阅读理解

    Hans Christian Andersen is a Danish writer famous for his fairy tales, many of which depict (描述) characters who gain happiness in life after suffering and conflict.

    Andersen's father was a poor shoemaker and his mother worked as a washerwoman. As a child he was highly emotional, suffering all kinds of fears and shame because of his unmanly interests. Encouraged by his parents, he composed his own fairy tales and arranged puppet (木偶) theater shows. At the age of 14, Andersen moved to Copenhagen to start a career as a singer—he had a beautiful voice. He succeeded in becoming associated with Royal Theater, but he had to leave it when his voice began to change. When casually referred to as a poet, he changed his plans and began to write plays, all of which were refused.

    In 1822, Jonas Collin, the director of the Royal Theater, gave Andersen a grant to enter the grammar school at Slagelse. In 1827, Andersen gained admission to Copenhagen University, where he completed his education. In 1828 he wrote a shot story on travel, a fantastic tale in the style of the German Romantic writer, E. T. A. Hofmann. He traveled widely in Europe and remained a passionate traveler all his life.

    As a novelist, Andersen made his breakthrough with The Improvisatore. The story described a poor boy's integration (融合) into society, an Ugly Duckling theme of self-discovery. The book gained international success and remains the most widely read of all his works.

    In his early collections, Andersen returned to the stories that he had heard as a child, but gradually he started to create his own tales. Most of Andersen's works were original. Only 12 of his 156 known fairy stories drew on folktales.

    The ugliness of the hero or heroine in his stories often conceals (隐藏) great beauty，which is revealed (揭示) after misfortune. Some of Andersen's tales reveal a positive belief in the victory of the good, among them, The Snow Queen and The Ugly Duckling, and some end unhappily, like the Little Match Girl. In The Little Mermaid the author expressed a longing for the ordinary life that he had never had. Andersen never married, and he died in his home in Rolighed in 1875.

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    Andrew Carnegie was born in 1835 in Scotland. He was from a poor family. When he was twelve, his family moved to the USA. They wanted a better life. There, Andrew started to work right away. He got a job in a factory. He was a good worker, but he didn't like the job. Later, he changed his job. He worked at the Railroad Company where everybody liked him. He did many different jobs. His salary got higher every year.

    In his free time, Andrew loved to read. But in those days, the United States didn't have free public libraries. Luckily, he lived with a rich man with many books, who let young boys use his library for free, so Andrew could read as much as possible. He read throughout his life.

    Andrew learned a lot at the railroad company. He realized that the railroad was very important for big countries. He had a idea to start a business with railroads. He saved all his money and opened a business at the age of thirty years.

    First, his company made bridges for the railroads. Ten years later, it made steel for bridges, machines, and many other things. Soon he was the richest man in the world.

    Andrew liked to make money. But he believed it was very important to help other people. In 1901, he sold his company for $480 million. He started to give away his money to make new libraries and colleges all over the United States. He built 2811 libraries. Andrew also gave a lot of money to people who worked for peace. In 1903, he gave $1.5 million to build a Peace Palace in the Netherlands.

    Andrew Carnegie died in 1919.He was eighty-four years old. During his life, he gave away nearly all of his money. He gave away over $350 million for education and peace. There are colleges, libraries, hospitals, and parks named after Andrew Carnegie.He helped millions of people all over the world to study and learn.