阅读理解

　　Mary Cassatt is considered one of America's most famous female artists．

　　She was born in Pennsylvania in 1844．When she was a child, Mary and her family spent five years travelling and living in Europe．Mary saw the great art museums, and she wanted to become an artist．

　　When she was seventeen, she said that she wanted to go to Paris to study art．At that time people thought that only men could become painters．It was not considered proper work for a woman Her father refused to let her study art．Finally he said she could study it if she went to a school near their home．She attended the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts．

　　At her graduation(毕业)in 1866, she again said that she had to go abroad to learn more about painting．Her father agreed to let her go．At 22 she sailed for Paris．She lived in France, but she went to other countries in Europe．She spent a lot of time in museums．She worked hard to improve her work．She studied the famous paintings of the old masters, and she copied and sketched(画素描)for hours．

　　She found, though, that she referred the new ideas used by a group of artists living in Paris．They called themselves impressionists(印象派画家)．Like them Mary Cassatt tried to show real people and the real world． Because these ideas were new, it took some years before people recognized(承认)her as the great artist that she was．

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阅读理解

　　Frankenstein is one of the world’s most famous horror stories．It’s about a doctor who creates a new man from the body parts of dead people and brings it to life．But the experiment goes wrong and the monster(怪兽)kills the doctor and many others．The story has been read by millions since it was first published and in the last hundred years it has been made into dozens of movies．Many people are surprised to learn its writer was a 19-year-old woman, called Mary Shelley．

　　Mary was born into a rich London family in August 1797．She was educated by her parents and when she was 13 decided to become a writer．In 1812, she met the famous writer Percy Shelley and they soon got married．Sadly for Mary, their first child died soon after birth in Italy．In her diary, Mary wrote about a dream：“I dreamt that my little baby came to life again－that it had only been cold and that we rubbed it before the fire and it lived．”

　　In 1816, Percy Shelley and 19-year-odl May visited the poet Lord Byron at his home in Switzerland．Because of the bad weather they stayed indoors reading horror stories．One night, Byron asked everyone to write their own story．Mary thought of her dream and wrote the story Frankenstein．

　　Frankenstein was published when Mary was 21, and became a huge success．Many people didn’t think a 19-year-old woman could write so well and believed her husband was the real writer．

　　Although famous, Shelley’s life was full of sadness．Only one of her four children lived and in 1822 her husband died in a swimming accident．Mary was broken-hearted and decided not to marry again．She devoted herself to her child and continued to write until her death in 1851．

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