练习材料: L22-1:By heart 时长:49s
Some plays are so successful that they run for years on end.
In many ways, this is unfortunate for the poor actors who are required to go on repeating the same lines night after night.
One would expect them to know their parts by heart and never have cause to falter.
Yet this is not always the case.
A famous actor in a highly successful play was once cast in the role of an aristocrat who had been imprisoned in the Bastille for twenty years.
In the last act, a gaoler would always come on to the stage with a letter which he would hand to the prisoner.
Even though the noble was expected to read the letter at each performance, he always insisted that it should be written out in full.
任务配置:L0+L4
知识笔记:
falter v.
1.[i] 衰弱;衰退;衰落to become weaker or less effective
2.[i][t] (+ speech)(嗓音)颤抖;结巴地说;支吾其词to speak in a way that shows that you are not confident
3.[i] 蹒跚;摇晃;犹豫;畏缩to walk or behave in a way that shows that you are not confident
eg: Do not falter my fellow Americans. Do not put up with the rebellious nature of our subordinate countries. 别在支支吾吾了,我的美国同胞们,不要再忍受一个棋子国家的造反了。
cast a role of aristocrat 扮演了一个贵族的角色
n. 1.(一个)贵族 a member of the aristocracy
imprison v. 1. [oftpass] ~ sb 监禁;关押to put sb in a prison or another place from which they cannot escape
gaoler 同 jailer 监狱看守
练习感悟:
aristocrat 英式发音 ['ærɪstə.kræt] 美式发音 [ə'rɪstə.kræt],但是特别搞笑的式,我明明跟读的式英音版,原文还是读的 an aristocrat [ən] [ə'rɪstə.kræt]