“The Lord of the Rings”, one of the best sellers in the new millennium(千年), was made up of three parts—“The Fellow Ship of the Ring”, “Two Towers”, and “The Return of the King”. Millions upon millions of people have read it in over 25 different languages, but fewer know about the author and the history of the composition of the creative masterwork. John Ronald Refuel Tolkien was born in South Africa in 1892. His parents died when he was a child. Living in England with his aunt, Tolkien and his cousins made up play languages, a hobby that led to Tolkien’s becoming skilled in Welsh, Greek, Gothic, Old Norse and Anglo—Saxon. After graduating from Oxford, Tolkien served in World War I. In 1917, while recovering from trench fever he began composing the mythology for The Rings. As a professor of Anglo-Saxon in the 1930s at Oxford, Tolkien was part of an informal discussion group called the Inklings, which included several writers. The group was soon 1istening to chapters of Tolkien’s imaginative work “The Hobbit”. Hobbit was a name Tolkien created for people that could best be described as half-sized members of the English rural(乡村的)class. Hobbits live in hillside holes. One of them，Bilbo Baggins, looks for treasures with a group of dwarves(侏儒). On the way, he meets the twisted, pitiful creature Gollum, from whom he sees a golden ring that makes the holder invisible. One of Tolkien’s students persuaded her employer, publisher Allen & Unwind, to look at a draft (草稿). The chairman of the firm, Stanley Unwind, thought that the best judge for a Children’s book would be his ten-year-old son. The boy earned a shilling for reporting back that the adventure was exciting, and “The Hobbit” was published in 1937. It sold so well that Unwind asked for a continuation. Over a dozen years later, in 1954, Tolkien produced “The Lord of the Rings”, a series of books so creative that they hold readers both new and old -- after their publication. 小题1:What can we learn from the text?
a. He had his “The Hobbit” published. b. He became a member of the Inklings. c. He served in World War I. d. He became an undergraduate at Oxford. e. His work “The Lord of the Rings” came to the world. f. He moved to England to live with his aunt.
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