“I have no desire to write a story about girls! I know nothing about girls,” Franchisees Alcott told her publisher, Mr. Niles. But she needed money badly. She seemed to be the only one in her family who could make money. Niles had asked her to write about something she knew, instead of the romantic adventure stories she had been writing. “So I work hard,” Alcott wrote, “though I don’t enjoy this sort of thing.” It was 1867, and the horrible Civil War was over. Now Alcott could devote her energy to making money.

Alcott wrote a simple story of life in her family, their pillow fights on Saturday nights and the amateur (业余的) plays they performed. “Our experiences may prove interesting, though I doubt it.” (“Good joke,” she wrote years later.) Her book described her days growing up with four sisters in a family that had no money. She sketched (勾画) a loving mother who took time to be interested in each child, and she told of the death of a beloved sister. She sketched her family and friends in her book Little Women. Finally, in July of 1868, she finished writing. With a sigh and a headache, she sent off all 102 handwritten pages of her book.

Niles thought the book was dull, and so did Alcott. But when she received her copies of the book, Alcott thought it seemed better than expected. “Not a bit sensational,” she wrote, “but simple and true. We really lived most of it.” Niles asked some girls to read Little Women, and they loved it.

In three months, all the copies of Little Women had sold. It was already time to print more books! Niles thought he could sell three or four hundred more copies. “An honest publisher and a lucky author made a dull book into a golden egg for an ugly duckling,” Alcott wrote in 1885. Later, with a great sigh of relief, she was able to write, “Paid off all the debts! Now I feel that I could die in peace. If my head holds out, I’ll do all I once hoped to do.”

56. Which of the following can be used to describe Alcott’s book?

A. interesting                B. boring                      C. magic                      D. skillful

57. In which order did the following happen?

a. Alcott began writing Little Women.           b. Niles asked Alcott to write about girls.

c. Alcott wrote romantic adventure stories.     d. Alcott performed plays with her sisters.

e. Niles was not pleased with Alcott’s work.

A. a, b, e, d, c                  B. d, c, a, b, e           C. b, c, e, d, a          D. d, c, e, b, a

58. When she handed her first writing in, Niles was _________.

A. sure of her success                                                     B. happy about her work

C. unsatisfied with the work                                               D. unpleased with the publisher

59. We learn from the story that, with Little Women sold out, _________.

A. Alcott wrote another book               B. some girls started to read the book

C. Alcott paid off all her bills            D. Niles published hundreds of books girls liked