Robert Spring, a 19th * * century forger, was so good at his profession that he was able to make his living for 15 years by selling false signatures of famous Americans. Spring was born in England in 1813 and arrived in Philadelphia in 1858 to open a bookstore. At first he prospered by selling his small but genuine collection of early U. S. autographs. Discovering his ability at copying handwriting, he began imitating signatures of George Washington and Ben Franklin and writing them on the title pages of old books. To lessen the chance of detection, he sent his forgeries to England and Canada for sale and circulation. Forgers have a hard time selling their products. A forger can' t approach a respectable buyer but must deal with people who don' t have much knowledge in the field. Forgers have many ways to make their work look real. For example, they buy old books to use the aged paper of the title page, and they can treat paper and ink with chemicals. In Spring' s time, right after the Civil War, Britain was still fond of the Southern states, so Spring invented a respectable maiden lady known as Miss Fanny Jackson, the only daughter of General "Stonewall" Jackson. For several years Miss Fanny' s financial problems forced her to sell a great number of letters and manuscripts belonging to her famous father. Spring had to work very hard to satisfy the demand. All this activity did not prevent Spring from dying in poverty, leaving sharp-eyed experts the difficult task of separating his forgeries from the originals.
单选题
What was Robert Spring's profession?
【正确答案】
D
【答案解析】解析:根据第一段第一句话make his living for 15 years by selling false signatures of famous Amer-icans可知他主要是靠卖赝品生存。
单选题
England was one of the two big markets for Spring' s forgeries because______.
【正确答案】
C
【答案解析】解析:根据第一段最后一句话To lessen the chance of detection,he sent his forgeries可知,他是为了减少被发现的风险而主要把英国和加拿大作为他的赝品市场,可猜测在英国赝品更难被发现。
单选题
Forgers usually sold their false products to______.
【正确答案】
B
【答案解析】解析:根据第二段第二句话A forger can’t approach a respectable buyer but must deal with peoplewho don’t have much knowledge in the field可知,他们主要将赝品卖给业余人士,以防被识破。
单选题
Spring created an imaginary person Miss Fanny Jackson______.