JANE AUSTEN(1775—1817)is often regarded as the greatest of English women novelists on the strength of her six completed novels．Known particularly for their social comedy and accurate description of human relationships，they are still as widely read today as they have ever been．
The seventh child of a country priest(牧师)，Jane Austen was born on 16 December 1775 at Steventon in Hampshire．Her father ,the Reverend George Austen，was an intelligent and sensitive man who encouraged Jane in her love of reading．From an early age she was familiar with the works of Henry Fielding，Sir Walter Scott，Richardson，Frances Burney and the poet George Crabbe．Her early attempts at writing include burlesques(滑稽作品)of popular romances．When her father retired in 1801 the family moved to Bath，which was later to feature in her novel Northanger Abbey(published in 1818)．After his death in 1805 the family moved first to Southampton and then in 1809 to Chawton in Hampshire．where Jane Austen is known to have written her last three novels：Mansfield Park(1814)，Emma(1816)and Persuasion(also published in 1818)．Although her other novels were written much earlier ,it was not until 1811 that Sense and Sensibility was first published．Pride and Prejudice，which followed in1813,features Jane Austen’own favourite hero，Elizabeth Bennet．
Surrounded by her lively and warm family and wholly buried herself in her writing and housework，Jane Austen led a life often known for its lack of events．She did，however ,attract several admirers and even accepted a proposal of marriage from one admirer-only to change her mind the following morning．Jane Austen’s independent life often seems reflected in her novels，which seem to display the world in miniature(缩影)．Sir Walter Scott praised Jane Austen for‘that unique
touch which makes ordinary commonplace things and characters interesting’，while Somerset Maugham claimed that she had at her command ‘the most precious gift a novelist can possess’s that of keeping the reader’s interest．Jane Austen died in 1817．
小题1:The underlined word“touch” in the third paragraph is closest in meaning to
| A．style | B．contact | C．taste | D．attitude |
小题2:Which of Jane Austen’s novels were published after her death?
| A．Northanger Abbey and Mansfield Park． |
| B．Northanger Abbey and Persuasion． |
| C．Pride and Prejudice and Emma． |
| D．Sense and Sensibility and Persuasion． |
小题3:We can infer from the passage that Jane Austen had a gift for
| A．attracting admirers |
| B．reflecting her own life in all her novels |
| C．making dull things and characters interesting |
| D．holding the readers’ interest |
小题4:This passage is most probably a
| A．collection of women novelists and their works |
| B．comment on Jane Austen and her works |
| C．brief introduction of Jane Austen |
| D．description of Jane Austen’s road to success |
