Hello, Mr. Mark Twain!

Frankly speaking, I am not a man who is interested in English litereature. I confess that it is a shame for me to say in this way, since my job is to teach English, in which literary works are the inevitable parts. Anyway, I want to show my gratitute to Carrie and Anne, who have give us the chance to visit the house of Mark Twain, one of the most important novelists in the history of America.

Usually, in people's mind, it is a little difficult for the novelist to surpport their life if they only live on writing. Everybody want to live a rich life, but it seems to be much harder for the literati, including the poets, palywrights and novelists, such as Balzac, Joyce, Shelley in the western society and Wu Cheng‘en, Wu Jingzi and other famous Chinese novelists and poets. We always wonder that when facing poverty what is the motivation for them to work on. Perhaps the motivation is just rooted in the spiritual power brought by writing. They lived a poor and unfavorable life, which offered them the resources and inspiration to move on in the field.

Among them, Mark Twain, the pen name of Samuel Longhorne Clemens is a special one. Supporting the life is never a problem for him. In his whole life, he was always living a rich life, which testified that the man was not only gifted in writing, but also in earning money. Of course, his family (accurately, his wife's family) contributed much to this point. His splendid house and considerable expense on food was, is and will be rare among the writers.