Read the following passage and mark the letter A, B, C or D on your answer sheet to indicate the best answer to each of the following questions from 23 to 30.
William Shakespeare must surely be the greatest writer in the English language, and he may also be the writer who has influenced this language the most. For example, he came up with many phrases we commonly use today, like ‘all of a sudden’, ‘love is blind’ and ‘too much of a good thing’. He might not be everyone’s favourite author, but people speak highly of his work, and Hamlet, Macbeth and Romeo and Juliet are some of the best-known plays in the world.
Although Shakespeare is so famous, we do not know much about his life, not even his date of birth. He was baptised in Stratford-upon-Avon on 26th April 1564, so he must have been born around that time. His birthday is celebrated on 23rd April, but no one can say for sure whether that is the right date.
Similarly, little is known about his education. He may have attended school in Stratford, where he could have studied Latin and Greek. It cannot have been easy – school started at 6 a.m. and finished at 5 p.m., so he would have had to keep up with very long hours.
In recent years, this lack of knowledge about Shakespeare’s life has led to speculation that other people might have written some of his works. However, while it is sometimes difficult to tell the differences between Shakespeare’s works and those of other contemporary writers, the vast majority of scholars agree that it simply cannot be true – the works must be Shakespeare’s own.
(Adapted from Venture into First for Schools)
