Samuel Langhorne Clemens better known by his pen name Mark Twain was an American author and humorist. He is most noted for his novels. The Adventures of Tom Sawyer( 1876) ,and its sequel(續(xù)集) ,The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn(1885) ,the latter often called "the Great American Novel. "

Twain grew up in Hannibal, Missouri, which would later provide the setting for Huckleberry Finn and Tom Sawyer. He acted as a printer. He also worked as a typesetter and contributed articles to his older brother Orion’s newspaper. After serving as a printer in various cities, he became a master riverboat pilot on the Mississippi River, before heading west to join Orion. He was a failure at gold mining, so he next turned to journalism. While a reporter, he wrote a humorous story The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County,  which became very popular and brought nationwide attention. His travelogues including  A Tramp Abroad  were also well-received. Twain had found his calling.

He achieved great success as a writer and public speaker. His  wit and satire (諷刺) earned praise from critics and peers, and he was a friend to presidents, artists, industrialists, and European royalty.

He lacked financial sense, and though he made a great deal of money from his writings and lectures, he wasted it on various ventures, in particular the Paige Compositor, and was forced to declare bankruptcy(破產(chǎn)). With the help of Henry Huttleston Rogers he eventually overcame his financial troubles. Twain worked hard to ensure that all of his loaners were paid in full, even though his bankruptcy had relieved him of the legal responsibility.

Twain was born during a visit by Halley' s Comet (彗星) ,and he predicted that he would "go out with it” as well. He died the day following the comet’s next return. He was known as the" greatest American humorist of his age” and William Faulkner called Twain" the father of American literature. "
53. the text is written to      .

A. introduce the American literature briefly       

  B. give us a brief introduction of Mark Twain

C. explain why Mark Twain is so outstanding     

D. convince us how Mark Twain was well-informed

54.Which of his works is a turning point for Mark Twain?

A. The Adventures of Tom Sawyer

B. The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn

C. The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County

D. A Tramp Abroad

55. According to the text, we know that      .

  A. Mark Twain's wit and satire was admired by people

B. Mark Twain was good at gold mining

C. Mark Twain managed money matters well

  D. Mark Twain was irresponsible for his debts

56. The author mentions Halley's Comet in the last paragraph to show      .

A. it was a disaster to Mark Twain        B. it brought good luck to Mark Twain

C. Mark Twain believed in God                D. Mark Twain was very humorous

 

    

練習(xí)冊(cè)系列答案
相關(guān)習(xí)題

科目：高中英語(yǔ) 來(lái)源： 題型：閱讀理解

Mark Twain left school when he was twelve. Though he had little school education, he became the most famous writer of his time. He made millions of dollars by writing. His real name was Samuel Langhorne Clements, but he is better known all over the world as Mark Twain, his penname.

Mark Twain was born in 1835 and he was not a healthy baby. In fact, he was not expected to live through the first winter. But with his mother’s tender care, he managed to survive. As a boy, he caused much trouble to his parents. He used to play jokes on all his friends and neighbors. He didn’t like to go to school, and he ran away from home from time to time. He always went in the direction of the nearby Mississippi. He was nearly drowned(淹死) nine times.

After his father’s death in 1847, Mark Twain began to work for a printer, who only provided him with food and clothing. Then, he worked as a river-boat pilot and later joined the army. But shortly after that he became a miner, during this period, he started to write short stories.  Afterwards he became a full-time writer.

In 1870, Mark Twain got married. In the years that followed he wrote many books including Tom Sawyer in 1876, and Huckleberry Finn in 1884, which made him famous, and brought him a great fortune（財(cái)富）.Unfortunately, Mark Twain got into debts in bad investments（投資） and he had to write large numbers of stories to pay these debts. In 1904, his wife died and then three of their children passed away.

He died on April 21, 1910 at the age of 70.

Mark Twain was ________ in his childhood.    

A. a naughty boy          B. a good student

C. a handsome boy         D. a strong boy

Mark Twain began to write short stories when he _______.

A. was at school            B. was in the army

C. worked for a printer       D. was a miner

Before he became a full time writer Mark Twain had not been ___

A. a printer.               B. a miner

C. a tailor                 D. a soldier

Mark Twain’s wife died _________

A. soon after she give birth to three children

B. at the same time with her children

C. before three of her children died

D. after Mark Twain had died

查看答案和解析>>

科目：高中英語(yǔ) 來(lái)源： 題型：閱讀理解

Years ago, when I started looking for my first job, wise advisers urged, “Barbara, be enthusiastic! Enthusiasm will take you further than any amount of experience.” How right they were! Enthusiastic people can turn a boring drive into an adventure, extra work into opportunity and strangers into friends.

