本文摘自中考英语阅读理解真题，包括中文翻译和关键词解释。

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.

《科学怪胎》是世界上最著名的恐怖小说之一。它讲述了一个医生，他创造了一个新手，并用死者身体的某些部位使它复活。但是实验中出现了一个问题物杀死了医生和许多其他人。

[关键词汇]：one of 最高级的形容词 名词复数：最多…之一；horror:恐惧，恐惧，恐惧；bring it to life 使…复活; 使…充满活力, 使其成真；experiment:试验；monster:怪物

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.

[关键词汇]：publish：出版；出版；出版；dozens of: 许多，几十个。用来装饰可数名词复数；be surprised to do sth: 对做某事感到惊讶；

玛丽于1797年8月出生于伦敦的一个富裕家庭。父母教育她，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。令玛丽伤心的是，他们的第一个孩子在意大利出生后不久就去世了。

[关键词汇]：educate:<V> 教育, education<N>：教育；decide to do sth: 决定做某事；get married:完婚；

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，大家在炉火前擦了擦，它就活了。

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，他们呆在家里看恐怖小说。一天晚上，拜伦要求每个人都写自己的故事。玛丽想起了她的梦想，写了一个关于科学怪胎的故事。

[关键词汇]：poet：诗人；Because of：因为，因为；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.

玛丽21岁时出版了《科学怪人》，并取得了巨大的成功。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.

尽管有名，雪莱的生活充满了悲伤。她的四个孩子中只有一个还活着。1822年，她的丈夫死于一次游泳事故。玛丽心碎，决定不再结婚。她献身于孩子，继续写作，直到1851年去世。

[关键词汇]：huge：巨大的；be full of: 充满…；sadness:悲伤，悲伤；broken-hearted：伤心，心痛；devote oneself to: 献身于，献身于。