William Shakespeare was a writer of playsand poems. Some of his most famous plays are Hamlet, Romeo and Juliet, Macbeth.He wrote thirty-seven plays in all. They are still popular today.

    He was born in 1564 in England. At schoolhe liked watching plays. He decided to be an actor (演员) when he finished school at the age of fourteen. In 1582, hemarried a farmer's daughter. She was eight years older than he was. Their firstchild was a daughter. Later they had twins. In 1585, Shakespeare left hishometown, Stratford-upon-Avon. His wife and children stayed behind. No oneknows why he left or what he did between 1585 and 1592.

    At twenty-eight he moved to London andjoined a theatre company which opened the Globe Theatre in 1599. He became anactor, and he also wrote plays. He usually acted in his own plays. He earnedalmost no money from his writing. But he made a lot of money from acting. Withthe money he bought a large house in his hometown.

    At the age of forty-nine, Shakespeareretired (退休) and went to live inStratford-upon-Avon. He died at the age of fifty-two. He left his money to hisfamily. He left his genius to the world. You still see his plays in English andin many other languages. He is one of the most famous writers in the world.