finding an old friend and gaining new insights from that friend．We put it down with new understandings of the world around us and，most important，of ourselves．
Let's look at the novel Frankenstein，written in 1818 by Mary Shelley．Frankenstein is a young man who is impatient to seek out the secrets of the universe．He collects body parts， assembles an eight-foot creature，and charges it with life．When the yellow eyes open，however，Frankenstein is shocked．He abandons the creature，which is laughed at and attacked．It becomes angry and ends up as a monster．
On one level，Frankenstein is entertaining-a good horror story，though a little dated when compared，for example，to Stephen King's best sellers like the Dark Tower series．But Shelley writes more than just scary entertainment．
On a deeper level，her book forces us to ask whether humans reach too far in playing God．Genetic engineering（基因工程）already enables us to change the food we eat and the very bodies in which we live．At what point are we trying to take over God's creativity，to gain knowledge that is as forbidden as the fruit of the Garden of Eden？
Shelley，of course，knew nothing of genetic engineering．But she did know that the Industrial Revolution was sweeping across England and ambitions for scientific progress were intense in the eighteenth and early nineteenth century．She was deeply troubled by what human beings might discover about themselves，and the effects of those discoveries on society．
Our reading of great literature can also be enriched by understanding the author's personal interests and anxieties．Shelley was only eighteen when she wrote Frankenstein．Birth and death are closely linked in her prose and in her experiences．Her mother had died giving birth to her，and by the time she began writing this great novel，she herself had already had two babies out of marriage．One had died within a few weeks．The novel reflects her deep anxieties about giving birth and her fears that birth will bring death．

(1) According to the passage，reading fictions ______ ．

A. may make our life simple

B. may bring back long-lost friends

C. can get rid of our contradictory ideas

D. can deepen our understanding of ourselves

(2) The underlined word"assemble"in Paragraph 3 probably means ______ ．

A. to create something interesting

B. to develop something unusual

C. to explore the unknown secrets

D. to put together the separate parts

(3) By reading Frankenstein， ______ ．

A. we may reach the point to play God

B. we may get to eat the forbidden fruit

C. we get more than scary entertainment

D. we learn more about genetic engineering

(4) What might be the best title for the passage？ ______

A. Why People Read Fictions

B. How Fictions are Written

C. Fictions and Entertainment

D. Fictions and Wisdom．