Read the following passage and mark the letter A, B, C, or D on your answer sheet to indicate the correct answer to each of the questions.William Sydney Porter (1862-1910), who wrote under the pseudonym of O. Henry, was born in North Carolina. His only formal education was to attend his Aunt Lina’s school until the age of fifteen, where he developed his lifelong love of books. By 1881 he was a licensed pharmacist. However, within a year, on the recommendation of a medical colleague of his...
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Read the following passage and mark the letter A, B, C, or D on your answer sheet to indicate the correct answer to each of the questions.
William Sydney Porter (1862-1910), who wrote under the pseudonym of O. Henry, was born in North Carolina. His only formal education was to attend his Aunt Lina’s school until the age of fifteen, where he developed his lifelong love of books. By 1881 he was a licensed pharmacist. However, within a year, on the recommendation of a medical colleague of his Father’s, Porter moved to La Salle County in Texas for two years herding sheep. During this time, Webster’s Unabridged Dictionary was his constant companion, and Porter gained a knowledge of ranch life that he later incorporated into many of his short stories. He then moved to Austin for three years, and during this time the first recorded use of his pseudonym appeared, allegedly derived from his habit of calling “Oh, Henry” to a family cat. In 1887, Porter married Athol Estes. He worked as a draftsman, then as a bank teller for the First National Bank.
In 1894 Porter founded his own humor weekly, the “Rolling Stone”, a venture that failed within a year, and later wrote a column for the Houston Daily Post. In the meantime, the First National Bank was examined, and the subsequent indictment of 1886 stated that Porter had embezzled funds. Porter then fled to New Orleans, and later to Honduras, leaving his wife and child in Austin. He returned in 1897 because of his wife’s continued ill-health, however she died six months later. Then, in 1898 Porter was found guilty and sentenced to five years imprisonment in Ohio. At the age of thirty five, he entered prison as a defeated man; he had lost his job, his home, his wife, and finally his freedom. He emerged from prison three years later, reborn as O. Henry, the pseudonym he now used to hide his true identity. He wrote at least twelve stories in jail, and after re-gaining his freedom, went to New York City, where he published more than 300 stories and gained fame as America’s favorite short Story writer. Porter married again in 1907, but after months of poor health, he died in New York City at the age of forty-eight in 1910. O. Henry’s stories have been translated all over the world.
Why did the author write the passage?
A. to outline the career of a famous AmericanB. because of his fame as America’s favorite short story writer
B. because of his fame as America’s favorite short story writer
C. because it is a tragic story of a gifted writer
D. to outline the influences on O. Henry’s writing
At sixteen Henry Vincent was separated from his family as a result of the war. He wandered aimlessly from one country to another 1 before finally settling down in Australia, 2 where he trained AS an electronics engineer. He established HIS own business but it called for so much work that marriage was out of the 3 question.
His retirement suddenly made him realise how lonely he was and he decided to 5 take up a hobby. Whit his interest in electronics, amateur radio seemed a natural choice. He installed his own equipment and obtained a license and his call sign, which is the set of letters and numbers used to identify oneself when making radio contact 6 with other radio amateurs all around the world.
Soon Henry had a lot of contacts in far-off places. One in particular was a man in California with 7 whom he had much in common. One night the man in California made to mention the village in Europe he had come from. Suddenly, Henry realised that this man was in fact his younger brother, Peter. At first, the two brothers were at a 8 loss for words but then little by little they filled 9 in the details of their past lives and not long afterwards Henry Vincent flew to California to 10 be reunited with his brother.
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