When, after a year of being alone on his island, Robinson Crusoe sees a footprint in the sand, the reader of Robinson Crusoe trembles. Will Crusoe find another human being to end his loneliness? Is the footprint the sign of an enemy? Since 1719, when Daniel Defoe wrote Robinson Crusoe, thousands of people who enjoy English novels have thrilled to this great adventure story. But few know how the story came to be written. Robinson Crusoe was the first English novel. Its birth brought together the misadventures of a Scotch “failure” and the untapped imagination of an aging English scribbler.

Near the end of the Seventeenth Century, the hot-tempered Alexander Selkirk was charged with bad conduct while in church. Rather than face this charge, he ran away to sea. Several years later, Selkirk found himself on the ship of an English privateer. The privateer was preying on Spanish shipping. But Selkirk quarreled bitterly with the Captain. So, when the ship came to the island of Juan Femandez in the South Seas, Selkirk asked to be put ashore. When he saw that there were no people on the island, he begged to be taken back on board. But the Captain refused—Selkirk had gone too far. Over four years later, Selkirk was rescued by another ship.

When Selkirk got back to England, the story of his life on the island fired the imagination of Daniel Defoe. Defoe had been earning a living by his pen since he was thirty. He was amazingly hard-working. He wrote a whole newspaper three times a week. He also made part of his living from politics. He supported both political parties. He told each party that it had his sole support.

小题1:Alexander Selkirk spent four years on a desert island because        .

A．he sought adventure

B．he was hot-tempered

C．he was afraid to face charges

D．his ship was wrecked小题2:Daniel Defoe         .

A．made his living as a writer

B．got his start as a writer with the writing of Robinson Crusoe

C．was very “straight”-he was hardworking and honest

D．had little power of imagination, but succeeded with his novel because he worked hard小题3:This passage is mainly about           .

A．how Alexander Selkirk was able to survive on the island.

B．why people enjoy English novels

C．what the footprint in the sand meant

D．how Robinson Crusoe came to be written小题4:According to this passage , which of the following statements is not true?

A．Robinson Crusoe was a successful novel.

B．Even if Alexander Selkirk had not lived on the island of Juan Femande, Robinson Crusoe would still have been written.

C．Daniel Defoe lived partly by hard work and partly by his “ wits ”.

D．With the writing of Robinson Crusoe , the English novel was born.小题5:The author’s attitude towards Daniel Defoe is          .

A．critical

B．supporting

C．both A and B

D．opposing