The success of Pickwick Papers made Dickens very popular. He suddenly found himself at twenty-four the most famous novelist of his day. Busy as his social life was, he worked on two novels at the same time－Oliver Twist and Pickwick Papers. He was particularly proud of Pickwick, which was a huge success and was regarded as a comedy (喜剧)masterpiece(杰作). “If I were to live a hundred years and write novels in each, I should never be so proud of any of them as I am proud of Pickwick Papers,” he said.
It has been said of Dickens that he grasped（抓住）the imagination of his readers because his imagination grasped himself. The people in his works were so real that they could make him laugh or cry. When writing Oliver Twist he said that he could not rest until Fagin, the wrongdoer(做坏事的人), had been hanged.
Dickens’ marriage to Catherine Hagarth, with whom he had nine children, ended unhappily in 1858. He started to travel about giving readings of his works. His interest in theater gave his novels the qualities that made them suitable for reading aloud on the stage. A tiring travel to the United States affected his health. On June 9, 1870, when he was working on a new novel, he died, as he had wished. He said he wanted to die working.
小题1: Dickens became a famous novelist .
A．because his social work
B．with the success of Pickwick Papers
C．because he was writing two novels at the same time
D．when he began to give readings of his works小题2: According to this passage, we know that Dickens .
A．was only interested in writing novels
B．didn’t like Oliver Twist
C．wished to live one hundred years and write three novels in each
D．didn’t think he could write a better novel than Pick wick Papers in his life小题3:Fagin must be .
A．a person in real life
B．a character in Oliver Twist
C．a character in Pickwick Papers
D．one of Dickens’ works小题4: Which of the following is TRUE?
A．Dickens had a happy marriage to Catherine Hagarth
B．Dickens was a successful actor
C．Dickens’ death had little to do with his hard work
D．Dickens had wished to die in the course of his work
