Английский язык. Часть I. Коныгина Г.И - 8 стр.

9. Dickens's sharp social criticism is directed to the improvement of the con-
    temporary society.
10. Dickens’s once happy family life proved unsuccessful and disappointing.
11. Charles Dickens was a person who led a secluded life in his private estate
    and hated travelling.
12. Dickens abstained from journalism not willing to demonstrate his indignation
    at social ills.
13. The only thing Charles Dickens failed in was his desire to become a public
    recitalist.
14. The stage was the love of Dickens’s life and he performed in amateur theatri-
    cals.
15. Literary critics state that Dickens’s novels retain their place among the great
    novels in the English language

Read the following passages presenting additional information about
Charles Dickens’s life and writings. Fill in the gaps with the missing pieces
of information that you can infer from the text or guess from the context.

1. Dickens began his writing career as a (1) ___. His own father became a re-
   porter and Charles followed his example. He worked for different (2) ___.
   With new contacts in the press, he was able to (3) ___ a series of sketches
   under the (4) ___ Boz. In 1836, his articles were compiled and published as
   (5) ___.
2. Dickens successfully used the system of publishing a (6) ___ in journals seri-
   ally in monthly (7) ___. Most of Dickens's major novels were first (8) ___ in
   cheap monthly or weekly instalments. Dickens found a readership who ea-
   gerly anticipated his next (9) ___. It has been estimated that one out of every
   ten persons in Victorian (10) ___ was a Dickens (11) ___.
3. Dickens created 989 named (12) ___ during his career. He often gives his
   characters (13) ___ which provide the (14) ___ with a hint as to the roles
   played in advancing the storyline, such as Mr Murdstone in the novel David
   Copperfield, which is clearly a combination of "murder" and stony coldness.
4. Dickens’s works were also (15) ___ in America, sometimes simultaneously
   with the British edition and often with little or no compensation to the (16)
   ___ or his publishers due to the lack of an international (17) ___ law. Dick-
   ens campaigned unsuccessfully for international copyright during his first
   American visit in 1842. An English-American copyright law would not be
   enacted until 1891.
5. In 1869, Dickens began his last serialized (18) ___ The Mystery of Edwin
   Drood inspired by Wilkie Collins. The protagonist of the novel is the choir-
   master of the cathedral, John Jaspers, who lives a double life, as an opium
   addict and a respected member of society. His ward, Edwin Drood, disap-
   pears after the murder is committed and a disguised detective arrives to in-
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