Mark Twain was a pen name of Samuel Langhorne Clemens. He was born on November 30, 1835, in a small town in Florida, the USA. He __(1)__ a few naughty（淘气的）boys who later __(2)__ in his stories. At the age of 12, his father died, and he began to work, first as a printer, then on a river boat. Those years on the boat went into his book Life __(3)__ the Mississippi（密西西比）.

　　__(4)__ the Civil War（内战）he worked as a reporter and used Mark Twain as his pen name. The stories he wrote in this period（时期）__(5)__ him famous and popular. He made a lot of money by writing, lecturing and running（创办）__(6)__ publishing house（出版社）. But he spent all of it on high living and __(7)__ business.

　　Mark Twain __(8)__ as a“funny man”. But in fact he took a serious view of life. Many sad things happened in his own life. All his __(9)__ helped to shape（塑造）his stories __(10)__ showed the dark side of society（社会）. He died as an old man of 75 in 1910.