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　　课文内容

　　Although first published almost 200 years ago, the novels of Jane Austen have retained their popularity around the world. It is not difficult to find the reasons for their enduring appeal. Austen wrote about universal themes, such as the joy and pain of love, the pursuit of happiness, and the need to be accepted by society.

　　Jane Austen was born in 1775 in a rural part of southern England. She and her family were al1 avid readers. They even read novels, which were often looked down on during that time. Jane began writing before her teens, and had completed a history book by the time she was sixteen.

　　The six romantic novels that Austen wrote before her death in 1817 are still widely read. Her first novel published was“Sense and Sensibility”in 1811, but her best-known work,“Pride and Prejudice,”was written around fifteen years earlier. Although originally rejected for publication, the novel, and its intelligent heroine, have come to hold a place among the great classics of English literature.