For more than four hundred years, people all over the world have been reading ,watching and listening to the plays and poetry of the British writer William Shakespeare.
Most people think of Shakespeare as a writer. But he was also a theater producer, a part owner of an acting company and an actor. For most of his career, he was a producer and main writer for an acting company called the King’s Men. Shakespeare is best known for the thirty—nine plays that he wrote, although only thirty—eight exist today. His plays are usually divided into three groups: comedies, histories and tragedies. Some of his most famous plays are Hamlet ,Romeo and Juliet, Macbeth and so on.
Shakespeare was born in 1564 in England. At school he liked watching plays. He decided to be an actor when he finished school at the age of 14.He married Anne Hathaway at the age of 18.The couple had three children, two daughters and a son who died very young. In 1585,Shakespeare left his hometown. No one knows why he left or moved to London and joined a theater company which opened the Globe Theater in 1599.He made much money from it.He became an actor, and he also wrote plays. He usually acted in his own plays. He died in 1616. He left his money to his family. He left his genius to the world. Now you can still see his plays in English and in many other languages. He is one of the most famous writers in the world.
【小题1】What was Shakespeare?

A.A writerB.An actor
C.A theater producer D.A,B and C
【小题2】Shakespeare made much money from_______.
A.writingB.acting
C.opening the Globe TheaterD.selling his books
【小题3】What’s the meaning of the underlined word “genius” in the passage?
A.房子B.遗憾C.悔恨D.天赋
【小题4】Which sentence is NOT TRUE according to the passage?
A.Shakespeare died when he was 52 years old.
B.Shakespeare married in 1582,and he had two daughters and a son.
C.Shakespeare’s plays are usually divided into three groups: comedies, histories and science fictions.
D.No one knows why Shakespeare left his hometown at he age of 21.

One day I happened to meet an Englishman in the street and soon we began to talk. As I  was talking about how I was studying English, the foreigner seemed to be very surprised, gently shaking his head and saying “You don’t say!” I was puzzled, and I thought , “Perhaps this is not a right thing to talk about.” So I said to him, “Well, shall we talk about the Great Wall? Have you ever been there?”

“Certainly! Everyone back home will laugh at me if I leave here without seeing it. The Great Wall is wonderful!” “Yes, it is one of the wonders in the world. And people of many countries have come to visit it.” As I went on telling him more about it, he stopped me again, “You don’t say!”

I couldn’t help asking, “Why do you ask me not to talk about it? ”

“Well, I didn’t ask you to do so,” he answered, greatly surprised.

“Did you say ‘You don’t say!’?” I asked again.

Hearing this, the foreigner laughed loudly. He began to explain, “‘You don’t say!’ means ‘Really’. Perhaps you know little about English idioms(惯用语).”

 Wow! How foolish I was! Since then I have been careful with English idioms.

1.The writer was puzzled because                  .

A. the foreigner has some difficulty in understanding him.   

B. the writer himself didn’t understand the meaning of “You don’t say!”

C. the foreigner was not polite.          

D. the writer was very clever 

2.What made the foreigner laugh?

A. The English idioms                   B. The writer’s talking about the Great Wall             

C. The writer’s explanation             D. The writer’s question

3.The story probably happened in                  .

A. China            B. America          C. England          D. Canada

4.The writer was puzzled                  in the passage.

A. once         B. twice                C. three times          D. four times

5.The English idiom “You don’t say!” means “               

A. Thank you        B.OK                C. Really               D.  Sorry

 

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