【B1】 【B4】

Mark Twain, who wrote the story we’re going to read, traveled quite a lot because circumstances, usually financial circumstances, forced him to. He was born in Florida, Missouri in 1835 and moved to Hannibal, Missouri with his family when he was about 4 years old. Most people think he was born in Hannibal but that isn’t tree. After his father died when he was about 12, Twain worked in Hannibal for a while and then left, so he could earn more money. He worked for a while as a typesetter on various newspapers and then got a job as a river pilot on the Mississippi. Twain loved this job and many of his books show it. The river job didn’t last, however, because of the outbreak of the Civil War. Twain was in the Confederate Army for just 2 weeks and then he and his whole company went west to get away from the war and the army. In Nevada and California Twain  prospected for silver and gold without much luck, but did succeed as a writer. Once that happened Twain traveled around the country giving lectures and earning enough money to go to Europe. Twain didn’t travel much the lust 10 years of his life and he didn’t publish much either. Like many other popular writers Twain derived much of the materials for his writing from the wealth and diversity of his own personal experiences.