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 a 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 he 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-year 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 was published 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-known stories The Gift of the Magi and The Furnished Room．O．Henry published 10 collections and over 600 short stories 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 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 stories 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．

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科目：高中英語 來源：101網(wǎng)校同步練習　高一英語　外語教學與研究出版社 題型：050

O．Henry was a pen name used by an American writer of short stories．His real name was william Sydney Porter．He was born in North Carolina in 1862．As a young boy he lived an exciting life．He did not go to school for very long, but he managed to teach himself everything he needed to know．When he was about 20 years old, Henry went to Texas, where he tried different jobs．He first worked on a newspaper, and then had a job in a bank When some money went missing from the bank, O．Henry was believed to have stolen it．Because of that, he was sent to prison．During the three years in prison, he learned to write short stories．After he got out of prison, he went to New York and continued writing．He wrote mostly about New York and the life of the poor there．People liked his stories, because simple as the tales were they would finish with a sudden change at the end to the reader’s surprise．

(1)

In which order did O．Henry do the following things?

a．lived in New York

b．worked in a bank

c．travelled to Texas

d．was put in prison

e．had a newspaper

f．learned to write stories

[　　]

A．

e．c．f．b．d．a(chǎn)．

B．

c．b．e．d．a(chǎn)．f．

C．

e．b．d．c．a(chǎn)．f

D．

c．e．b．d．f．a(chǎn)．

(2)

People enjoyed reading O．Henry’s stories because ________．

[　　]

A．

they had surprise ending

B．

they were easy to understand

C．

they showed his love for the poor

D．

they were about New York City

(3)

O．Henry went to prison because ________．

[　　]

A．

people thought he had stolen money from the newspaper

B．

people thought he had taken money that was not his

C．

he wanted to write stories about prisoners

D．

he broke the law by not using his own name

(4)

What do you know about O．Henry before he began writing?

[　　]

A．

He was well-educated

B．

He was very good at learning

C．

he was devoted to the poor

D．

He was not serious about his work

(5)

Where did O．Henry get most material for his short stories?

[　　]

A．

His life inside the prison

B．

The newspaper articles he wrote

C．

The city and people of New York

D．

His exciting early life as a boy

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選詞填空。

(pronunciation, take control of, ending, throughout the world, different from, set a standard, puzzle)

1．Who will ________this company when the manager retires next week?

2．When I speak English to others, they understand little of what I'm saying．Perhaps I still need to improve my ________．

3．We have already ________for the food．

4．O．Henry was expert in giving readers a very surprising ________in his book．

5．How SARS spread is still ________scientists up to now．

6．My answer to this problem is ________yours．

7．In the near future Chinese will be widely spoken ________．

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閱讀理解

O．Henry was a pen name used by an American writer of short stories．His real name was William Sydney Porter．He was born in North Carolina in 1862．As a young boy he lived an exciting life．He did not go to school for very long, but he managed to teach himself everything he needed to know．When he was about 20 years old, O．Henry went to Texas, where he tried different jobs．He first worked on a newspaper, and then had a job in a bank, when some money went missing from the bank O．Henry was believed to have stolen it．Because of that, he was sent to prison．During the three years in prison, he learned to write short stories．After he got out of prison, he went to New York and continued writing．He wrote mostly about New York and the life of the poor there．People liked his stories, because simple as the tales were, they would finish with a sudden change at the end, to the reader’s surprise．

(1)

In which order did O．Henry do the following things?

a．Lived in New York．

b．Worked in a bank．

c．Travelled to Texas．

d．Was put in prison．

e．Had a newspaper Job．

f．Learned to write stories．

[　　]

A．

e．c．f．b．d．a(chǎn)

B．

c．e．b．d．f．a(chǎn)

C．

e．b．d．c．a(chǎn)．f．

D．

c．b．e．d．a(chǎn) f．

(2)

People enjoyed reading O．Henry’s stories because

[　　]

A．

they had surprise endings

B．

they were easy to understand

C．

they showed his love for the poor

D．

they were about New York City

(3)

O．Henry went to prison because ________．

[　　]

A．

people thought he had stolen money from the newspaper

B．

he broke the law by not using his own name

C．

he wanted to write stories about prisoners

D．

people thought he had taken money that was not his

(4)

What do we know about O．Henry before he began writing?

[　　]

A．

He was well-educated．

B．

He was not serious about his work．

C．

He was devoted to the poor．

D．

He was very good at learning．

(5)

Where did O．Henry get most material for his short stories?

[　　]

A．

His life inside the prison．

B．

The newspaper articles he wrote．

C．

The city and people of New York．

D．

His exciting early life as a boy．

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閱讀理解

　　Visitors can find a small, old house called the O．Henry Museum in central Austin, Texas．William Sydney Porter(1862-1910)－better known as O．Henry, was one of America's best loved writers of short stories．Beginning in 1893, he lived here．It was saved from destruction, moved, and turned into a museum in 1934．The museum is a good way to learn about the interesting life of him．

　　William Porter rented this house and live with his wife and daughter for about two years．Many objects in the museum belonged to the Porters．Others did not, but are in the house to recreate the way it looked during their lifetime．

　　Porter worked at a pharmacy, farm, land office and bank．He also loved words and writing．The museum has special proof of Porter's love of language－h(huán)is dictionary．It's said that he read every word in it．Porter started a small publication called “The Rolling Stone”．He wasn't being published early on, so he published himself．His funny stories, poems, and drawings were published in the magazine．But it was too costly to continue for long, so he closed the project after about one year．

　　Other troubles would lead the Porters to leave Austin．Porter was accused of financial wrongdoing at the bank and lost his job．Fearing a trial, he fled the country．But he returned because his wife was dying．After her death, he faced trial and was found guilty．He served three and a half years in a federal prison in Ohio．

　　Porter would keep his time in prison a secret．But there was one good thing about it．It provided him with time to write．By the time of his release, he had published 14 stories and was becoming well-known as O．Henry．

　　Porter would later move to New York City and find great success there．He published over 380 stories in the last eight years of his life．

(1)

What is the author's purpose of writing paragraph 3?

[　　]

A．

To attract more visitors to the O．Henry Museum．

B．

To show the jobs O．Henry once did．

C．

To show O．Henry's early love of words and writing．

D．

To introduce O．Henry's publication called “The Rolling Stone”．

(2)

Which of the following shows the right order of O．Henry?

a．He was committed to prison．

b．He settled down in central Austin．

c．His wife died．

d．He started a small publication called “The Rolling Stone”．

e．He moved to New York City．

[　　]

A．

bdcae

B．

bcade

C．

bdcea

D．

bacde

(3)

What can be inferred from the passage?

[　　]

A．

Most of O．Henry's short stories were finished in prison．

B．

O．Henry didn't start his career as a successful writer when living in central Austin．

C．

O．Henry was born in a small, old house which is called the O．Henry Museum now．

D．

O．Henry spent his last life in the small, old house in Texas．

(4)

What does the author want to tell us in the passage?

[　　]

A．

O．Henry's experience in prison．

B．

The objects in the O．Henry's Museum

C．

O．Henry's achievement in literature．

D．

A brief account of O．Henry's life

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