Thomas Hardy was born at Higher Bockhampton, Dorset, on June 2, 1840, where his father worked as a builder. From his father he gained an appreciation of music, and from his mother an appetite for learning and the delights of the countryside about his rural home.

Due to his poor health, Hardy did not start school until he was eight. At 16, Hardy helped his father with architectural drawings and then started to work for architects. Later he moved to London and began writing poems, but his works were rejected by publishers. In 1870, he was sent to work in Cornwall. There he met his future wife Emma Gifford, who encouraged him in his writing.

Hardy published his first novel Desperate Remedies in 1871, to universal disinterest. But the following year Under the Greenwood Tree brought Hardy popular praise for the first time. As with most of his fictional works, this novel incorporated real places around Dorset into the plot, including the village school that Hardy attended. After Under the Greenwood Tree came a serialized novel A Pair of Blue Eves. Once more Hardy drew upon real life, and the novel mirrors his romance with Emma.

Hardy followed this with Far From the Madding Crowd, set in Puddletown, near his birthplace. This novel finally netted Hardy the success that enabled him to give up his architectural practice and concentrate only on writing.

The Hardys lived in London for a short time, then in Yeovil, then in Sturminster Newton, which Hardy described as “idyllic (田园诗般的)”. It was at Sturminster Newton that he penned Return of the Native, one of his most enduring (持久的) works.

In 1887, Hardy published The Woodlander, a story concerning an honest woodsman in a small village. Then in 1891 one of his best works, Tess of the d’Urbervilles, came out, which was set primarily in the English countryside during the 19th century.

Tess excited interest, but his next work, Jude the Obscure (1896), threw Hardy into a storm of controversy (争议), which made him turn away from fiction and focused on poetry for the rest of his life.

【小题1】What do we know about Hardy?

A．He was into drawing as a young man.	B．He got fame at first attempt of writing.
C．His writing career started with poems.	D．His wife Emma shared his interest.

【小题2】What does the underlined word “incorporated” in paragraph 2 mean?

A．Integrated.

B．Changed.

C．Developed.

D．Forced.

【小题3】After which novel was Hardy fully devoted to writing?

A．A Pair of Blue Eyes.	B．Far From the Madding Crowd.
C．Tess of the d’Urbervilles.	D．Jude the Obscure.

【小题4】What is the common element in most of Hardy’s novels?

A．Campus life.	B．Life in London.
C．Marriage life.	D．Life in the countryside.