Little Sam lived in a town near the Mississippi River. His mother said she couldn't see any hope in him. When no one was looking, Sam ate watermelons from neighbours'（邻居）; he also liked to put a small snake（蛇） into his mother's basket; he knew the deep river was dangerous, but he still swam there.
Sam's life changed in 1847 when he was just eleven — his father died. Sam had to find work to help his family. After school, he took several different jobs, working as an errand boy, a shop worker...
After the fifth grade, Sam left school and worked for a newspaper, using a large machine to print. It was dirty and hard. Worst of all, it didn't pay. Sam only got a place to sleep and some old clothes. The clothes were too big for Sam, so he felt quite bad and uncomfortable. Still, Sam didn't stop working and learned the skills for his next job.
At fifteen, Sam began writing, and one of the works made him famous in his town. Later, he decided to travel and see more of the world. When he was seventeen, he told his mother he would take a job in New York City. Before leaving, his mother asked him to promise he would not get himself or others into trouble（麻烦）. Years later, he became a successful writer. Sam once thought he shouldn't bring so much trouble to his mother in the past, so he said sorry for that.
In fact, Sam wrote much of what he did as a child into his works - The Adventures of Tom Sawyer and The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. He was now known to the world as Mark Twain.
