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课件网) Key question 沪教牛津版九年级上册 Unit 7 Reading Mark Twain Focusing on culture 主题范畴：人与社会 How do a writer’s life experiences influence his / her works In this part, you will: read the article to learn more about Mark Twain’s life and know how events in his life influenced his writing better. discuss why Mark Twain is still regarded as one of the greatest American novelists. share what you know about Mark Twain. What do you know about Mark Twain Possible points: Basic information Works Writing style Life experiences Comments We have learnt about some of Mark Twain's stories. Let's find out about the life of the writer himself and try to discover how events in his life influenced his writing. Mark Twain Mark Twain (1835-1910) was a journalist and public speaker, but he is best known as a writer. His books about Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn are considered among the greatest American novels of all time. Mark Twain was the pen name of Samuel Langhorne Clemens. He was born in 1835 to a poor family in Missouri. When he was four, Twain's family moved to a small town on the Mississippi River. Many people, places and events from his childhood later ended up in his stories. When Twain was just 12 years old, his father died. And then he took a job at a newspaper. At 17, Twain left his hometown to explore the country, and he worked at printing houses in big cities like New York and Philadelphia. Twain then wanted to travel to South America but he became a riverboat pilot on the Mississippi instead. When the American Civil War (1861-1865) began, Twain travelled west to Nevada to search for gold. He dreamt of making a fortune, but he was not very successful. Luckily, he found a job as a journalist. A few years later, Twain moved to California. In 1865, he published "The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County", and many other stories soon followed. Twain's books became very popular and made him rich, but he made many bad business decisions and lost all his money. Even worse, he had borrowed a lot of money.To pay it back, he decided to tour the world and give lectures. Twain had a busy schedule. People enjoyed his unique humour on stage. Mark Twain was more than just a humorous writer. He wrote about what he saw around him, both the happy and sad things in life. He lost his father, a brother and a sister when he was a child, and he saw both great successes and terrible failures as an adult. He took his many unusual experiences and put them into his writing. Twain died in 1910, but he is still regarded as one of the greatest American novelists. Read the online article about Mark Twain's life. P110 Fast reading 1. From the first sentence of Paragraph 1, we know that Mark Twain was a _____, a _____ and a famous writer. journalist public speaker 2. Match each paragraph with its main idea. Paragraph 1 A. His later life, including his money problems and his writing Paragraph 2 B. Genera ... ...
