The Story Behind The Million Pound Bank Note

The young man in the novel The Million Bank Note is the true experience of Mark Twain,     1     experience in the “gold rush” can be called defeats. Under the “gold rush”, Mark Twain was very sensitive to new     2    (opportunity). At that time, many miners who     3     (discover) gold and silver mines since the beginning of that adventurous period were selling their shares(股份) in New York City     4    (raise) funds, so Mark Twain invested all his savings into buying shares in silver mines.

As a journalist, Mark Twain's eyes and ears were     5    (extreme) sensitive. He told himself that he should sell stocks(股票) as long as one condition was met: that he should earn a sum of $100,000, which was     6     huge amount of money at the time.

With the rapid rise of stocks, Mark Twain soon “retired” and he ceased working as a journalist.    7    (bury) himself in the rising stock price, he felt rich and content, so he came to San Francisco and lived a luxurious life that seemed to be     8    (attract) to most people. Mark Twain “fell in love” with his stock and enjoyed the feeling of    9    (it) rising. Finally, the stock price dropped, and Mark Twain became as poor    10     the young man in the novel.

    1     Christmas morning we stuck up a board with “A Merry Christmas” on it on the frontier and so did the enemy. Two of our men as our representatives and two of the     2     (German) greeted each other and shook hands. Soon we all got out of the trench and met the Germans in the middle of no­man’s land. We spent all day together. One of their men remarked in English that he was fed up    3    the war very much. We told him we felt the same. They also brought beer to us. The officers came to an understanding that we would celebrate Christmas    4     (peace) until midnight.

Mr Bolton had a big house with a beautiful lawn and a garden. His neighbor often came to visit his garden and Mr Bolton enjoyed    1    (hold) parties in his house. Sometimes, even visitors to the town came to his house to look    2    the lawn and garden.

Because of this, Mr Bolton was very proud of his lawn and garden and he spend all his time and energy taking care of them. But there was still one thing    3    bothered him -- the sidewalk. Some of the sidewalk’s tiles(地砖) were stained(沾了污渍的). Some showed    4    (difference) levels of wear and some just looked old. One day, Mr Bolton had    5    brilliant idea. “Why not paint the sidewalk?” he said to    6    (he). So he went to a hardware store and found some light grey paint. He bought the paint, rushed home and    7    (get) out a paint roller. And in a short time he had    8    (complete) painted the sidewalk. After the paint dried, the sidewalk looked as though it was brand new.

Mr Bolton thought the project was a great    9    (succeed). But there was one unexpected result that troubled him: His neighbors and visitors all walk on his lawn now because they don’t want    10    (make) the sidewalk dirty.