Finnegan’s Wake is a book so difficult to read that no one person can truly say they “get it”, which makes it perfect for community reading. It’s apparently written in a complicated mix of reinvented words, puns, and allusions (典故), referencing about 80 languages, and people can’t even agree on where the book is set or who the characters are.

Gerry Fialka, an experimental filmmaker from Venice, California, has hosted a book club dedicated to Finnegan’s Wake since 1995. Between 10 and 30 people would show up to monthly meetings at a local library to read two pages of the book and discuss their opinions. Eventually, they slowed the pace down to just one page per meeting, to give themselves more debating time, so they spent the next 28 years going through the book just one time. Although some members left and others joined the group over the years, Fialka and some of the original group still meet up every month, only now they do it through Zoom.

Interestingly, Fialka’s book group took more to finish Finnegan’s Wake than James Joyce took to write the thing, 17 years, including a four-year stretch of near-complete writer’s block. Sadly, the author died shortly after publishing it, so he never had time to explain his writings, or at least give some clues, so it’s up to the readers to decipher this literary puzzle.

Gerry Fialka’s reading group read the last page of Joyce’s 628-page book in October, but that only marked the end of their first read-through, not the end of the book club. And they don’t plan on moving on to another book either. This is a Finnegan’s Wake book club and its members plan to keep it that way. “We didn’t end. The last sentence of the book ends midsentence and then it picks up at the front of the book. It’s cyclical. It never ends,” Fialka said. “There is no next book, we’re only reading one book. Forever.”

1.What can we learn about Finnegan’s Wake?

A It needs to be more creative.

B It is well-understood.

C There are mixed reviews about it.

D It’s difficult to understand.

解析：选D。D细节理解题。根据第一段的“is a book so difficult to read that no one person can truly say they ‘get it’”，“written in a complicated mix of reinvented words, puns, and allusions, referencing about 80 languages”和“people can’t even agree on where the book is set or who the characters are”以及第二段的“they spent the next 28 years going through the book just one time”可知，这是一本以难度著称的书，该俱乐部在28年前开始阅读，这本书采用了一种混杂了重新创造的词汇、双关语和典故的写作风格，涉及大约80种语言，关于这本书的背景设定和角色身份甚至读者之间都无法达成一致意见。由此可知，这本书难以理解。故选D。

2.What does the underlined word “decipher” mean?

A Break away.

B Adapt to.

C Work out.

D Bring about.

解析：选C。C词义猜测题。根据划线部分前面的“so he never had time to explain his writings, or at least give some clues”可知，作者在出版后不久就去世了，所以他从来没有时间解释自己的作品，或者至少给出一些线索。所以，解读这一文学谜团完全取决于作者。故选C。

3.What will the book club do?

A No longer operate as a group.

B Interpret Finnegan’s Wake to others.

C Find another book to read.

D Continue reading the same book.

解析：选D。D细节理解题。根据第四段第二句的“And they don’t plan on moving on to another book either.”可知，他们读完这本书书之后也不会安排下一本书，他们只读这一本书。故选D。

4.We may learn from the text that the club members __________.

A have a strong will

B have much spare time

C will do some training work

D haven’t changed all the time

解析：选A。A推理判断题。该读书俱乐部成员这28年来每个月在当地的图书馆聚一次，每次只读一页，然后展开两小时的讨论，从未停止，最终，他们读完了这本长篇小说。由此可推断，他们拥有坚强的意志和持之以恒的精神。故选A。