Ответьте на вопросы по тексту:
1. When and where was Charles Dickens born?
2. What was his childhood like?
3. When did Charles begin working?
4. Where had Charles worked before he became famous?
5. What was he doing when he worked as a reporter?
6. What novel made Dickens famous?
7. When was this novel published?
8. What did Dickens write about?
9. When and where were Dickens’ novels set?
10. What do people value Charles Dickens novels for?

Текст:
Charles Dickens is one of the best known and best loved of all English novelists. He was born in Portsmouth in 1812. The little boy was very talented. He learned to read at an early age and read many books in his childhood. When he was about six, he saw a play by Shakespeare in the theatre. He was so inspired by this play, that he wrote a play himself and performed it together with his friends.

When Charles was nine years old, the family came to London. Life was hard for poor people in London. Charles’ father couldn’t get any work there and little Charles, at ten, had to go to work. At twelve, Charles was sent to school again. At fifteen he left school and became a newspaper reporter. He had worked as a reporter for several years before his first novels were written and published. At the same time he was writing for a variety of magazines. In 1836, Charles Dickens married, published his first book, and began writing his humorous novel The Pickwick Papers, which made him famous. In 1837, it was published and was a huge success.

Then his novels Oliver Twist, Nicholas Nickleby, David Copperfield, Hard Times and many others were published one after another. In these novels he described what he had learned in his hard childhood. Charles Dickens gave the realistic picture of the life of English people. His novels were set in Victorian England.* Charles Dickens was a great master of powerful and honest stories about poor people. He had vivid imagination and developed fabulous plots. To many people the characters of his novels seemed more real than the real characters of history.

The great writer died in 1870 at the age of fifty-eight. He was honoured by his contemporaries as a remarkable novelist. His books were translated into many languages, and they are still popular today. His birthplace is visited by many tourists. People all over the world value his novels for their realism, humour, their love and sympathy for ordinary people.

1. Charles Dickens was born in Portsmouth in 1812.2. He was a very talented boy, he learned to read at an early age but his life was hard.3. He had to go to work at ten.4. Charles had worked as a newspaper reporter before he became famous.5. He was writing for a variety of magazines when he worked as a reporter.6. The humorous novel The Pickwick Papers made Dickens famous.7. This novel was published in 1837.8. Dickens wrote about the life of poor English people.9. His novels were set in Victorian England.10. People all over the world value his novels for their realism, humour, their love and sympathy for ordinary people.