Mark Twain is one of the most famous writers in America.  He is known for Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (1884), a novel about a young American boy, Huck Finn, and his friends Tom Sawyer and Jim.  He also wrote non-fiction books such as Life on the Mississippi (1883), which I am now reading for the third time.  I think Mark Twain had an interesting life, and I would like to share his story with you.
 Mark Twain was born in 1835 in Missouri in the United States.  His real name was Samuel Langhorne Clemens.  He was the sixth of seven children; sadly, four of his brothers and sisters died at an early age.  Clemens did not go to school when he was a child but helped his family at home.  When he was fifteen years old he worked for a printer making books.  At this time he also began writing stories for the newspaper in his town.  Clemens moved to New York City when he was eighteen and started working for a printer there.  In the evenings he went to a public library and studied many things.

　When Clemens was a young boy he often watched riverboatssailing up and down the Mississippi River.  The boats were quite beautiful and impressive, and Clemens’s dream was to take a ride on one of them.  After working in New York for a few years and saving money, he was able to take his first riverboat ride.  At the end of his trip Clemens didn’t have enough money to return home, but he loved the boat and wanted to stay.  So, he asked for a job working on the boat.
　Clemens wanted to be a boat pilot, but getting a pilot’s license was quite difficult.  In those days a Mississippi riverboat pilot had to know everything about the river.  For example, a pilot had to know where the water was low, where the water was high, and how the river changed during the year.  Because the river was about 2,000 miles (3,200 km) long, Clemens practiced and studied for two years before he could get his license.  During that time he learned many words that pilots used to talk about the river.  One expression he learned was “mark twain”, which meant that the river was about twelve feet deep and safe for large boats.  The words became Clemens’s favorite pen name.
　I first read a story by Mark Twain when I was in elementary school.  Since that time I have read many of his stories.  If you are interested in adventure or want to learn about life in America more than 120 years ago, you will enjoy Mark Twain’s books.

＜注＞
novel（小説），non-fiction（ノンフィクション，作り話ではない），share（共有する），sadly（悲しいことに），at an early age（幼い頃），printer（印刷屋），riverboat（川船），sail（進む），quite（非常に），impressive（印象的な），take a ride（乗る）， saving＜save（蓄える），pilot（操縦士），license（免許），in those days（当時），low（低い），expression（表現），meant＜mean（意味する），safe（安全な），adventure（冒険）