Robert Spring, a 19th century forger , was as good at his profession that he was

Robert Spring, a 19th century forger (伪造签字者), was as good at his profession that he was able tomake his living for 15 years by selling false signatures of famous Americans.Spring was born in England in 1813 and arrived in Philadelphia in 1858 to opena bookstore. At first he make some money by selling his small but genuine ofearly U.S. autographs (亲笔签字). Discovering his ability at copyinghandwriting, he began imitating signatures of George Washington and BanFranklin and writing them on the title pages of old books. To make less thechance of detection (发觉), he sent his forgeries (伪造物) to England and Canada for sale and circulation (销售).

Forgers have a hard time selling their products. Aforger can't approach a respectable buyer but must deal with people who don'thave much knowledge in the field. Forgers have many ways to make their worklook real. For example, they buy old books to use the aged paper of the titlepage, and they can treat paper and ink with chemicals.

In Spring's time, right after the Civil War, Britainwas still fond of the Southern states, so Spring invented a respectable maidenlady known as Miss Fanny Jackson, the only daughter of General"Stonewall" Jackson. For several years Miss Fanny's economic problemsforced her to sell a great number of letters and manuscripts belonging to herfamous father. Spring had to work very hard to satisfy the demand. All thisactivity did not prevent Spring from dying in poverty, leaving sharp-eyeexperts the difficult task of separating this forgeries from the originals.

1.Why did Spring sell his autographs in England andCanada?

A．There was agreater demand there than in America.

B．There wasless chance of being detected there.

C．Britain wasSpring's birthplace.

D．The pricewere higher in England and Canada.

2.After the Civil War, there was a great demand inBritain for _______.

A．Southernmoney

B．signatures ofGeorge Washington and Ben Franklin

C．Southernmanuscripts and letters

D．Civil Warbattle plans

3.Robert Spring spent 15 years _______.

A．running abookstore in Philadelphia

B．correspondingwith Miss Fanny Jackson

C．as a forger

D．as arespectable dealer

4.According to the passage, forgeries are usually soldto _______.

A．sharp-eyedexperts                      B．persons whoaren't experts

C．book dealers                           D．owner of theold books

5.Who was Miss Fanny Jackson?

A．The onlydaughter of General "Stonewall" Jackson.

B．A little-knowngirl who sold her father's papers to Robert Spring.

C．RobertSpring's daughter.

D．An imaginaryperson created by Spring.

试题答案

【答案】

1.B

2.C

3.C

4.B

5.D

【解析】

试题