“Nothing great was ever achieved without enthusiasm,” wrote Ralph Waldo Emerson. It is the paste that helps you hang in there when the going gets tough. It is the inner voice that whispers, “I can do it!” when others shout, “No, you can’t!” It took years and years for the early work of Barbara McClintock, a geneticist (遺傳學(xué)家) who won the 1983 Nobel Prize in medicine, to be generally accepted. Yet she didn’t let up on her experiments. Work was such a deep pleasure for her that she never thought of stopping.

We are all born with wide – eyed, enthusiastic wonder and it is this childlike wonder that gives enthusiastic people such a youthful air, whatever their age. At 90,cellist Pablo Casals would start his day by playing Bach (巴赫). As the music flowed through his fingers, his bent shoulders would straighten and joy would reappear in his eyes. As author and poet Samuel once wrote, “Years wrinkle(使生皺紋) the skin, but to give up enthusiasm wrinkles the soul.”

Enthusiastic people also love what they do, regardless of money, title or power. Patricia Mcllrath, retired director of the Missouri Repertory Theater in Kansas City, was once asked where she got her enthusiasm. She replied, “My father, a lawyer, long ago told me, I never made a penny until I stopped working for money.”

If we cannot do what we love as a full-time career, we can do it as a hobby. Elizabeth Layton of Wellsville, Kan, was 68 before she began to draw. This activity ended her depression that had troubled her for at least 30 years, and the quality of her work led one critic to say, “I am persuaded to call Layton a genius.”

We can’t afford to waste tears on “might-have-beens”. We need to turn the tears into sweat as we go after “what-can-be.” We need to live each moment whole-heartedly, with all our senses-finding pleasure in the sweet smell of a backyard garden, the simple picture of a six-year-old, and the beauty of a rainbow.

The author mentions cellist Pablo Casals in the third paragraph to show that         .

A. music can arouse people’s enthusiasm

B. enthusiasm can give people inspiration needed to succeed

C. enthusiasm can make people feel young

D. enthusiasm can keep people healthy

How many examples are given in the passage to show the importance of enthusiasm?

A. Two.   B. Three. C. Four.  D. Five.

The author holds the view that       .

A. enthusiastic people will never get old

B. enthusiasm can make you succeed and enjoy life

C. enthusiasm is more important than experience

D. enthusiasm can give people more success and fame

查看答案和解析>>

科目：高中英語(yǔ) 來(lái)源：2011屆山東省濟(jì)寧一中高三上學(xué)期第三次質(zhì)量檢測(cè)英語(yǔ)卷 題型：閱讀理解

When Paul was a boy growing up in Utah, he happened to live near a copper smelter（煉銅廠），and the chemicals that poured out had made a wasteland out of what used to be a beautiful forest．One day a young visitor looked at this wasteland and called it an awful area．Paul knocked him down．From then on, something happened inside him.
Years later Paul was back in the area, and he went to the smelter office．He asked if they had any plans or if they would let him try to bring the trees back．The answer from that big industry was “No”.
Paul then went to college to study the science of plants．Unfortunately, his teachers said there weren’t any birds or squirrels to spread the seeds．It would be a waste of his life to try to do it．Everyone knew that, he was told．Even if he was knowledgeable as he had expected, he wouldn’t get his idea accepted．
Paul later got married and had some kids．But his dream would not die．And then one night he did what he could with what he had．As Samuel Johnson wrote, “It is common to overlook what is near by keeping the eye fixed on something remote．Attainable good is often ignored by minds busied in wide ranges.” Under the cover of darkness, he went secretly into the wasteland and started planting.
And every week, he made his secret journey into the wasteland and planted trees and grass．For fifteen years he did this against the plain common sense．Slowly rabbits appeared．Later, as there was legal pressure to clean up the environment, the company actually hired Paul to do what he was already doing.
Now the place is fourteen thousand acres of trees and grass and bushes, and Paul has received almost every environmental award Utah has．It took him until his hair turned white, but he managed to keep that impossible vow he made to himself as a child.
【小題1】When Paul was a boy，______________.

A．he had decided never to leave his hometown
B．the economy of Utah depended wholly on the copper smelter
C．no laws were made to protect the environment against pollution
D．he had determined to stop the copper smelter polluting the area
【小題2】Why did Paul go to college to study the science of plants？
A．Because he wanted to find out the best way to save the area himself.
B．Because he was interested in planting trees since he was young.
C．Because he wanted to get more knowledgeable people to help him.
D．Because he thought his knowledge would make his advice more persuasive.
【小題3】What does the underlined phrase “the plain common sense” probably refer to?
A．That it was impossible for trees to grow on the wasteland.
B．That his normal work and life would be greatly affected.
C．That no one would like to join him in the efforts.
D．That he had to keep everything he did secret.
【小題4】The company hired Paul to plant trees and grass because___________.
A．they realized the importance of environmental protection
B．What Paul was doing moved them
C．Paul persuaded them to help him
D．they had legal pressure
【小題5】The message of the passage is that _____________.
A．a(chǎn)ction speaks louder than words
B．perseverance（持之以恒）will work wonders
C．God helps those who help themselves
D．many hands make light work

