O. Henry was an American short-story writer, a master of surprising endings, who wrote about the life of ordinary people in New York City. A twist of plot, which turns on an ironic or coincidental circumstance, is typical of O. Henry’s stories.

　　William Sydney Porter (O. Henry) was born in North Carolina. His father was a physician. When William was three, his mother died, and he was raised by his grandmother and aunt. At the age of fifteen he left school, and then worked in a drug store. He moved to Houston, where he had a number of jobs, including that of bank clerk. After moving to Austin, Texas, in 1882, he married.

　　In 1884 he started a humorous weekly The Rolling Stone. When the weekly failed, he joined the Houston Post as a reporter and columnist. In 1897 hw was convicted of embezzling money, although there has been much debate over his actual guilt.

　　While in prison O. Henry started to write short stories to earn money to support his daughter Margaret. His first work, Whistling Dick’s Christmas Stocking (1899), appeared in McClure’s Magazine. After doing three years of the five years sentence, Porter emerged from the prison in 1901 and changed his name to O. Henry.

　　O. Henry moved to New York city in 1902 and from December 1903 to January 1906 he wrote a story a week for the New York World, also publishing in other magazines. Henry’s first collection, Cabbages And Kings appeared in 1904. The second, The Four Million, was published two years later and included his well-know stories The Gift of the Magi and The Furnished Room. O. Henry published 10 collections and over 600 short stoires during his lifetime.

　　O. Henry’s last years were shadowed by ill health and financial problems. He married Sara Lindsay Coleman in 1907, but the marriage was not happy, and they separated one year later. O. Henry died on June 5, 1910, in New York.

　　1. The following statements are the characteristics of O. Henry’s stories except ______

　　A. the s stories often end with surprising endings.

　　B. there are a lot of coincidences in his stories.

　　C. the stories are mainly about common people.

　　D. his own experiences are main subjects in his stories.

　　2. We can infer from the text that ______.

　　A. O. Henry’s mother’s death resulted in his leaving school.

　　B. O. Henry earned much money by starting the Weekly.

　　C. some people believed O. Henry was put in prison for no good reason.

　　D. his daughter asked O. Henry to write short stories.

　　3. One of O. Henry’s most famous story The Gift of the Magi came out in ______.

　　A. 1902 B. 1904 C. 1906 D. 1907

　　4. What do you think of O. Henry’s life?

　　A. Rough. B. Smooth. C. Rich. D. Happy.

　　解读：本文介绍了美国短篇小说家欧?亨利的生平和写作历程。

　　答案及解析

　　1. D 仔细阅读第一段会发现，这段包含了A、B、C三个选项的内容。只有D项文章没有提及，所以它不是O. Henry的写作特点。

　　2. C 根据第二段第三句“When William was three, his mother died”知道，母亲死时他才3岁，而辍学是15岁，两者没有必然联系;第三段的第二句“the weekly failed”，说明他并没有赚到钱;第四段第一句“While in prison O. Henry started to write short stories to earn money to support his daughter”可知，O. Henry是为了抚养女儿写作，不是女儿要求他写作，所以A、B、D都是错误选项。从第三段的最后一句“although there has been much debate over his actual guilt.”可以推测，有人认为他有罪，也有人认为他没有罪。因此选C为正确选项。

　　3. C 第五段的倒数第二句“two years later and included his well-known stories The Gift of the Magi”可以推算，这篇小说是在1906年出版的。

　　4. A (根据第二段可知)O. Henry经历了孤独的童年，艰难的青年时期;(第三段中可知)经过了艰辛的创业;(第四段中)又遭牢狱之灾;(第五段中)尽管后期作品很受欢迎，(第六段中)但又忍受疾病之苦，婚姻不幸，可谓命运多舛。所以首先排除C、D两个选项;B选项Smooth意为“平坦的”与文章内容不符。只有A选项Rough意为“崎岖不平的”，形容人生的坎坷。