When he was about 20 years old, O. Henry went to Texas. There he tried different ___6___. He first worked on newspaper, and then had a job in a ___7___. When some money went missing from the bank, O. Henry was believed to have stolen it. Because of that, he was ___8___ to prison（监狱）. ___9___ the three years in prison, he learned to write short stories. After he got out of prison, he went to New York and went on writing.

    Charles Dickens，one of the great English writers，  1  born in l812，in one of the small  2  of England．

    When Dickens was nine years old，the family  3 to London，the capital of England．There were several young children in the family．Their life was hard，so Dickens could not  4 to school．

    Only until his father was  5  of prison(监狱)could Charles go to school．At that time he was already twelve years old．But he did not finish school．Two years later be began  6．The future(未来)writer often went to the library  7  books．He read  8 ．Then Dickens wrote lots of novels(小说)all his life．Dickens  9  over a hundred years ago，but people are still reading his books  10  great interest．

1．A．is                          B．was                     C．were

2．A．town                     B．towns                  C．family

3．A．moves                   B．moved                 C．moving

4．A．go                         B．to go                    C．going

5．A．out                        B．at                        C．off

6．A．works                    B．worked                C．to work

7．A．read                      B．reading                C．to read

8．A．a lot                      B．a lot of                 C．very much

9．A．died                      B．die                       C．dying

10．A．to                        B．in                        C．with

I started learning English when I was 6 years old. For 8 years I learned English the way everybody else did — by going to English classes. It was useless. I did everything that the

In 1993, I went to the best high school in Wroclaw. It was a special program with a lot of English classes. I owe (感激) a lot to the people I met there, both students and teachers. My first
two years in high school were very important for my English. My English teacher, Mr. Janusz Laskosz, gave me a lot of good advice, especially on pronunciation and vocabulary. My talented (多才多艺的) friends, Wojtek and Michael Ryszard, who are my partners now, were both fantastic English learners. What’s more, every time I heard them speak, they seemed to have a bigger vocabulary. I wanted to be as good as them, so I studied harder. And my English improved. Wojtek and Michal also introduced me to SuperMemo, which has been very important in my life. And, of course, I could discuss the English language with them, which was a great thing.
【小题1】The writer studied hard at English in the first eight years,  ______________.

    O．Herry was am American writer．He wrote lots of short stories．His real name was William Sydney Porter．He was born in North Carolina in 1862．

    A s a young boy，he lived an exciting life．He did not go to school for a long time，but he learned everything he wanted to know．When he was about 20 years old．O．Herry went to Texas There he did different jobs．He first worked in a newspaper，and then had a job in a bank．When some money went missing from the bank．O．Herry was suspected(被怀疑)．Because of that，he was sent into prison(监狱)．

    During the three years in prison，he learned to write short stories．After he got out of prison．he went to New York and continued writing He wrote mostly about New York and the life of the poor there．People liked his stories，because although simple(简单)，to the readers’ surprise，the stories would finish with a sudden change at the end．

1．William Sydney Porter was famous as a writer of ______．

   A．children’s stories           B．long stories          C．short stories    D．love stones

2．O．Herry stayed in prison for________．

   A．3 years                         B．4 years                 C．5 years          D．6 years

3．O．Heny learned to write stories_______．

   A．when he was in prison                 B．when he worked in a newspaper

   C．when he worked in a bank             D．when he was in New York

4．People enjoyed his stories because________．

   A．the stories were very short                  B． the stories were interesting

C．the stories had surprising endings  D．the stories were about the prison

5. O．Herry’s stories were mostly about_________．

   A．his prison life                             B．New York

   C．the life of the rich                         D．the life of the poor and New York