William Shakespeare is the greatest English writer 0f all time. Also Shakespeare was an actor and famous poet. The Sonnesls(十四行诗)and Romeo and Juliet are almost known in every comer of the world.
Shakespeare was born in Stratford-upon-Avon, a small town in England, in 1564. In his youth, he moved to London and began a career as a playwright(~ij作家). By 1594, he had become a key playwright of popular acting company in the city.
Shakespeare's work also has a big influence on the English language. Shakespeare was said to have had a huge vocabulary. His works included more than 30,000 different words. And he is master of words. He created about l,700 English, including everyday ones like "lonely", "hurry" and "critical".
There are over 400 films and TV dramas adapted(改编) from Shakespeare's work. He wrote 400 years ago and his English was very different from that of today, but it doesn't affect his popularity. His plays have been translated into every major language and are performed more often than any other playwright. Shakespeare is not of an age, but for all time.
Enjoy some of Shakespeare's works.
Romeo and Juliet
Romeo and Juliet fall in love with each other when they meet at a ball. But unfortunately, their families are long-standing enemies and try to prevent the young lovers form being together. In order to stay with Romeo, Juliet takes medicine and pretends to be dead. But Romeo doesn't know and thinks Juliet has truly died. He kills himself. When Juliet wakes up, it is too late.
Hamlet
Hamlet, the Prince of Denmark, is so sad when his father died. A month later, his mothermarries his uncle.
At this moment ,Hamlet knows that this uncle killed his father .All of this makes Hamlet angry and hopeless .The only thing he wants is revenge（复仇） .Although he finally kills his uncle ,he is trapped（陷害） by bad guys and loses his life .
The Merchant of Venice
Antonio,aVenetian merchant, borrows money from the moneylender Shylock. Shylock said that ifAntonio cannot pay back the money, he will get a pound of flesh(肉)from Antonio. Antonio loses all his business and must pay this terrible price. In order to help Antonio, his girlfriend Portia dresses up as a lawyer. Her wisdom not only saves Antonio but also punishes Shylock.
小题1:根据短文内容完成句子填空（每空限填一个单词）。
According to the passage, we know that Shakespeare wrote many________called The Sonnets as afamous poet and wrote lots of
____ as the greatest writer.
小题2:根据短文内容完成句子填空（每空限填一个单词）。
At the age of_______，Shakespeare became a key playwright. All his works effected English language greatly and some new words have been _______by Shakespeare.
小题3:根据短文内容回答问题。
According to the passage, why did the author say Shakespeare is not of an age, but for all time?
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小题4:把短文中画底线的句子译成汉语。
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小题5:根据短文内容用一个完整的英文句子（限10个词以内）回答问题。
What's the main idea of the passage?
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