Mark Twain Исполнитель

Mark Twain

Mark Twain was born in 1835 in the USA. His real name was Samuel Langhorne Clemens. He spent his boyhood in the small town of Hannibal on the Mississippi River. When he was 12, his father died. After his father’s death he left school and went to work. For ten years, Twain worked as a printer in different towns and cities. Later he became a pilot on the Mississippi River.

His first short story was published in 1867 under the pen name “Mark Twain.” The name Mark Twain comes from a term used by riverboat pilots to call out the depth of a river. After his first short story, he continued writing under this name and he became well known as the best short story writer in America.

In 1876 he published “The Adventures of Tom Sawyer,” in which he described the life of a boy in a Mississippi River town at the time of his own boyhood. Shortly after this, he published a book about one of Tom Sawyer’s friends, “Huckleberry Finn.”

Mark Twain is known as America’s greatest humorist, and his works are full of humour, from jokes to satire. He belongs to those writers of the past whose works never age. His works have been published in 25 languages. He died in 1910.

Comprehension Questions

1. List at least three jobs that Mark Twain held.
2. What was Mark Twain’s real name?
3. For what kind of writing was Mark Twain famous?
4. About what is “The Adventures of Tom Sawyer”?

Discussion Questions

1. What is a pen name? Why would a writer use a pen name? If you had to choose a pen name, what would it be? Why?
2. What have you read that was written by Mark Twain? What did you think of it?
3. What do you imagine a pilot on the Mississippi River did?
4. What are the traits of books that “never age”?