二、短篇阅读
Little Women is a coming - of - age(青少年成长) novel written by American novelist Louisa May Alcott. At the beginning, it was published in two books in 1868 and 1869. Alcott wrote the book over several months at the request of her publisher. The story follows the lives of four March sisters — Meg, Jo, Beth, and Amy — and details their growth from childhood to womanhood. Little Women was a big success. With readers eager for more about the characters, Alcott quickly completed a second book named Good Wives in the United Kingdom. It was also met with success. The two books came out in 1880 as a single novel titled Little Women.
The novel has been said to present three main themes, “family life, work, and true love”. According to Sarah Elbert, Alcott created a new form of literature(文学), one that took important points from romantic children’s fiction and added them to others from sentimental(情感的) novels, resulting in a totally new genre(类型). Elbert argues that within Little Women the first vision of the “All - American girl” can be found.
1. The passage is mainly about the ________ of Little Women.
A. writer B. introduction C. characters D. history
2. It is clear that ________.
A. the novel came out three times
B. Alcott’s two books were a real hit
C. Elbert created a new form of writing
D. all American girls like the novel

1. B 2. B