1991年高考英语全国卷 - 阅读理解A

O. Henry was a pen name used by an American writer of short stories. His real name was William Sydney Porter. He was born in North Carolina in 1862. As a young boy he lived an exciting life. He did not go to school for very long, but he managed to teach himself everything he needed to know. When he was about 20 years old, O. Henry went to Texas, where he tried different jobs. He first worked on a newspaper, and then has a job in a bank. When some money went missing from the bank, O. Henry was believed to have stolen it. Because of that, he was sent to prison. During the three years in Prison, he learned to write short stories. After he got out of prison, he went to New York and continued writing. He wrote mostly about New York and the life of the poor there. People liked his stories, because simple as the stories were, they would finish with a sudden change at the end, to the readers’ surprise.
欧·亨利是一位美国短篇小说作家使用的笔名，真名是威廉·西德尼·波特。他于1862年出生于北卡罗莱纳州。小时候，过着幸福的生活。他上学时间不长，但成功地自学了所需知的一切。大约20岁时，欧·亨利去了德克萨斯州，在那里，他尝试了不同的工作。先是在一家报社工作，然后去了一家银行。有一天银行里的一些钱不见了，怀疑是欧·亨利偷的。因此，他被送进了监狱。在监狱的三年里，他学会了写短篇小说。出狱后，他去了纽约，继续写作。他写的主要是关于纽约和那里穷人的生活。人们喜欢他的 小说，虽然情节简单，但结局会突然反转，带给读者惊喜。