Forest dwellers

Author: Thomas Hardy, annotated by Hu Ming
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2002-09-17
Features: Dear teachers and students, the "New Standard Primary and Secondary School Graded English Readers" jointly published by the Foreign Language Teaching and Research Press and the British Macmillan Publishing Company are finally presented to you. Not only are they rich and interesting in content, opening a window to British and American culture, but they are also a helpful companion on the journey of learning English. This series of readers is divided into 5 levels based on difficulty: Starter Level, Beginner Level, Elementary Level, Intermediate Level, and Upper Level. The content includes independent novels and works, all selected from original novels, adapted classic literature, or popular science reading materials, covering themes that interest primary and secondary school students. The readers provide annotations on vocabulary, grammar, and language difficulty according to different levels, enabling students with varying language proficiency to read English works. Each book is accompanied by self-assessment exercises to guide and assist students in reading, or can be used by teachers to organize and guide systematic reading activities.
Thomas Hardy was born on June 2, 1840, in Higher Bockhampton. This small village is near Dorchester, in Dorset County in the south of England. Hardy's parents were poor, working-class people. Thomas went to a school in Dorchester and studied Latin, French, and German, as well as literature, science, and art. At the age of 16, he began studying architecture. When he was 22, he went to London and worked for an architect. He returned to Dorset in 1867, and in the same year, he began writing his first novel. At this time, Hardy fell in love with Trphena Sparks. Their romance continued during the summer of 1869 until, in 1870, Hardy went to work in the county of Cornwall. There, he met Emma Gifford, the daughter of a rich lawyer. Hardy's first novel, Desperate Remedies, was published in 1871. Between 1871 and 1895, he wrote 15 other novels, some short stories, and poems. In 1874, Hardy married Emma Gifford and stopped working as an architect. He and Emma moved to live near Dorchester in 1887. Hardy designed their large house himself and called it Max Gate. Hardy became rich and famous, and many important visitors came to meet him at Max Gate. However, his marriage to Emma was not happy. When she died in 1912, the writer was very upset, and from that time, he wrote no more novels. Instead, he wrote poetry. Many of his poems were sad.