For any Englishman, there can never be any discussion as to who is the world’s greatest dramatist (剧作家).Only one name can possibly suggest itself to him: that of William Shakespeare.Every Englishman has some knowledge, however slight, of the work of our greatest writer.All of us use words, phrases and quotations from Shakespeare’s writings that have become part of the common property of the English-speaking people.Most of the time we are probably unaware of the source of the words we used, rather like the old lady who was taken to see a performance of Hamlet and complained that it was full of well-known proverbs and quotations.
Shakespeare, more perhaps than any other writer, makes full use of the great resources of the English language.Most of us use about five thousand words in our normal use of English; Shakespeare in his works used about twenty-five thousand.
There is probably no better way for a foreigner to appreciate the richness and variety of the English language than by studying the various ways in which Shakespeare used it.Such a study is well worth the effort (it is not, of course, recommended to beginners) even though some aspects of English usage, and the meaning of many words, have changed since Shakespeare’s day.
1).English people _______.
A.have never discussed who is the world’s greatest dramatist
B.never discuss any issue concerning the world’s greatest dramatist
C.are sure who is the world’s greatest dramatist
D.do not care who is the world’s greatest poet and dramatist
2).Every Englishman knows _______.
A.more or less about Shakespeare
B.Shakespeare, but only slightly
C.all Shakespeare’s writings
D.only the name of the greatest English writer
3).Which of the following is true？
A.We use all the words, phrases and quotations from Shakespeare’s writings.
B.Shakespeare’s writings have become the property of those who are learning to speak English.
C.It is likely to be true that people often do not know the origins of the words they use
D.All the words people use are taken from the writings of Shakespeare.
4).What does the word “proverb” mean？
A.Familiar sayings.
B.Shakespeare’s plays.
C.Complaints.
D.Actors and actresses.
5).Why is it worthwhile to study the various ways in which Shakespeare used English？
A.English words have changed a lot since Shakespeare’s time.
B.By doing so one can be fully aware of the richness of the English language.
C.English words are now being used in the same way as in Shakespeare’s time.
D.Beginners may have difficulty learning some aspects of English usage.
I don't know how I became a writer, but I think it was because of a certain force in me that had to write and that finally burst through and found a channel. My people were of the working class of people. My father, a stone-cutter, was a man with a great respect and veneration for literature. He had a tremendous memory, and he loved poetry, and the poetry that he loved best was naturally of the rhetorical kind that such a man would like. Nevertheless it was good poetry, Hamlet's Soliloquy, Macbeth, Mark Antony's “Funeral Oration”, Grey's “Elegy”, and all the rest of it. I heard it all as a child; I memorized and learned it all.
He sent me to college to the state university. The desire to write, which had been strong during all my days in high school, grew stronger still. I was editor of the college paper, the college magazine, etc. , and in my last year or two I was a member of a course in playwriting which had just been established there. I wrote several little one-act plays, still thinking I would become a lawyer or a newspaper man, never daring to believe I could seriously become a writer. Then I went to Harvard, wrote some more plays there, became obsessed with the idea that I had to be a playwright, left Harvard, had my plays rejected, and finally in the autumn of 1926, how, why, or in what manner I have never exactly been able to determine. But probably because the force in me that had to write at length sought out its channel, I began to write my first book in London. I was living all alone at that time. I had two rooms--a bedroom and a sitting room--in a litter square in Chelsea in which all the houses had that familiar, smoked brick and cream-yellow-plaster look.
We may conclude, in regard to the author's development as a writer, that his father ________.
A．made an important contribution
B．insisted that he choose writing as a career
C．opposed his becoming a writer
D．insisted that he read Hamlet in order to learn how to be a writer
