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THE BRONTE FAMILY
Yorkshire in England was the setting for two great novels of the 19th century. These were Charlotte Bronte's Jane Eyre and Emily Bronte's Wuthering Heights. The youngest sister, Anne, was also a gifted novelist, and her books have the same extraordinary quality as her sisters'.
Their father was Patrick Bronte, born in Ireland. He moved with his wife, Maria Bronte, and their six small children to Haworth in Yorkshire in 1820. Soon after, Mrs. Bronte and the two eldest children died, leaving the father to care for the remaining three girls and a boy.
Charlotte was born in 1816. Emily was born in 1818 and Anne in 1820. Their brother Branwell was born in 1817. Left to themselves, the children wrote and told stories and walked over the hills. They grew up largely selfeducated. Branwell showed a great interest in drawing. The girls were determined to earn money for his art education. They took positions as teachers or taught children in their homes.
As children they had all written many stories. Charlotte, as a young girl, alone wrote 22 books, each with 60 to 100 pages of small handwriting. Therefore, they turned to writing for income. By 1847, Charlotte had written The Professor; Emily, Wuthering Heights; and Anne, Agnes Grey. After much difficulty Anne and Emily found a publisher, but there was no interest shown in Charlotte's book. (It was not published until 1859.) However, one publisher expressed an interest in seeing more of her work. Jane Eyre was already started, and she hurriedly finished it. It was accepted at once; thus each of the sisters had a book published in 1847.
Jane Eyre was immediately successful; the other two, however, did not do so well. People did not like Wuthering Heights. They said it was too wild, too animallike. But gradually it came to be considered one of the finest novels in the English language. Emily lived only a short while after the publication of the book and Anne died in 1849.
Charlotte published Shirley in 1849, and Villette in 1853. In 1854 she married Arthur Bell Nicholls. But only a year later, she died of tuberculosis (肺结核) as her sisters had.
1．What did the Bronte sisters want to do for Branwell?
A．Help him write stories.
B．Help him get trained in art.
C．Teach him how to draw well.
D．Teach him how to educate himself.
解析：选B 细节理解题。文章第三段倒数第二句“The girls were determined to earn money for his art education.”表明，Bronte姐妹想资助Branwell学习美术。
2．We know from the text that________.
A．Jane Eyre was published in 1847
B．Charlotte Bronte wrote 22 books in all
C．the Bronte sisters received a good education
D．Patrick Bronte helped his daughters with their writings
解析：选A 推理判断题。文章第四段最后两句话表明，姐妹三个在1847年各出了一本书，而Jane Eyre就是其中之一。因此正确答案为A项。
3．Which of the following was published after the death of its writer?
A．Shirley. B．Villette.
C．Agnes Grey D．The Professor.
解析：选D 推理判断题。由最后一段可知，Charlotte死于1855年。由第四段可知，她的著作The Professor是在1859年出版的。因此正确答案应为D项。
4．What do we know about the Bronte sisters from the text?
A．Their novels interested few publishers.
B．None of them had more than two books published.
C．None of them lived longer than 40 years old.
D．Emily was the least successful of the three.
解析：选C 推理判断题。Charlotte出生于1816年，死于1855年；Emily生于1818年，死于“had a book published in 1847”“a short while after the publication of the book”；Anne生于1820年，死于1849年。经计算可知，姐妹三个都没有活过40岁。
