Mark Twain

王昕

Samuel Langhorne Clemens was born in Florida， Missouri， on November 30， 1835. He was the son of Jane （1803—1890）， a native of Kentucky， and John Marshall Clemens （1798—1847）， a Virginian by birth. His parents met when his father moved to Missouri and were married several years later， in 1823. He was the sixth of seven children， but only three of his siblings survived childhood.

When he was four， Twain's family moved to Hannibal， Missouri， a port town on the Mississippi River that inspired the fictional town of St. Petersburg in The Adventures of Tom Sawyer and Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. In 1847， when Twain was 11， his father died of pneumonia. The next year， he became a printer's apprentice （徒弟）. In 1851， he began working as a typesetter and contributor of articles and humorous sketches for the Hannibal Journal， a newspaper owned by his brother Orion. When he was 18， he left Hannibal and worked as a printer in New York City， Philadelphia， St. Louis， and Cincinnati. He joined the newly formed International Typographical Union， the printers union， and educated himself in public libraries in the evenings， finding wider information than at a conventional school.

On a voyage to New Orleans down the Mississippi， steamboat pilot Horace E. Bixby inspired Twain to become a pilot himself. As Twain observed in Life on the Mississippi， the pilot was better than a steamboat's captain in power; it was a rewarding occupation with wages set at $250 per month. A steamboat pilot needed to know the ever-changing river to be able to stop at the hundreds of ports and wood-lots. Twain studied 2，000 miles （3，200 km） of the Mississippi for more than two years before he received his steamboat pilot license in 1859.

This occupation gave him his pen name， Mark Twain， from “mark twain”， meaning “according to the mark [on the line]， [the depth is] two [fathoms]”. Twain used different pen names before deciding on “Mark Twain”. He signed humorous and imaginative sketches as “Josh” until 1863. Additionally， he used the pen name “Thomas Jefferson Snodgrass” for a series of humorous letters.

While training， Samuel convinced his younger brother Henry to work with him. Henry was killed on June 21， 1858， when the steamboat he was working on， the Pennsylvania， exploded. Twain had foreseen this death in a dream a month earlier， which inspired his interest in parapsychology; he was an early member of the Society for Psychical Research. Twain was guilt-stricken and held himself responsible for the rest of his life. He continued to work on the river and was a river pilot until the American Civil War broke out in 1861.

Travels

Twain joined Orion， who in 1861 became secretary to the governor of Nevada Territory， and headed west. Twain and his brother traveled more than two weeks on a coach across the Great Plains and the Rocky Mountains， visiting the Mormon community in Salt Lake City.

Twain's journey ended in the silver-mining town of Virginia City， Nevada， where he became a miner. Twain failed as a miner and worked at a Virginia City newspaper. Working under writer and friend， here he first used his pen name， “Mark Twain”. His experiences in the West inspired Roughing It and provided material for “The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County”.

His first success as a writer came when his humorous tall tale， “The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County，” was published in a New York weekly on November 18， 1865. It brought him national attention. A year later， he traveled to the Sandwich Islands （present-day Hawaii） as a reporter.

In 1867， a local newspaper funded a trip to the Mediterranean. It was on this trip that he met his future brother-in-law， Charles Langdon. Both were passengers aboard the Quaker City on their way to the Holy Land. Langdon showed a picture of his sister Olivia to Twain; Twain claimed to have fallen in love at first sight.

Reading Comprehension

1. The title for the first part of the passage is “_______”.

A. Early life of Mark Twain B. Mark Twain's life experience

C. Mark Twain and his family D. Mark Twain and his pen name

2. The underlined word “siblings” in Para 1 is closest in meaning to _______.

A. children B. relatives C. parents D. sisters and brothers

3. How many novels of Mark Twain's are mentioned in the passage？

A. 1 B. 2 C. 3 D. 4

4. Mark Twain became a pilot because of _______.

A. Orion B. Horace E. Bixby C. Painters' Union D. Henry

5. What made Mark Twain feel sad and guilty？ Why？ ____________________________

6. Samuel Langhorne Clemens used ____， ____ and ____ as his pen names.

7. Fill in the table below.

（Key  p. 37）