Mark Twain was a great writer. He was also a famous speaker. He is a humorous (幽默的) man. Many people liked to listen to him talk because he liked to tell some interesting stories to make people laugh all the time.

One day Mark Twain was going to a small town because of his writing. Before he was going to leave, his friends said to him that there were always a lot of mosquitoes in the town and they would bite him. The mosquitoes would fly around his ears with “weng weng weng”. The friends advised him that he’d better not go there. Mark Twain said, “It doesn’t matter. The mosquitoes are not relatives (亲戚) of mine. I don’t think they will come to visit me.”

After he arrived at the town, Mark Twain stayed in a small hotel near the station. He went into his room, but when he was just about to have a rest, quite a few mosquitoes flew about him. The waiters felt very sorry about that. “I’m very sorry, Mr. Mark Twain. There are too many mosquitoes in our town.” One of them said to him. However, Mark Twain made a joke, saying to the waiter.

“The mosquitoes are very clever. They know my room number. They didn’t come into the wrong room.” His words made all the people laugh. But that night Mark Twain slept well. Why? That was because all the waiters in the hotel were driving the mosquitoes away for him during the whole night.

William Shakespeare was the greatest writer of the English language and is known around the world. 【小题1】

Shakespeare was a poet and a playwright(剧作家) and is widely known as the greatest writer of the English language. He was born in Stratford-upon-Avon, in central England, in 1564 and he died in 1616. His works include 38 plays, 154 sonnets(十四行诗) and some other poems. 【小题2】 They have been translated into many other languages and are performed more than those of any other playwright in the world.

When Shakespeare was 18 years old, he married Anne Hathaway. 【小题3】 Shakespeare went to London to work as an actor and a writer. In 1599 a big theater was built in London. And it was in this theater that some of Shakespeare’s plays were first performed. 【小题4】 However, a new, modern one was built near the first one in 1997, so even today you can go to the theater to see Shakespeare’s plays.

Shakespeare’s works are still very popular today. But why do we like these old plays? 【小题5】 His characters are so real: they learned to love, to hate, to fight and to live...

The American writer Ernest Hemingway, a Nobel Prize winner in 1954, once wrote, “The world is a fine place and worth fighting for and I hate very much to leave it.”

This saying shows the way Hemingway lived his life. He took part in some of the most important events of the 20th century: World War I, the Spanish War, the Normandy Landings of 1944 and the War in Europe in the following year. Throughout his adventures (冒险经历), Hemingway met many famous writers and artists, drawing experience and knowledge from them while also developing his own literary (文学的) ideas.

Hemingway’s writing style was influenced by his life seeing. He usually used as simple words and sentence patterns as possible to tell a complete and touching story. He also invented “iceberg theory” (冰山理论) to describe his writing. This refers to the idea that hiding deeper meaning under the common surface of one’s writing can make it more meaningful, just like how most of an iceberg is hidden under the surface of the ocean.

For example, Hemingway was once asked to write a complete story in 10 words or less. He replied with “For sale: baby shoes, never worn.” In this one simple sentence, he tells the complete story of the loss of a child and the parents’ sadness. It is a perfect example of Hemingway’s inspiring and simple writing style.

This year is Hemingway’s 124th birthday. Even over 60 years after his death, his writing continues to influence writers and readers today.