本文摘自中考英语阅读理解真题，含中文翻译，重点词汇讲解。

Frankenstein is one of the world’s most famous horror stories. It’s about a doctor who creates a new man from the body parts of dead people and brings it to life. But the experiment goes wrong and the monster kills the doctor and many others.

《科学怪人》是世界上最著名的恐怖小说之一。它讲述了一个医生，用死人的身体一些部分，创造出一个新人，并使其复活。但是实验出了问题，怪物杀死了医生和其他许多人。

[重点词汇]：one of + 形容词最高级 + 名词复数：最…之一；horror:恐怖，恐惧，惊悚；bring it to life 使…复活; 使…充满生机, 让其成真；experiment:实验；monster:怪兽

The story has been read by millions since it was first published and in the last hundred years it has been made into dozens of movies. Many people are surprised to learn its writer was a 19-year-old woman, called Mary Shelley.

这个故事自第一次出版以来已经被数百万人阅读，在过去的一百年里，它已经被拍成了几十部电影。许多人惊讶地得知，它的作者是一个19岁的女子，叫玛丽雪莱。

[重点词汇]：publish：发布；出版；公布；dozens of: 许多，几十个。用来修饰可数名词复数；be surprised to do sth: 惊讶于做某事；

Mary was born into a rich London family in August 1797. She was educated by her parents and when she was 13, she decided to become a writer. In 1812, she met the famous writer Percy Shelley and they soon got married. Sadly for Mary, their first child died soon after birth in Italy.

1797年8月，玛丽出生在伦敦一个富裕的家庭。她受父母教育，13岁时，她决定成为一名作家。1812年，她遇到了著名作家珀西·雪莱，他们很快就结婚了。令玛丽难过的是，他们的第一个孩子在意大利出生不久就去世了。

[重点词汇]：educate:<V> 教育, education<N>：教育；decide to do sth: 决定做某事；get married:结婚；

In her diary, Mary wrote about a dream: “I dreamt that my little baby came to life again—that it had only been cold and that we rubbed it before the fire and it lived.”

玛丽在日记中写下了一个梦：“我梦见我的小宝贝又活了过来，那时天气很冷，我们在炉火前把它擦了擦，它就活了。

[重点词汇]：diary：日记；come to life：苏醒过来;rub:擦，摩擦；

In 1816, Percy Shelley and 19-year-old Mary visited the poet Lord Byron at his home in Switzerland. Because of the bad weather they stayed indoors reading horror stories. One night, Byron asked everyone to write their own story. Mary thought of her dream and wrote the story Frankenstein.

1816年，珀西·雪莱和19岁的玛丽在瑞士拜访了诗人拜伦。因为天气不好，他们呆在家里读恐怖小说。一天晚上，拜伦让每个人都写自己的故事。玛丽想到了她的梦，写了一个故事《科学怪人》。

[重点词汇]：poet：诗人；Because of：因为，由于；think of: 想起；

Frankenstein was published when Mary was 21, and became a huge success. Many people didn’t think a 19-year-old woman could write so well and believed her husband was the real writer.

《科学怪人》在玛丽21岁时出版，并获得了巨大的成功。很多人不认为一个19岁的女人能写得这么好，认为她的丈夫才是真正的作家。

Although famous, Shelley’s life was full of sadness. Only one of her four children lived and in 1822 her husband died in a swimming accident. Mary was broken-hearted and decided not to marry again. She devoted herself to her child and continued to write until her death in 1851.

虽然著名，雪莱的生活充满了悲伤。她的四个孩子中只有一个活着，1822年，她的丈夫死于一场游泳事故。玛丽心碎了，决定不再结婚。她献身于她的孩子，并继续写作，直到1851年去世。

[重点词汇]：huge：巨大的；be full of: 充满…；sadness:悲伤，悲痛；broken-hearted：伤心的，心碎的；devote oneself to: 投身于，献身于。