泉州市2014高考英语文章突破一轮训练（二十三）及答案.docVIP

泉州市2014高考英语文章突破一轮训练（23）及答案 When The Grapes of Wrath(愤怒) was published on March 14, 1939, it created a national sensation(轰动) for its description of the destructive effects of the Great Depression(大萧条) of the 1930s. By the end of April, it was selling 2,500 copies a day—a remarkable number considering the hard economic times. In May, the novel was a number-one best-seller, selling at a rate of 10,000 copies a week. By the end of 1939, close to a half million copies had been sold. John Steinbeck was shocked by the tremendous response to his novel. Almost overnight, he found himself involved in a great national debate over the migrant labor problem. Many people were shocked by the poverty and hopelessness of the story, and others denied that such circumstances could happen in America. Even people who had never read a book before bought a copy of The Grapes of Wrath. At $2.75 per copy, it was affordable and quickly sold out. However it was banned and burned in Buffalo, New York; East Saint Louis, Illinois; and Kern County, California, where much of the novel is set. In fact, the novel remains one of the most frequently banned books in the United States. The book was criticized sharply in Congress by Representative Lyle Boren of Oklahoma, who called the novels description of migrant living conditions a lie. Charges were made that obscenity(淫秽) had been included in the book in large part to sell more copies. Eventually, First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt stepped in to praise the book and defend Steinbeck against his critics. In 1940, the novel won the Pulitzer Prize. The popularity of the novel has endured(持久). It is estimated that it has sold fifteen million copies since its publication. For almost sixty years, Steinbecks novel has been a classic in American literature; it has been translated into several languages, including French, German, and Japanese. The Grapes of Wrath has also been a necessary part of the school curriculum in America since the end of World War II. 1.