The earliest surviving Jane Austen's manuscript .a handwritten draft for a book

The earliest surviving Jane Austen's manuscript (手稿），a handwritten draft for a book with the name of The Watsons that was never published ，sold for 993，250 pounds in the Lon- don sale.

The sale of The Watsons draft has provided a chance to have a deep understanding of how the author wrote it and her reworkings on it, which this manuscript uniquely displays. Probably written in 1804, the novel tells the story of Emma Watson, the youngest of four sisters who is raised by a wealthy aunt but then forced to return to her family while two of her sisters search for husbands.

The novel is only a quarter complete but critic Margaret Drabble described it as “a delightful and highly complete novel, which must surely have proved the equal of her other six novels, had she finished it. ”

The Watsons contains themes found in other Austen's works and also displays her wisdom. The Watsons displays Jane Austen's unique writing style and the influence of this novel on her later works can clearly be seen. It was Austen's only literary work during the period between finishing Northanger Abbey in 1799 and starting Mansfield Park in 1811. It is not known why Austen abandoned the manuscript, though it was possibly related to her father's death in 1805.

Besides the sale of The Watsons in the London sale, the earliest rules of soccer, part of the archive (档案)of the oldest football club in the world, Sheffield FC, sold for 881,250 pounds, which attracted many people.

The Sheffield soccer sale included handwritten drafts from 1858 and the only existing copy of the printed "Rules, Regulations Laws of the Sheffield Football Club” dating from 1859, two years after the club was formed.

64. According to the text, the value of the sale of The Watsons draft lies in ____.

A. making more readers interested in the novel

B making readers know the author's writing process

C. making readers know the author's sad life better

D. making readers know the story of the novel better

65. It can be inferred from what Margaret Drabble said that ____.

A. most of the novel, The Watsons, had been finished

B. Austen wrote seven novels at the same time

C. Austen's father's death made her give up completing The Watsons

D. it is a pity that The Watsons was not finished

66.　 Which is TRUE about The Watsons?

A. It was Austen's first novel.

B. It was Austen's only literary work.

C. The writing style in it influenced that in Northanger Abbey.

D. It has similar themes to other Austen's works.

67.　 What character do the two sales share in common?

A. Both of them have handwritten drafts.

B. Both of them date back to the 18th century.

C. Both of them were widely read at the same time.

D. Both of them told us the reason for writing them.

试题答案

BD DA