Word Study

to earn one's living - to earn money

sketch - a short story

pilot - a person guiding ships through difficult waters

just - right

to rule - to govern

hypocrisy - pretending to be what you are not

ignorance - lack (oTcyrcTBHe) of education, knowledge

to expose - to show

I. Read thesentences. They will help you understand the under­lined words:

1. The boy had to earn his own living. 2- Mark Twain was the best sketch writer -

3. He worked as a pilot.

4. M. Twain is a just critic of capitalist America.

5. He shows the hypocrisy and ignorance of the ruling classes.

6. The writer exposes the social injustice of America.

Notes:

1. Mark Twain - b nepeaoae osaaqaeT " oTMe-rb flBa", Jiou.MaH-ckhh repMHH, o6o3HaqaiofflHH onpeaeJieHHyro rJiy6HHy.

2. " The Innocent Abroad" - " IIpocraKH sa rpammefi".

The second half of the 19th century is marked by the growth of realistic tendencies in American literature. The most outstanding American author of this period is Mark Twain.

Mark Twain's real name was Samuel Clemens. He spent his boy­hood in Hannibal on the Mississippi River. He told about his boy­hood in the book " The Adventures of Tom Sawyer". When he was 12, his father died and the boy had to earn his own living. He worked as a printer and afterwards as a pilot on the Mississippi River. America, as it was in fact, passed before his eyes- He was

beginning to know his country. He was 27 when his first sketches and stories began to appear under his pen-name ~ Mark Twain.

Soon Mark Twain was acknowledged as the best shortstory writ­er in America. He published, with great success, " The Adventures of Tom Sawyer", " The Innocents Abroad", " The Adventures of Huck­leberry Finn", " The Prince and the Pauper", etc.

Mark Twain started as a humorist. In many of his stories and pamhiets he is a just and severe critic of capitalist America. He shows the power of gold that rules the country, the hypocrisy and

ignorance of the ruling classes and exposes the social injustice of America.

Mark Twain visited Russia as a journalist- He was fascinated by Yalta. The Crimean mountains remmded him of his favourite Sierra

Nevada range, and he wrote in his diary that he wished he could speak Russian.

II. Answer these questions:

1- What do you know of M. Twain's family and his childhood? 2. Why did he choose " Mark Twain" as his pen-name? 3- What professions did he try?

4. What stories did he write?

5. What M. Twain's stories have you read?