Charles Dickens was one of the most beloved storytellers in the English language. His novels made him famous in his own time, and continue as classics in ours.      Dickens began his literary career with almost no formal education. He was born in Landport, on Feb. 7, 1812, the second of eight children. When he was 12, his father was sent to debtor's prison. Dickens was forced to quit school and work in a London blacking factory. He would rework that terrible experience into his fiction for the rest of his life.      "He was a social reformer," says actor Simon Callow, author of a new biography called Charles Dickens and the Great Theatre of the World.  "He knew what poverty was. He knew what it was to be rejected, to be cast aside, to  live in squalor  ."      And so Dickens wrote with great sympathy for the suffering of innocent and vulnerable   children - characters like David Copperfield, Little Dorrit and the orphan, Oliver Twist:       With his slice of bread in his hand, and his little brown parish cap on his head, Oliver was now led away from the wretched home, where one kind word or look never lighted the gloom of his infant   days.       Yet he burst into an agony of childish grief as the cottage gate closed after him.  Wretched as were the little companions in,misery he was now leaving behind him, they were the only friends he had ever had.       His first book Sketches by Boz came out in 1836. With the appearance of Oliver Twist in London periodicals in 1837, the 25-year-old Dickens became the most popular writer in England. But his first love was theater, and he considered becoming an actor.      "When he was actually writing, he became his characters," says Peter Ackroyd, author of Dickens: Public Life and Private Passion. "He would get up from his desk, go over to the mirror and mouth the words - do the expressions, grimaces  , whatever, and then laugh, chuckle to himself, then go back to his desk and write it down."      Dickens created 989 named characters, which increased his popularity.... The author quotes Dickens' description of Oliver Twist mainly to show A) that Dickens was full of pity for poor children B) that Dickens knew well about poor children C) what real poverty was like in his days D) what kind of life Oliver Twist lived
A


Japanese people,who never miss a chance to be photographed,were lining up to get their pictures on a postage stamp.Vanity stamps with personal photographs went on sale for the first time in Japan as part of an international postage stamp exhibition.The customer's photo was taken with a digital camera and then printed on stamp sheets,a process that takes about five minutes.Sold in a sheet of 10 stamps for $8.80,little more than the cost of lunch in Tokyo,each stamp printed a different scene from a traditional painting along with the photo. The stamps can be used normally to mail a letter,and postal officials hope they will help encourage interest in letter writing in the Internet age."Certainly e-mail is a useful method of communication,but letters are fun in a different way,"said Hatsumi Shimizu an official in the Post Ministry."We want to show young people that letters can be fun too."[ While similar stamp sheets appeared in Australia in 1999 and are now sold in some nations and territories,Japan's fondness for commemorative photos is likely to make them especially popular here.Indeed,officials had prepared 1 000 sheets but they were sold out in less than 30 minutes.Although the stamps are currently only available as a special service during the exhibition,postal officials said they may start selling them on a regular basis in the future. The purpose of this activity is  _  . A) to make the international postage stamp exhibition more interesting B) to make more stamps for normal use C) to draw interest in writing letters D) to satisfy Japan's fondness of commemorative photos
C


*Question*
YUZHOU, HENAN -An accident in a central China coal mine killed 21 miners Saturday and left another 16 trapped underground , the government said. The death rose to 26 Sunday morning as rescuers were battling to reach the 11 miners who were still trapped underground, rescue headquarters said. Rescuers were battling to reach the 11 miners still trapped underground, but chances for them to survive were very slim, said Du Bo, deputy chief of the rescue headquarters. "Based upon past experience, the remaining 11 miners could be buried in coal dust, so the survival chances are frail," Du said. More than 2,500 tons of coal dust smothered  the pit after the gas leak , which hampered  the rescue, said Du. The gas outburst happened at 6:03 a.m. Saturday when 276 miners were working underground in the mine in Yuzhou City. A total of 239 workers escaped but 21 were found dead and 16 trapped. An initial  investigation showed that 173,500 cubic meters of gas leaked out in the accident. Liu Wenbin, a deputy chief engineer of the company that owns the mine, was in the pit  when the accident happened. He organized the escape. "At around 6 a.m., I felt there was something wrong with the airflow in the shaft, and one of the team captains told me he also felt it and had already reported the problem," said Liu The mine is owned by Pingyu Coal & Electric Co. Ltd., a company jointly established by four investors, including Zhong Ping Energy Chemical Group and China Power Investment Corp. According to the writer, which of the following is not true? A) The mine was owned by more than one company B) There was at least one more similar accident happening in Central China before C) Before the accident happened there was no sign of something wrong D) When the accident happened one of the mine owners was in the pit
**Answer**

C