Answer the questions that follow.

& Rowling, J.K., born July 31, 1965, Chipping Sodbury, near Bristol, England, in full Joanne Kathleen Rowling is aBritish author, creator of the popular and critically acclaimed Harry Potter series about a young sorcerer (magician) in training. After graduating from the University of Exeter in 1986, Rowling began working for [4] Amnesty International in London, where she started to write the Harry Potter adventures. In the early 1990s she traveled to Portugal to teach English as a foreign language, but after a brief marriage and the birth of her daughter, she returned to the United Kingdom, settling in Edinburgh. The idea for the Harry Potter stories came to her during a train ride in 1990, and she

began writing the magic adventure while sitting in cafès and pubs. Living on public assistance between stints (урочная работа) as a French teacher, she continued to write. Rowling's first book in the series, Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone (1997; U.S. title Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone), was an immediate success, appealing to both children (its intended audience) and adults. Featuring vivid descriptions and an imaginative story line, it followed the adventures of the unlikely hero Harry Potter, a lonely orphan who discovers that he is actually a wizard and enrolls in the Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. The book received numerous awards, including the British Book Award. Succeeding volumes— Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (1998), Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (1999), and Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (2000)—also were best-sellers, available in more than 100 countries and some 25 languages. In 2001 the companion books Fantastic Beasts & Where to Find Them and [5]Quidditch Through the Ages were published, with proceeds going to charity.The series sparked great enthusiasm among children and was credited with generating a new interest in reading. Rowling was appointed [6]OBE (Officer of the British Empire) in March 2001.

119* Answer the questions.

a. How did Joan Rowling come to write the Harry Potter series?

b. Did her educational background help her in her endeavors, do you think?

c. How did she support herself while working at her books?

d. Since you have read or seen at least one the series, what in your opinion makes it so attractive to the reader or viewer?

e. In your opinion, will the other sequels as interesting as the first ones?

f. Besides her royalties, how were her services for the country recognized?

g. Have you read her latest books either in English or in Russian?

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