Around the world，kids have different childhoods，but many of them share one thing—— the fairy tales of Hans Christian Andersen，a Danish author born in 1805.
    As a great fairy tale writer，Andersen's stories are popular among generations of children.This year is the 218th anniversary of his birth，148 years after his death.We can still find that his writings are as popular now as they were then.
    Andersen experienced poverty（貧窮） and difficulties in his youth.But these all gave him ideas to write wonderful stories."I have a lot of material from what I see，hear and feel in my life."said Andersen，according to one of his biographies （傳記）.In his fairy tales，children not only see a fancy world but also learn difficult themes of life in simple ways.
    In The Little Mermaid，to stay with the prince，the little mermaid asks the witch to change her tail into human legs.Although she can walk and dance beautifully on her human legs，she is in great pain when she does so.Sometimes we need to make sacrifices（犧牲） for something or some one we love.That's what Andersen wanted to explain to us.
    His other stories also have strong social messages.In The Ugly Duckling，the character everyone makes fun of has inner beauty.Andersen wanted to teach children not to judge people by their appearances and that ordinary people can become heroes.The Emperor's New Clothes is about two tailors who trick a very proud emperor into walking around with no clothes on.It showed Andersen's anger against the authority（權(quán)威） of his time.
    Today，Andersen's fairy tales have been translated into more than 100 languages.To honor the great writer，every April 2??，on Andersen's birthday，people celebrate International Children's Book Day.

（1）When did Hans Christian die？

B

B

A.In 1878.
B.In 1875.
C.In 1888.
D.In 1885.
（2）What can be inferred from Paragraph 3？

C

C

A He liked meeting people to collect material for his stories.
B.Children prefer the fancy world to difficult themes in his stories.
C His poverty and difficulties in his youth helped him in writing stories.
D.He wrote stories to remind himself of the difficult life he bad experienced.
（3）In The Little Mermaid，what did Anderson try to tell us？

C

C

A.Inner beauty is also very important.
B.We shouldn't judge people by their appearances.
C.We need to make sacrifices for something or someone we love.
D We should show anger against the authority of the time we are living in.
（4）Which of the following is Not True according to the passage？

D

D

A.His stories often have strong social messages.
B.Andersen's stories are popular among generations of children.
C.Children in many countries can read Andersen's stories in their own languages.
D.We have celebrations on Andersen's birthday and International Children's Book Day.