查看答案和解析>>

科目：高中英語(yǔ) 來(lái)源：2010--2011學(xué)年福建省寧德市三校高一下學(xué)期期中聯(lián)考英語(yǔ)卷 題型：閱讀理解

“Mark Twain” was the name used by Samuel Langhorne Clemens (1835～1910) when he wrote books.His father was a lawyer，but a poor one，who lived in Florida，Missouri.The family was so poor that Samuel did not receive much teaching.He had to learn all that he could from the people whom he met.His father died when he was very young，and then there was even less money than before.
Many of the men in this part of America worked in the ships on the great Mississippi River，and he did this himself at one time (1857).
Where did he find the name “Mark Twain”？ It came from the great river itself.It was part of one of the cries used by men who worked in the ships.When a man called “By the mark twain！” he meant that the river was “two marks deep” there，that is to say，six feet deep ( “Twain” is an old form of the word “Two”.) Samuel Clemens often heard these words when he was young，and he used them as a pen name all his life.
During his work on the Mississippi he met travelers of all kinds，and this helped him a great deal when he started to write.But the number of travelers became smaller when war started in America in 1861.Many of the great ships on the river stopped work.Samuel left then and went to Nevada with his brother，who was at that time Governor of Nevada.There，near the town of Carson，Samuel became a gold miner，but he never made much money at the time.He soon saw that life in the gold mines was not for him.He also tried writing for the newspapers in Nevada，and this seemed more hopeful.He found that he could write.
He went to Europe in 1867 and visited France and Italy.In 1870 he married Olivia Langdon，and two years later he was spending nearly all his time writing.Among his books is his own story (1908).
He is now always known as Mark Twain，and many people do not even know that his family name was Clemens.He traveled in America and in England，and went to Oxford in 1907.He was one of the great American writers of the time，and could make his readers laugh—a thing which few writers can do.He died in 1910.
【小題1】“Mark Twain” was         .

A．a(chǎn) famous American writer
B．name of a book
C．a(chǎn) great river in America
D．a(chǎn) large ship
【小題2】As a child，Samuel did not get much education because         .
A．his father died too early
B．the family was very poor
C．he disliked school very much
D．he could learn what he liked from the people he met
【小題3】What gave him a great deal when he started writing?
A．His poor childhood.
B．The Mississippi River.
C．All kinds of travelers he met.
D．His brother.
【小題4】We can infer（推斷）from the passage that         .
A．Samuel loved writing from his early age
B．Samuel did not love writing at the beginning
C．his writings to the newspaper were successful
D．his brother encouraged him to write more
【小題5】According to the writer of the passage，a good writer could         .
A．write a lot for his readers
B．make a lot of money for his family
C．cause his readers to laugh
D．travel everywhere he wanted

查看答案和解析>>

科目：高中英語(yǔ) 來(lái)源：安徽省2009-2010學(xué)年度高一下學(xué)期第二次月考試卷（英語(yǔ)） 題型：閱讀理解

.

第三部分：閱讀理解（共20小題，每小題2分；共40分）

閱讀下面短文，掌握其大意，然后從各題的A、B、C、D四個(gè)選項(xiàng)中，選出最佳選項(xiàng)，并在答題卡上將該項(xiàng)涂黑。

Several interesting American museums tell about health subjects. One is the Doctor Samuel D. Harris National Museum of Dentistry. It is at the University of Maryland in Baltimore. That is where the first college in the world to train dentists began. The museum tells about the history of the medical treatment of teeth. Visitors can see some frightening devices that once were used to remove infected teeth. They also can see sets of teeth made of animal bone. They were made for a famous American —— the first President, George Washington.

Most people do not consider a visit to the dentist their idea of a good time. However, the director of the museum says he wants to make the museum a funny place to visit. He says he also wants to teach visitors about the importance of taking care of their teeth.

Another museum collects devices that help people hear. The Kenneth W. Berger Hearing Aid Museum is at Kent State University in Kent, Ohio. The museum has more than three-thousand hearing aids from around the world. They include old and strange devices. Some hearing aids were made to look like other objects. That is because in the past many people did not want anyone to know they were wearing a hearing aid.

56. It is common for people to think it uneasy to pay a visit to ____.

A. the University of Maryland            B. the Museum of Dentistry

C. the Hearing Aid Museum              D. the dentist

57. The text mainly tells about _____.

A. museums in the US               B. interesting American museums

C. American museums with health subjects

D. the history of the medical treatment of teeth

58. What do we learn about George Washington from the text?

A. He once visited the National Museum of Dentistry.

B. He considered the Museum of Dentistry a fun place to visit

C. His artificial (人造的) teeth were collected in the National Museum of Dentistry.

D. His teeth seemed to be made of animal bone.

59. The underlined word “devices” in the first and last paragraph probably means _____.

A. ways        B. strategies        C. tools          D. desires

 

查看答案和解析>>

同步練習(xí)冊(cè)答案