On June 9th，1870， Charles Dickens died at the age of 58． The next day， a headline in The New York Times read： "Death of the Great Novelist …Will Be Remembered by the People …"

    The headline was not overstating （夸大） the popularity of Dickens．Even today， the British novelist is loved by readers all over the world．Dickens created some unforgettable characters． You must have heard of or even read some of his novels： Oliver Twist， A Christmas Carol and A Tale of Two Cities． A Tale of Two Cities has sold more than 200 million copies． Since 1897， there have been more than 300 film and TV adaptations （改编版本）of Dickens' works．A Christmas Carol alone has had nearly 50．

    Natalie Mcknight is a literature professor （文学教授） who studies Dickens and his works．She explains why the novelist has remained so popular． One important reason， she says，is that Dickens wrote from his heart． He tried hard to produce emotional effects （情感效果） among his readers． In his works，he paid special attention to the "little man" at the bottom of society in the UK， which deeply mirrored the social reality at that time． A Christmas Carol， for example， was written to make every reader think about how they could make a difference to their society． People always enjoy works that make them laugh， cry and think． Many other 9th﹣century novelists wrote entertaining （娱乐的） works． However， few of them worked as hard as Dickens to touch the readers deeply．

    Dickens wrote about situations and emotions that still interest people today． He used his pen to fight social inequality and gave voice to the poor． His works led to many important social changes． Readers always enjoy seeing poor people rise and succeed．

    This year marks the 150th year of Dickens' death． It's another chance to remember this great writer． Will you read or re﹣read some of his famous works？

（1）What is Paragraph （段落）2 mainly about？　　

A． Personality of Dickens．

B． Appearance of Dickens．

C． Popularity of Dickens．

（2）As a novelist， why has Dickens remained so popular？　　

A． He wrote for fun．

B． He wrote from his heart．

C． He mainly wrote for the upper class．

（3）When people read Dickens' novels， they could　　．

①meet the "little man" at the bottom of society in the UK

②know about the social reality at that time

③not be influenced by the works at all

④think about how to make a difference to their society

A．①②③

B．②③④

C．①②④

（4）What does the underlined word "inequality" mean in Paragraph 4？　　

A．不平等

B．不现实

C．不稳定

（5）The purpose of writing this text is probably to　　．

A． introduce Charles Dickens' life and death

B． encourage readers to read or re﹣read Charles Dickens' works

C． present the similarities between Charles Dickens and other writers