Father's Day:AllHappy Families Are Alike

Some writers are soconsumed by their art that their families are eclipsed,while other writersmanage an enviable closeness with their loved ones.On the occasion of Father's

Day,RBTH recallswhat kind of fathers the great Russian writers were and what became of theirchildren.

Leo Tolstoy,thegiant of Russian literature,and his wife Sofiahad 13 children,five of whom died in childhood.Tolstoy was very attentive tohis family,but as his daughter

Tatyana recalled,"________(46)"Tolstoy was more interested in them when they had grownup a little,when he would play with them and tell them stories.

His love for hisfamily did not deter the Count and prominent writer from giving away hisproperty to the poor,________(47)The youngest daughter Alexandra became

closest of all toTolstoy, and she became the literary executor of his estate.

Today there are morethan 400 descendants of Tolstoy,the most famous of which is the writer TatyanaTolstaya and her son Artemy Lebedev,a designer and popular blogger.

Vladimir Tolstoy isthe director of the"Yasnaya Polyana"Museum on the Tolstoy familyestate,________(48)

Four children wereborn to the jewel in the crown of Russian literature,the poet AlexanderPushkin,and his wife NatalyA. daughters Maria and Natalya and sons Alexander

and Grigory. Pushkinbecame distraught（忧心如焚的）whenhe first saw his daughter Maria. Considering himself unattractive and findingher to resemble him,________

(49)But he wasworrying unduly.

Maria grew into apretty young girl and a future lady-in-waiting（侍女）to the Empress, and some say that Tolstoy even gaveher likeness to Anna Karenina. His eldest son

Alexander emerged asa hero of the Russian-Turkish war and attained the rank of general,while theyoungest son Grigory became a magistrate（法官）.

Pushkin's youngestdaughter,the beautiful Natalya,was born just eight months before her father'sfateful duel. She became the morganatic（非皇室的）spouse of the Prussian

Prince Nikolai.Maria and Grigory did not have children,while Alexander fathered 13,and Natalyasix.________ (50)_______（47）

A.he was deeplyanxious for the little girl.

B.which caused sometension within the family.

C.Today more than200 descendants of Pushkin live around the world.

D.Russian is famousfor her many literary giants.

E.he never showedtenderness to the very small children.