The Lord of the Rings, one of the best sellers in the new millennium(一千年；千年期), was made up of three parts-The Fellowship of the Ring, Two Towers, and The Return of the King. Millions of people have read it in over 25 languages, but fewer know about the author and the history of composition of the creative masterwork(极品，名著)．

　　John Ronald Reuel Tolkien was born in South Africa in 1892. His parents died when he was a child. Living in England with his aunt, Tolkien and his cousins made up play languages, a hobby that led to Tolkien's becoming skilled in Welsh, Greek, Gothic, Old Norse and Anglo­Saxon.

　　After graduating from Oxford, Tolkien served in World War Ⅰ. In 1917, while recovering from trench fever, he began composing the mythology(神话学；神话) for The Rings. As a professor of Anglo­Saxon in 1930s at Oxford, Tolkien was part of an informal discussion group called the Inklings, which included several writers. The group was soon listening to chapters of Tolkien's imaginative(富于想象力的，运用想象力) work The Hobbit.

　　Hobbit was a name Tolkien created for a local people that could be described as half­sized members of the English rural class. Hobbits live in hillside holes. One

　　of them, Bilbo Baggins, looks for treasures with a group of dwarves. On the way, he meets the twisted(反常的，变态的), pitiful creature Gollum, from whom he sees a golden ring that makes the holder invisible.

　　One of Tolkien's students persuaded her employer, publisher Allen & Unwin, to look at a draft. The chairman of the firm, Stanley Unwin, thought that the best judge for a children's book would be his ten­year­old son. The boy earned a shilling for reporting back that the adventure was exciting, and The Hobbit was published in 1937.

　　It sold so well that Unwin asked for a continuation. Over a dozen years later, in 1954, Tolkien produced The Lord of the Rings, a series of books so creative that they hold readers, new and old, after their publication.

　　【诱思导学】　

　　1．What's fantasy? Can you name some classical fantasy works?

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　　2．What are the elements of typical fantasy?

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　　【答案】　1.Fantasy is a genre(流派) that uses magic and other supernatural phenomena as a primary element of plot, theme, and setting. Many works within the genre take place in fictional worlds where magic is common. The Lord of the Rings《指环王》The Dark Elf Trilogy《黑暗精灵三部曲》Harry Potter《哈利·波特》

　　2．Magic; gods; heroes; adventures; and monsters.