10．Charles Dickens was one of the most beloved storytellers in the English language．His novels made him famous in his own time，and continue as classics in ours．
Dickens began his literary career with almost no formal education．He was born in Landport，on Feb.7，1812，the second of eight children．When he was 12，his father was sent to debtor's prison．Dickens was forced to quit school and work in a London blacking factory．He would rework that terrible experience into his fiction for the rest of his life．
"He was a social reformer，"says actor Simon Callow，author of a new biography called Charles Dickens and the Great Theatre of the World．"He knew what poverty was．He knew what it was to be rejected，to be cast aside，to live in squalor （悲慘）．"
And so Dickens wrote with great sympathy for the suffering of innocent and vulnerable （易受攻擊的） children-characters like David Copperfield，Little Dorrit and the orphan，Oliver Twist：
With his slice of bread in his hand，and his little brown parish cap on his head，Oliver was now led away from the wretched home，where one kind word or look never lighted the gloom of his infant （幼兒） days．
Yet he burst into an agony of childish grief as the cottage gate closed after him．Wretched as were the little panions in，misery he was now leaving behind him，they were the only friends he had ever had．
His first book Sketches by Boz came out in 1836．With the appearance of Oliver Twist in London periodicals in 1837，the 25-year-old Dickens became the most popular writer in England．But his first love was theater，and he considered being an actor．
"When he was actually writing，he became his characters，"says Peter Ackroyd，author of Dickens：Public Life and Private Passion．"He would get up from his desk，go over to the mirror and mouth the words-do the expressions，grimaces （嵬臉），whatever，and then laugh，chuckle to himself，then go back to his desk and write it down．"
Dickens created 989named characters，which increased his popularity．Every one of his major works has been adapted for either stage or screen．A Christmas Carol inspired more than a dozen films，from Alistair Sims'Scrooge in 1951to Jim Carrey's voicing of the same character in Disney's 2009，3-D animated film．
The original 1843manuscript（手稿） of A Christmas Carolis on display at the Morgan Library．Dickens wrote everything by hand，in tiny script，with a quill pen．Remarkably，the manuscript is both the first and the final draft，says Kiely，the curator．You can see where Dickens has changed the name of the first chapter from"Old Marley's Ghost"to"Marley's Ghost"．Further down the page，he has canceled an entire section．
"He realizes he's not writing a novel，and he only has a very short time in which to write this，"Kiely explains．"He's got to keep it tight，in order for it to be published in time for Christmas．"
Dickens wrote all the time．He traveled with a portable inkwell and a supply of quill pens．He was working on his last novel，Our Mutual Friend，en route from France to London when the train he was on crashed．
Dickens died five years later in 1870，after a stroke at age 58．As a ic talent and a social reformer，Dickens'achievement was extraordinary，says novelist T．C．Boyle，who eamed a doctorate in Victorian literature．
"He achieved what any great artist achieves-a body of work that has entertained and delighted and instructed people down through the ages．That's what we all hope for，"says Boyle．But Dickens'greatest fiction was his own character，says Callow，the biographer："People think of him as a cheerful man…but he was increasingly suffering from depression and a sense of hopelessness．And that's worth knowing．I think it's always good to know that great creative individuals have their struggle，their drama．"
66．What can probably be reflected in Dickens'works？B
A．His love for his family．
B．His childhood sufferings．
C．His desire for formal education．
D．His reason to choose literary career．
67．The author quotes Dickens'description of Oliver Twist mainly to showA．
A．that Dickens was full of pity for poor children
B．that Dickens knew well about poor children
C．what real poverty was like in his days
D．what kind of life Oliver Twist lived
68．It can be inferred from the passage thatC
A．Sketches by Boz is nothing but a plete failure
B．Oliver Twist made Dickens first known to the public
C．A Christrwas Carol proved Dickens an efficient writer
D．Our Mutual Friend came into being on a train
69．We can learn from the passage thatC
A．a(chǎn)ll the characters created by Dickens are popular
B．people prefer films based on Dickens'novels to his works
C．Dickens were more interested in performing than in writing
D．the films and plays based on Dickens'novels raise his popularity
70．What did Dickens intend to do by telling his stories？A
A．To amuse his readers and change society．
B．To analyze the nature of society he was m．
C．To make an attack on the upper class of the time．
D．To get rid of his depression and sense of hopelessness．
分析 本文講的是著名作家狄更斯以及他所寫的作品．文章除了介紹他的成就，作品，以及對英國人的影響之外，還提到了他的出生，身世，甚至死亡，政治取向等等．
解答 66．B． 細節(jié)理解題．根據(jù)第一段的末尾"He would rework that terrible experience into his fiction for the rest of his life．"他把兒時受的磨難寫進了他的作品中了．故選B項．
67．A． 篇章結構題．根據(jù)"And so Dickens wrote with great sympathy for the suffering of innocent and vulnerable （易受攻擊的） children"和后面舉例人物Oliver Twist可知他對那些遭受無辜的磨難和易受攻擊的孩子們充滿了同情．故選A項．
68．C． 推理判斷題．根據(jù)"A Christmas Carol inspired more than a dozen films，from Alistair Sims'Scrooge in 1951 to Jim Carrey's voicing of the same character in Disney's 2009，3-D animated film．"可以說明狄更斯是一個非常能干的作家，故選C項．
69．C． 推理判斷題．根據(jù)"But his first love was theater，and he considered being an actor．"可推知C 正確．
70．A． 推理判斷題．根據(jù)課文的最后"a body of work that has entertained and delighted and instructed people down through the ages．That's what we all hope for，"可知通過講故事來讓人們高興，來改變社會．故選A項．
點評 主要考查學生把握全文主題和理解中心思想的能力．同時找到相關細節(jié)，回答對應題目．
